100 Things Every Presenter Needs to Know About People

9. People Remember Only Four Items At Once

If you’re familiar with usability, psychology, or memory research, you’ve probably heard the phrase ”the magical number seven, plus or minus two.” This refers, actually, to what I would call an urban legend: George A. Miller (1956) wrote a research paper showing that people can remember from five to nine (seven plus or minus two) things and that people can process seven plus or minus two pieces of information at a time. Have you heard that story? Well, it’s not quite accurate.

Why It’s An Urban Legend

Psychologist Alan Baddeley questioned the seven plus or minus two rule. Baddeley (1994) dug up Miller’s paper and discovered that it wasn’t a paper describing actual research; it was a talk that Miller ...