This is a quick hack. five is about my limit. But I can double this, without practice, by remembering numbers as two digit combos. Phone numbers, with area code, very doable. Bank account numbers, also doable. Credit Card numbers, just beyond reach (this is a good thing).

PotKettleBlack

One trick I use especialy if I don't want to write down the list of items to buy from the grocery store, or things that need to get done that day. Is to just remember the number of items on the list. Then when I go back I can tick off the easy to remember ones and know instanly if I have forgotten any, and then think a little harder trying to remember those. It works most of the time for me.

Melsana

Hmm, there might be some truth to this. I tend to memorise my numbers in groups of 4 or 5 though, depending on which fits better.

kureshii

I know this isn't what the article is necessarily about, but I used to use pseudonumerology to memorize long numbers. It takes a bit of effort, though, and after awhile I realized writing it down was actually just easier (especially if you have a pda).

razordu30

I'm not sure about my limit, but at least it's NOT 7. That's because I had a hard time completing my 7-part science and technology project, as I didn't remember what I was supposed to do.

Toptiger5

Hmm. I've always found that I "memorised" numbers better when I used a desktop and had a number-pad on my keyboard. I remember patterns well, and can usually go up to about 9 digits.

delightt

I like to use the rhyming list to remember a list of things. The way it works is you memorize a ryhming list, and you associate each item you have to remember with the object in the list. For example, if you want to remember a grocery list that consists of:
1. toothpaste
2. grape jelly
3. light bulbs
You just remember a rhyme that you always use: "One is a bun, two is a shoe, three is a tree..." And you imagine a bun covered in toothpaste when you recite "one is a bun", a shoe filled with grape jelly when you recite "two is a shoe", and a tree that grows light bulbs when you recite "three is a tree". The more absurd the associations, the better you will remember them.

OptoGeek

I remember:

-My birthday
-My Wife's birthday
-My SSN
-My Wife's SSN
-Her Current License plate #
-My Current License plate #
-My Previous License plate #
-Her Previous License plate #
-Our credit card # and all
associated info for online transactions
-Our Anniversary
-Assorted online and PC
passwords
as well as
-My ATM card #
-Our home phone #

NPR once had a segment,
"How long is your number?"

Basically all the functional information you remember and may be asked any given day.

This is all the stuff I remember.

And all I can think of at the moment.

stpurniq

"Non-practiced memory"?

I tend to use the tried and
true memory tricks.

Acronyms, mnemonics, association,
rhyme.

Still remember:

APSTNDP

All People Seem To Need Data Processing

or

Princess Diana Never wanted To
Stay with Prince Andrew

The Seven Layers of the Network OSI
Model

I can remember the Acronyms but not
what the letters stand for.

stpurniq

Now I know why I have only five fingers.

dr_aletta

WoW! I hope I can remember to do this!

Theof

When I am trying to remember a longer number, I think about the pathway my finger would take if I typed it in on a keypad. Saying the digits out loud then combines audio with visual and kinaesthetic memory, hopefully tripling my chances of remembering it.

GreatEggRace

Sorry, but most phone numbers in the world are not 3-4 groupings. Infact, many countries don't even use the same number of digits for all phone numbers. Even in the US, phone numbers weren't expanded to 7 digits until the 50's. Even when they did change to seven, they weren't 3-4, they continued using a name a name followed by digits. The names were mnemonics for the first two digits, like JAckson 3-1234 or PEnnsylvania 6-5000 (betcha wondered where those lyrics came from).

I have no idea what my brain's "limit" is for immediate recall. Some days I struggle to make one, other days it's about 32. But I do recall that the example of the phone numbers is false conclusion based on "Hypothesis based Testing."

imajoebob

Whenever I can't remember somebody's name, I silently go through the alphabet in my head trying to see which letter "feels right". I usually don't get to the end of the alphabet before remembering the name.

zabukoma

SSNs are much easier to remember if you group it in three groups of three as opposed to the nonsensical 3-2-4 designation.

Smackdown

@imajoebob: I believe that when they said phone numbers are arranged in 3-4 groupings, what was meant was that the seven digits of a phone number are split up into one group of three, and a second group of four. As in 333-4444 <-- note the hyphen there separating it into two separate groups. And yes, our minds tend to process the set "333" and "4444" as two items with 3-4 subitems, rather than seven distinct items total. It may not seem like there's a distinction there, but there is.

OptoGeek

All I can say is that during a university lecture on memory, I wowed those sitting within earshot by reciting a 20 digit number after the lecturer only showed it for about 10 seconds or less.

The trick? I simply remembered the first 4 and the last 4 digit. I made up the rest! No one would have been able to verify it.

When I told them the trick, no one was impressed any more. :(

ICEBreaker