The span of immediate memory seems to be almost independent of the number of bits per chunk, at least over the range that has been examined.

George Armitage Miller

Psychologists

George Armitage Miller

American psychologist (1920-2012) whose 1956 paper "The Magical Number Seven" named the short-term memory limit and helped launch the cognitive revolution. Co-founded cognitive science with Chomsky; led WordNet.

View this figure's profile

Source: The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus TwoVerified

George Armitage Miller's Other Quotes

My problem is that I have been persecuted by an integer.

In order to understand what another person is saying, you must assume it is true and try to imagine what it could be true of.

The cognitive revolution in psychology was a counter-revolution.