The present study estimates the short-term memory capacity of a driver in terms of the informational value of road traffic signs. Miller proposed the concept of a "chunk" and estimated the short-term memory capacity to be 7 ± 2 chunks of information. The present study defines the number of chunks corresponding to each type of road traffic sign. Experiments were conducted using the latest computer technology to investigate how many chunks of information a driver can memorize in 2.5 seconds. Findings showed that subjects could memorize less than 3 chunks of information and that increases in the interval between viewing and reproducing the image had little effect on memory retention capacity. For the covering abstract see IRRD E102946.
Abstract