What is chunking?

ChunkingIn Psychology, chunking is a memory trick that groups (chunks) together items in a series in a way that is meaningful. The meaning behind these chunks causes increased retention.

For example, memorize this series of numbers 17761812186119171941. This can be easily remembered in 5 seconds or less if you're familiar with American military history. If you chunk every four numbers: 1776, 1812, 1861, 1917, 1941 you see years of major military conflicts. Then all you have to remember is the sequence of wars (which you should already know) and you've memorized 20 numbers in 5 seconds.

Another example of chunking has to do with creating a meaningful story. For example, you can memorize the first 20 digits of pi (3.1415926535897932384) by creating a memorable story that goes with each chunk. The most common story is one of three people (3). One is a fourteen year old (14), one is a fifteen year old (15), and one is a ninety-two year old (92). They are sitting at a table with a six-pack of soda (6) in front of them. They all split one and there's five (5) cans left.

The story goes on with various plot developments that make the numbers relevant. Then all you do is recall that story and start spitting out the numbers that are part of it. This memory trick will have you memorizing the first 20 digits of pi in a lot less time than it would take to just memorize each digit. You will also be able to remember the digits for a longer period as well.