Chunking and the magical number seven#
One trait of working memory (a part of overall memory) is that it can work with up to seven pieces of information at any one time. George A. Miller, a psychologist, called this trait the “magical number seven, plus or minus two.”
When you are creating associations (or indeed, working with any number of items), try to group or chunk larger numbers of items into groups of no more than seven items. It’s usually easier to remember a group of three lists of five items than it is to remember a single list of fifteen items.
Let’s look at a specific example for presentation training. On the left is an unstructured list of points to remember for good presentations. On the right is the same list “chunked” into four groups.
| Unstructured | Chunked |
|---|---|
| Intro, Body, and Summary. | |
| - Think about your audience and | |
| - Analyze what you did well and | what they want to hear. |
| not so well afterwards. | |
| - Do your research on the topic. | |
| - Understand your lead-in and who | Know it well. |
| follows you. | |
| - Organize the presentation into | |
| - Breathe normally when | Intro, Body, and Summary. |
| presenting. | |
| Prepare on the day | |
| - Get to the location early and | |
| check out facilities. | - Get to the location early and |
| check out facilities. | |
| - Do your research on the topic. | |
| Know it well. | - Make sure you have water |
| available. | |
| - Keep your posture relaxed when | |
| presenting. | - Understand your lead-in and |
| who follows you. | |
| - Make eye contact with the | |
| audience when presenting. | - Ask someone to make notes on |
| how well you perform. | |
| - Ask someone to make notes on | |
| how well you perform. | Present |
| - Make sure you have water | - Keep your posture relaxed |
| available when presenting. | |
| - Breathe normally. | |
| - Ask someone to take notes, and | |
| follow up with them after the | - Make eye contact with the |
| presentation. | audience. |
| - Think about your audience and | Review |
| what they want to hear. | |
| - Follow up with the person you | |
| asked to take notes. | |
| - Analyze what you did well and | |
| not so well. |
Sometimes information is easy to group like this. Other times you may just have to choose arbitrary dividing lines. You can use the principles of association though to decide those dividing lines, the more creative the better!