Psychology / Unit 6 Psych 0644 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Miller's Seven Plus or Minus Two
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The idea
Miller reported that short-term memory holds between five and nine items, which he called the magic number seven plus or minus two.
In practice
In Miller's studies, participants repeated back seven digits reliably and failed at ten.
Where people slip
Miller's estimate was for items as commonly presented. What counts as an item is itself the variable.
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