Which fact does NOT support the idea that the amount of information that can be stored in short-term memory (STM) is determined by the number of chunks?

A) Organizing digits into larger numbers allows people to remember more digits at one time.
B) There is a limit to the number of units of information that can be stored in STM at one time.
C) Chunking can increase the amount of information people can place in STM.
D) Individuals can remember more words from a list of single-syllable words than they can from a list of four- or five-syllable words.

Answer: D
Rationale: People remember more one-syllable words (sum , pay , bar, …) than four- or five-syllable words (helicopter, university, alligator, …) in a short-term task. This is known as the word-length effect. This conflicts with the idea that the capacity of STM is determined by the number of "chunks" of information because, although both "bar" and "alligator" are single chunks, you remember more chunks if they are
single syllables.