this limit: you can break down the number into shorter sequences of digits,
possibly relying on some pattern of repetition, incremental order, or rhythmic
pattern. This is exactly what happens in oral transmission. When listening to
an oral text, you will not be able to keep in mind more than seven words
simultaneously, so that any new word just“pushes out”older words from
working memory and words will have no time to enter long-term memory so
your hippocampus can create associations between them. Of course, texts
usually do not consist of mere lists of words. In any well-formed sentence
there is a grammatical pattern and semantic relationships that connect words.
Still short-term memory for meaningful sentences is limited to aboutfifteen to
twenty words (Miller & Selfridge, 1950; Baddeley et al., 1987).
For example, consider a list of items, such as Jesus’ancestry (Matt. 1:1–17;
Luke 3:23–38) or the names of the apostles (Matt. 10:2–4; Mark 3:16–19;
Luke 6:14–16; Acts 1:13). The reader (or listener, if these lists are performed
orally) will be able to remember the list only if it provides some help in
overcoming the bottleneck effect of working memory. Indeed, such cues are
easily detected in the text. For example, Matthew’s list of the apostles starts
with the brothers Simon and Andrew, continues with the sons of Zebedee
(James and John), and mentions all other names in pairs, as well. Luke’s list
starts with the two pairs of brothers and ends with two apostles called Judas. In
other words, both texts employ some technique of“chunking”—that is, they
organize information into smaller units.
The limitations of working memory constrain the performer of oral trad-
ition, as well, and will shape the text throughout the process of transmission:
how the performer is able to recall the text, how the performer packages
information for the listener, and how the listener is able to process and
memorize the text. The organization of the beatitudes might provide another
example of chunking (Matt. 5:3–12; Luke 6:20–22). Matthew lists nine beati-
tudes, Luke has four beatitudes and four“woes,”and both lists can be broken
down into smaller groups relying on thematic or linguistic patterns. We can
see that the constraints of working memory force various patterns on the text;
or, to express this principle positively, the structure of memory provides basic
organizational patterns for the text. For example, the phenomenon of chunk-
ing naturally leads to the formation of groupings and internal connections
between items of a list (as we have seen above), influences the representation
of kinship patterns, and determines the structure of sentences, such as the
number of adjectives or subordinate clauses (which, in terms of pure gram-
matical theory, could be endless).
Although working memory constrains both the performer and the listener,
the listeners’perspective can be very different from that of the performer. In
principle, the performer can recall a list very accurately, but can also deviate
from it and produce a more or less random list of names or items. However,
the listener will be able to remember the list only if it provides some help in
66 Cognitive Science and the New Testament