The coming PIN code epidemic: A survey study of memory of numeric security codes

Abstract

Most people must remember various numeric passwords, security codes and PIN numbers for banking, credit cards, debit cards, online accounts, mobile phones, door locks, luggage locks, etc. One pilot study (N=13) developed a list of eleven strategies for remembering numeric codes, and another (N=15) optimized the research questionnaire which asked respondents about a) the number of security codes they had, b) the number of self-created codes, c) mnemonic strategies used, d) problems and effort remembering codes, and e) gender, age, and education. Respondents (N=388) had a median of 4 security codes and typically used 2 different memory strategies, the most common of which were based on repetition and on keypad pattern. Difficulties remembering codes were unrelated to gender or education but were positively correlated with age and with number of strategies used. Self-creation of codes slightly reduced difficulties remembering numeric codes.