capacity

• amount of information that can be stored
• jacobs - measuring stm capacity with digital span method by giving participants 4 digits to recall and if successful more digits until incorrect recall
• mean digit span is 9.3 items, mean for letter span is 7.3 items
• X lacks temporal validity
• X lacks validity - uncontrolled confounding variables
• miller - observed everyday practices involved groups of 7 - eg. 7 days in a week, 7 notes on musical scale
• miller suggested a span of 7 and demonstrates people can recall 5 digits/letters with ease - chunking theory
• X overestimates capacity of stm