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The limit of mental structures.

George Mandler1

  • 1a University of California , San Diego.

The Journal of General Psychology
|May 20, 2014
PubMed
Summary

The human brain

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive psychology
  • Neuroscience
  • Information processing theory

Background:

  • The number 4 is often cited as a limit in human cognitive capacity.
  • Existing evidence suggests limitations in human information processing.
  • The structure of cognitive processing is not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review evidence for the cognitive limit of 4.
  • To propose a model for information processing structures.
  • To explain the origin of the processing limit.

Main Methods:

  • Review of existing psychological and neuroscience literature.
  • Theoretical modeling of information processing structures.
  • Analysis of network complexity in relation to element number.
Keywords:
information processingorganization theorysubitizingworking memory

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Main Results:

  • The number 4 appears to be a significant constraint in human information processing.
  • A proposed model suggests processing structures are based on interconnected bidirectional pairs.
  • Increased link complexity beyond size 4 explains the processing limitation.

Conclusions:

  • The cognitive limit of 4 is supported by current evidence.
  • A paired-element network model provides a framework for understanding this limit.
  • Computational complexity is the key factor underlying the observed cognitive bottleneck.