Chunking mnemonic memory technique

Chunking is a technique used when remembering numbers, although the idea can be used
for remembering other things as well. It is based on the idea that short-term memory is
limited in the number of things that can be contained. A common rule is that a person can
remember 7 (plus or minus 2) "items" in short-term memory. In other words, people can
remember between 5 and 9 things at one time. You may notice that local telephone
numbers have 7 digits. This is convenient because it is the average amount of numbers
that a person can keep in his or her mind at one time.

When you use "chunking" to remember, you decrease the number of items you are
holding in memory by increasing the size of each item. In remembering the number string
64831996, you could try to remember each number individually, or you could try
thinking about the string as 64 83 19 96 (creating "chunks" of numbers). This breaks the
group into a smaller number of "chunks." Instead of remembering 8 individual numbers,
you are remembering four larger numbers. This is particularly helpful when you form
"chunks" that are meaningful or familiar to you (in this case, the last four numbers in the
series are "1996," which can easily be remembered as one chunk of information).

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Chunking

Chunking is the process with which we can expand our ability to remember things in the
short term. Chunking is also a process by which a person organizes material into
meaningful groups. Although the average person may only retain about four different
units in short-term memory, chunking can greatly increase a person's recall capacity. For
example, in recalling a phone number, the person could chunk the digits into three
groups: first, the area code (such as 215), then a three-digit chunk (123) and lastly a four-
digit chunk (4567). This method of remembering phone numbers is far more effective
than attempting to remember a string of 10 digits.

Practice and the usage of existing information in long-term memory can lead to
additional improvements in one's ability to use chunking. In one testing session, an
American cross-country runner was able to recall a string of 79 digits after hearing them
only once by chunking them into different running times (e.g. the first four numbers were
1518, a three-mile time.)[21]