Abstract: The chunking theory and rehearsal loop theory are two hypothesesfor measuring the STM capacity. This paper includes three experimentsand the results indicate that the complexity of the strokes should beconsidered in measuring its effect on the capacity of STM. In experiment1 which compares the characters of less strokes with those of multiplestrokes, matched for frequency of usage, the STM capacity for the formeris larger than that for the latter. Japanese kanjis of different syllablelengths with approximately similar number of strokes were used in thesecond experiment. Their effect on STM capacity was insignificant. Inexperiment 3 the characters were presented to vision and auditionseparately under the condition of articulatory suppression, and the resultindicates that the STM capacity of both modalities is reduced, but thevisual performance is better than auditory performance. Again itsuggests that the measuring of STM capacity should involve the visualfeature of the characters. Finally the passable reasons for the effect ofcomplexity of character strokes on STM capacity are discussed.

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