The magical ‘ ‘ wave ’ ’ seven , plus or minus two ? a )
نویسندگان
چکیده
The idea of the magical number seven has been with us for over 40 years now. During this time, it has been studied extensively by both psychologists and other sensory scientists. One might be skeptical about any new results and ask ‘‘What more possibly can we say about this topic?’’ However, in this paper, an attempt is made to refine the interpretation of the magical number by demonstrating that it is not so much a number, but actually a ‘‘wave.’’ That is, independent of both experimental fluctuations and statistical bias, the magical number takes on a continuum of possible values. This prediction, made theoretically, is supported by existing experimental data. While this prediction does not amount to any significant change to the understanding of the magical number, it may however provide a criterion to judge the acceptability of any theory that purports to explain the magical number phenomenon. © 1998 Acoustical Society of America. @S0001-4966~98!04707-9#
منابع مشابه
Magical Number Seven Plus or Minus Two: Syntactic Structure Recognition in Japanese and English Sentences
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This paper was first read as an Invited Address before the Eastern Psychological Association in Philadelphia on April 15, 1955. Preparation of the paper was supported by the Harvard Psycho-Acoustic Laboratory under Contract N5ori-76 between Harvard University and the Office of Naval Research, U.S. Navy (Project NR 142-201, Report PNR-174). Reproduction for any purpose of the U.S. Government is ...
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