?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.title=The+Magical+Number+Seven%2C+Plus+or+Minus+Two%3A+Some+Limits+on+Our+Capacity+for+Processing+Information&rft.creator=Miller%2C+George&rft.subject=Psychophysics&rft.subject=Cognitive+Psychology&rft.subject=Perceptual+Cognitive+Psychology&rft.description=First%2C+the+span+of+absolute+judgment+and+the+span+of+immediate+memory+impose+severe+limitations+on+the+amount+of+information+that+we+are+able+to+receive%2C+process%2C+and+remember.+By+organizing+the+stimulus+input+simultaneously+into+several+dimensions+and+successively+into+a+sequence+or+chunks%2C+we+manage+to+break+(or+at+least+stretch)+this+informational+bottleneck.+Second%2C+the+process+of+recoding+is+a+very+important+one+in+human+psychology+and+deserves+much+more+explicit+attention+than+it+has+received.+In+particular%2C+the+kind+of+linguistic+recoding+that+people+do+seems+to+me+to+be+the+very+lifeblood+of+the+thought+processes.+Recoding+procedures+are+a+constant+concern+to+clinicians%2C+social+psychologists%2C+linguists%2C+and+anthropologists+and+yet%2C+probably+because+recoding+is+less+accessible+to+experimental+manipulation+than+nonsense+syllables+or+T+mazes%2C+the+traditional+experimental+psychologist+has+contributed+little+or+nothing+to+their+analysis.+Nevertheless%2C+experimental+techniques+can+be+used%2C+methods+of+recoding+can+be+specified%2C+behavioral+indicants+can+be+found.+And+I+anticipate+that+we+will+find+a+very+orderly+set+of+relations+describing+what+now+seems+an+uncharted+wilderness+of+individual+differences.+Third%2C+the+concepts+and+measures+provided+by+the+theory+of+information+provide+a+quantitative+way+of+getting+at+some+of+these+questions.+The+theory+provides+us+with+a+yardstick+for+calibrating+our+stimulus+materials+and+for+measuring+the+performance+of+our+subjects.+In+the+interests+of+communication+I+have+suppressed+the+technical+details+of+information+measurement+and+have+tried+to+express+the+ideas+in+more+familiar+terms%3B+I+hope+this+paraphrase+will+not+lead+you+to+think+they+are+not+useful+in+research.+Informational+concepts+have+already+proved+valuable+in+the+study+of+discrimination+and+of+language%3B+they+promise+a+great+deal+in+the+study+of+learning+and+memory%3B+and+it+has+even+been+proposed+that+they+can+be+useful+in+the+study+of+concept+formation.+A+lot+of+questions+that+seemed+fruitless+twenty+or+thirty+years+ago+may+now+be+worth+another+look.+In+fact%2C+I+feel+that+my+story+here+must+stop+just+as+it+begins+to+get+really+interesting.+And+finally%2C+what+about+the+magical+number+seven%3F+What+about+the+seven+wonders+of+the+world%2C+the+seven+seas%2C+the+seven+deadly+sins%2C+the+seven+daughters+of+Atlas+in+the+Pleiades%2C+the+seven+ages+of+man%2C+the+seven+levels+of+hell%2C+the+seven+primary+colors%2C+the+seven+notes+of+the+musical+scale%2C+and+the+seven+days+of+the+week%3F+What+about+the+seven-point+rating+scale%2C+the+seven+categories+for+absolute+judgment%2C+the+seven+objects+in+the+span+of+attention%2C+and+the+seven+digits+in+the+span+of+immediate+memory%3F+For+the+present+I+propose+to+withhold+judgment.+Perhaps+there+is+something+deep+and+profound+behind+all+these+sevens%2C+something+just+calling+out+for+us+to+discover+it.+But+I+suspect+that+it+is+only+a+pernicious%2C+Pythagorean+coincidence.&rft.date=1956&rft.type=Journal+(Paginated)&rft.type=PeerReviewed&rft.format=text%2Fhtml&rft.identifier=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F730%2F1%2Fmiller.html&rft.identifier=++Miller%2C+George++(1956)+The+Magical+Number+Seven%2C+Plus+or+Minus+Two%3A+Some+Limits+on+Our+Capacity+for+Processing+Information.++%5BJournal+(Paginated)%5D+++++&rft.relation=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F730%2F