Short Term Memory’s Effectiveness Influenced by Sight, Sound
For decades scientists have believed that people can only remember an ordered list of about seven items at a time?such as seven grocery items or seven digits of a phone number?but new research from the University of Rochester has shown that this magic number varies depending on whether the language used is spoken or signed. The results in the cover story of the latest issue of Nature Neuroscience have important implications for standardized tests, which often employ ordered-list retention as a measure of a person’s mental aptitude.