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Cognition

Miller's Law

Working-Memory Limit.

The article

If

"The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two" — human working memory holds only about seven chunks at once. Cross that limit and recall collapses; the brain drops items rather than slowing down.

Then

Group related items into a handful of named chunks — phone-number style — wherever a person must hold state in their head: function arguments, form fields, menu groups, on-call steps.

Unless

Chunking / Information Hiding

Source

George A. Miller, The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two (Psychological Review, 1956).

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See also