CHUNKING

A process of recoding information which reduces the number of different characters in a message while increasing the number of different kinds of characters to be recognized. E.g., in the US, telephone numbers are grouped into area code, exchange number, and a remainder. Since the first two three digit numbers do not occur with equally probability, the user will remember these numbers like words, 215 means Philadelphia, 202 means Washington, 212 means New York, etc., and create similar chunks for the exchange numbers in his immediate vicinity so that he will dial first Philadelphia then the exchange and finally the number. This recoding may be motivated by the increased efficiency of information processing and may be entirely unconscious (see LImit of absolute discrimination). (Krippendorff)

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