Why you can't hold 12 digits but can hold 3 years: working memory chunks
30seconds
Try to hold 149217891945 in your head and it slips away. Read it as 1492, 1789, 1945 and it sticks. The digits are the same; the number of things to hold is not.
Working memory is a tiny scratchpad, and what limits it is the number of chunks, not digits. Try a 5-second memory test with different groupings and see your own scores change.
Deep dive · 3 min
More in Mind
View all →
Why you can't ignore the word and name the colour: the Stroop effect
Read the word, then name its ink colour: you can't turn reading off. In 1886 Cattell noticed that people read words faster than they name colours, and in 1935…
Every eye has a hole in its vision, and your brain paints over it
Every one of your eyes has a hole in its vision, about ten Moons wide, and you have never seen it. It is where the optic nerve leaves the retina, a patch with…
Why one more candle lights a dark room but vanishes in a bright one
Add one candle to a dark room and everything changes. Add one to a room with a hundred and nobody notices. Your senses don't measure differences in amounts…
Why you can't tickle yourself (and how a robot can fix that)
Every time you move, your brain keeps a copy of the command and uses it to predict what you're about to feel. Sensations that match the prediction get turned…