7 plus or minus 2

[geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA]

 I've seen several mentions of George Miller's "7 plus or
 minus 2 rule" to justify chunking information into 5-9
 pieces, but this leads me to ask one crucial question that
 I've never seen answered: has anyone actually tested
 Miller's research to confirm that it applies in the context
 of technical writing? I have not doubt that his underlying
 principle is sound (i.e., that there's a limit on
 short-term memory), but I haven't seen anything that says
 it is 7 plus or minus 2. I haven't tried a literature
 search, as I lack the resources to do so, so I was
 wondering whether any of our academic colleagues might have
 the answer.

 I've been slowly working through Miller's original article*
 as time permits, an enlightening experience that I
 recommend to all students of science who are content to
 read only third-party references to the original article,
 and it seems to me that one of Miller's conclusions bears
 repeating: "And finally, what about the magical number
 seven?... For the present, I propose to withhold judgment.
 Perhaps there is something deep and profound behind all
 these sevens, something just calling out for us to discover
 it. But I suspect that it is only a pernicious, Pythagorean
 coincidence."

 *Miller, G.A. The magical number seven, plus or minus two:
 some limits on our capacity for processing information. The
 Psychological Review 63(2):81-97.

 --Geoff Hart     @8^{)}     geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
 Disclaimer: Speaking for myself, not FERIC.

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