In a study, researchers asked participants to remember a list of 7 digits while simultaneously performing a visuospatial task such as tracking a moving dot. A second group performed a verbal suppression task (repeating "the the the") instead. The visuospatial group recalled most digits accurately, but the verbal-suppression group's digit recall dropped sharply, suggesting different subsystems were taxed.
Miller's "magical number 7 plus or minus 2" suggests that recall could be improved by
- Acheck_circle
Chunking digits into meaningful groups
- B
Increasing the rate of presentation
- C
Eliminating rehearsal entirely
- D
Using exclusively visual presentation
Explanation
Chunking expands functional capacity by grouping items into larger meaningful units, each counting as a single chunk in the limited short-term store.