We’ve been lead to believe for decades that the number of items a mind can cope with before it gets confused is seven. This number comes from a 1956 paper by psychologist George Miller titled “The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two. Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information.” In fact, the Psychological Review named it the most influential paper of all time.

However, Gordon Parker, a University of New South Wales professor of psychiatry, says that Miller is incorrect. Parker says the mind works with four “chunks” of information, rather than seven.

“So to remember a seven numeral phone number, say 6458937, we need to break it into four chunks: 64. 58. 93. 7,” Parker said. “Basically four is the limit to our perception. That’s a big difference for a paper that is one of the most highly referenced psychology articles ever–nearly a 100 percent discrepancy.”

Parker suggests that the original paper’s success stems from “more in its multilayered title and Miller’s evocative use of the word ‘magic’,” than in the science.

Still, the mind’s storage capacity limits are unclear, Parker says.

“There may be no limit in storage capacity per se but only a limit to the duration in which items can remain active in short-term memory,” he said. “Regardless, the consensus now is that humans can best store only four chunks in short-term memory tasks.”

This will come in handy when you’re trying to memorize something. Or maybe it doesn’t matter that much anymore, since we can rely on computers and smart phones to access information quickly.

(Story materials via the University of New South Wales. Image via Open Clip Art Library / artefact.)