Day 1 of 150 Memory Difficulty 4/10
Working memory holds about four items, not seven
Quick answer
Working memory holds about four items, not seven. Today's question (Working memory capacity) asks about a finding from Cowan, N. in 2001. The correct option is ~4 items — full explanation, primary source, and glossary cross-links below.
Today's question
Approximately how many items can the average adult hold in working memory at once, without rehearsal?
Reveal the answer and explanation
Correct: B — ~4 items
The famous "magical number 7±2" (Miller 1956) was revised downward by Cowan (2001). Without rehearsal, working memory holds roughly 4 chunks, not 7. Miller's original figure conflated short-term storage capacity with active rehearsal strategies; Cowan's review of decades of partial-report and dual-task data settled on 4±1 as the storage limit.
About the source
Cowan, N. (2001). The magical number 4 in short-term memory: A reconsideration of mental storage capacity. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24(1), 87–114.
Every Cognition Bible question cites a primary source — a paper, book chapter, or monograph that exists, that we can point to on Google Scholar, and whose finding the question accurately summarizes. No fabricated authority strings, no name-drops without paper-level grounding.
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