How People Learn:
Brain, Mind,
Experience, and School
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BOX 3.1
What People Learn
Ericsson et al. (1980) worked extensively with a college student for
well over a year, increasing his capacity to remember digit strings
(e.g., 982761093 . . .). As expected, at the outset he could remember
only about seven numbers. After practice, he could remember 70 or more;
see Figure 3.1. How? Did he develop a general skill analogous to
strengthening a "mental muscle?" No, what happened was that he learned
to use his specific background knowledge to "chunk" information into
meaningful groups. The student had extensive knowledge about winning
times for famous track races, including the times of national and world
records. For example 941003591992100 could be chunked into 94100 (9.41
seconds for 100 yards). 3591 (3 minutes, 59.1 seconds for a mile), etc.
But it took the student a huge amount of practice before he could
perform at his final level, and when he was tested with letter
strings, he was back to remembering about seven items.
SOURCE: Ericsson et al. (1980:1181-1182). Reprinted by permission.
FIGURE 3.1 Change in average digit span
remembered.
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