Group of elements that are associated with eachother but lack association with elements in other chunks

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Small units (i.e. words, actions) can be grouped together based on associations to form larger units that are easy to remember.

Chunking

Goldstein, E. B. (2014). Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research and everyday experience. Nelson Education.


Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research and everyday experience

Chunks (memory)

The brain can compress a sequence of actions into an automatic routine.  The sequence is converted after a series of encounters with recurring cues (trigger, context), a routine (the behavior) and then rewards (reinforcement).

Habits ( Behavioral chunking )

Separating paragraphs in a passage into even smaller units based on ideas, concepts, or syntax to improve reading comprehension. Most of the time, text segmentation refers to breaking down sentences into phrases to help with understanding, especially for younger students and students with disabilities. 

Text Segmentation

- Defined by Foster in 1970 as the “presenting, at rapid rates, single words to a stationary position in the viewing field.” 
- Experiments have tested presenting texts of different lengths (i.e. one word, one sentence, small chunks of text) and durations
- In general, “RSVP involves successive presentation of small units of text to a viewer. The units of text usually do not exceed a single line and are normally presented for a preselected amount of time.” 

Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP)

Chunking is also a reading strategy that has been found to have positive effects for improving reading comprehension. 

Learn Before

Related