about how many items can be held in short-term memory
Short-Term Memory: Up to 7 Items, But Highly Volatile. Many psychology experiments have shown that our short-term memory can hold only a limited number of separate items. The average is about 7 items, plus or minus 2, depending on the individual. You can easily confirm this by reading someone a series of words that have no connection with one another, then asking this person to repeat them.