chunking

Chunking is a psychological term about human cognition; it is when several distinct things can become treated as a single item. This happens for actions: when you first tie a knot you might follow instructions one by one: loop, twist and poke through, but after some practice you just tie the knot without being aware of the steps. It is also happens at a conceptual level, for example, Miller's seven plus or minus 2 result for working memory is about chunks: 7+/–2 random letters, 7+/–2 words, or 7+/–2 phrases.