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MEMORIZING, RECODING AND PERCEPTUAL ORGANIZATION
Author(s) -
ALLAN MARY D.
Publication year - 1961
Publication title -
british journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.536
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8295
pISSN - 0007-1269
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8295.1961.tb00764.x
Subject(s) - memorization , perception , psychology , task (project management) , cognitive psychology , channel (broadcasting) , function (biology) , communication , neuroscience , computer science , telecommunications , biology , management , evolutionary biology , economics
Attention is drawn to the important part which memorizing plays in all formal instruction. The limited span of immediate memory is discussed in terms of a communication channel of limited capacity. A memorizing task is reported in which the human communication channel was repeatedly bombarded with a sequence of events too numerous for immediate absorption. The results suggest that perceptual organization may be a basic activity of the human communication system under certain conditions of stress. Further memorizing experiments are described in which an attempt was made to find an answer to the question ‘Does the activity towards perceptual organization occur only when the channel is overloaded?’ The results indicate that perceptual organization is a function of overloading and will not occur when the channel is operating below capacity.