Miller identified the limits of the human mind for discrete information at one time, which is 5 to 9 items (7 +/- 2). A person's ability to handle a cognitive load deteriorates when his or her personal limit is exceeded (overload).
Significance:
(1) Some people can perform more tasks than others.
(2) A person's ability to handle a number of tasks may vary from hour to hour and from day to day depending on health, freshness and other factors.
(3) Giving a worker too many tasks will cause less work to be done and/or more errors to be made.
(4) A person who is of declining performance should reduce the cognitive task load to a more manageable level.
(5) A person who is bored may benefit from a higher number of tasks, preferably ones that the person finds interesting.
(6) A person can learn ways to extend performance, up to a point.
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