<P> Chunking in psychology is a process by which individual pieces of information are bound together into a meaningful whole (Neath & Surprenant, 2003). A chunk is defined as a familiar collection of more elementary units that have been inter-associated and stored in memory repeatedly and act as a coherent, integrated group when retrieved (Tulving & Craik, 2000). </P> <P> It is believed that individuals create higher order cognitive representations of the items on the list that are more easily remembered as a group than as individual items themselves . Representations of these groupings are highly subjective, as they depend critically on the individual's perception of the features of the items and the individual's semantic network . The size of the chunks generally ranges anywhere from two to six items, but differs based on language and culture </P> <P> 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 . </P> <P> A modality effect is present in chunking . That is, the mechanism used to convey the list of items to the individual affects how much "chunking" occurs . Experimentally, it has been found that auditory presentation results in a larger amount of grouping in the responses of individuals, as compared to visual presentation . Previous literature, such as George Miller's The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on our Capacity for Processing Information (1956) have shown that the probability of recall is greater when the "chunking" strategy is used . As stated above, the grouping of the responses occurs as individuals place them into categories according to their inter-relatedness based on semantic and perceptual properties . Lindley (1966) showed that the groups produced have meaning to the participant, therefore; this strategy makes it easier for an individual to recall and maintain information in memory during studies and testing . Therefore, when "chunking" is used as a strategy, one can expect a higher proportion of correct recalls . </P>

Who coined the term chunk for memory researchers