Observers represent only a tiny fraction of the total amount of information available at any given moment. This small amount of information has been quantified: throughout the lifespan we typically maintain only three or four visual items in working memory at a time. Yet we are also capable of impressive quantificational feats: we can count the objects in arrays containing hundreds, or estimate that a scene contains "about 100" people. Given the strict limits on working memory, how do observers accomplish this? Here I propose that although working memory is limited in the number of items it can store, it is also flexible in what counts as an item. At least three types of representations can serve as an item in working memory: an individual object, a set, and an ensemble. Shifting between these types of representations allows us to bypass some of the strict constraints imposed by WM, thereby empowering quantification.
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