Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T19:35:47.835Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The search for fixed generalizable limits of “pure STM” capacity: Problems with theoretical proposals based on independent chunks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2001

K. Anders Ericsson  and
Elizabeth P. Kirk
K. Anders Ericsson
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-1270 [email protected]@psy.fsu.edu www.psy.fsu.edu/~ericsson
Elizabeth P. Kirk
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-1270 [email protected]@psy.fsu.edu www.psy.fsu.edu/~ericsson
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Cowan's experimental techniques cannot constrain subject's recall of presented information to distinct independent chunks in short-term memory (STM). The encoding of associations in long-term memory contaminates recall of pure STM capacity. Even in task environments where the functional independence of chunks is convincingly demonstrated, individuals can increase the storage of independent chunks with deliberate practice – well above the magical number four.

Type
Brief Report
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 24 , Issue 1 , February 2001 , pp. 120 - 121
Copyright
© 2001 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)