The phenomenon of chunking as a memory mechanism can be observed in the way individuals group numbers and information in the day - to - day life. For example, when recalling a number such as 12101946, if numbers are grouped as 12, 10 and 1946, a mnemonic is created for this number as a day, month and year. Similarly, another illustration of the limited capacity of working memory as suggested by George Miller can be seen from the following example: While recalling a mobile phone number such as 9849523450, we might break this into 98 495 234 50. Thus, instead of remembering 10 separate digits that is beyond the "seven plus - or - minus two '' memory span, we are remembering four groups of numbers.
who coined the term chunk for memory researchers
George Miller