Researchers have known for some time that short-term memory is limited. This latter definition does make sense, in that cognitive schemas and chunking can be thought of as similar mental workarounds.įor us to begin to understand the nature of a chunk, we first need to step slightly away and look at the nature of working memory capacity and why it can be so problematic. Anderson’s ACT-R model, however, views chunks as schema-like structures containing pointers that encode their contents. Cowan, like many other theorists, emphasise the role of long-term memory, in that a chunk must be representative of something we already know. Unfortunately, there isn’t a great deal of consensus on this, even Miller in his famous 1956 paper on capacity noted ‘we are not very definite about what constitutes a chunk of information.’ Cowan (2001) has defined a chunk as ‘groups of items that have strong, preexisting associations to each other but weak associations to other items’. This is all well and good, but what exactly is a chunk and how does chunking help us enhance our limited working memory? In turn, CLT draws on aspects of memory research that go back as far as the late nineteenth century, including studies that attempted to discover the limitations of human memory. The way instructional design can be adapted to help learners cope with these limitation has been encapsulated into a model known as Cognitive Load Theory (CLT). In education, we often describe these terms in relation to cognitive load, or the demands learning places on our limited mental resources. However, chunking also relies heavily upon long-term memory.Ĭhunking is, therefore, related to another aspect of memory known as memory span or digit span (the latter term derives from tests that measure memory span by asking people to repeat back a list of digits that increase incrementally). The process is said to make the recall of information easier because it helps to bypass the inherent limitations of working memory.
Chunking describes the process by which individual pieces of information are broken down and grouped together.