Brain Skill Hub
Brain training games

Memory

Memory tests here measure how much you can hold for a few seconds and reproduce without error. Each one runs a remember-and-repeat loop that adds an item every round until you miss, so your score is the round you stopped on rather than a percentage.

3 games·1 playable now

Memory3 games

MemoryDigit Span TestDigits flash one at a time. Type them back in order and see how long a string you can hold.PlayAbout 60s
Coming soonMemoryVisual MemorySquares light up in a grid. Tap them back, one more each level.2 min
Coming soonMemorySequence MemoryTiles light in order and you repeat it. The sequence keeps growing.2 min

What these memory tests measure

These tests target short-term and working memory -- the small amount of information you can hold and manipulate over a few seconds -- not long-term recall of things that happened years ago. Holding a phone number while you hunt for a pen is the system being measured.

Memory is not one thing, either. Remembering where blocks appeared, remembering what order they appeared in, and remembering a digit string load different systems, and one person can be reliable at positions and ordinary at digits. That is why this category splits position, order and digits into separate tests instead of averaging them into one memory score.

How to read your score

The score is the level you stopped on, not a percentage. Each round adds one item and a single miss ends the run, so a score of 8 means you reproduced eight items reliably.

Two capacity figures get quoted constantly: Miller's 7 plus or minus 2 from 1956, and Cowan's reconsidered 4 plus or minus 1 from 2001. The difference is whether you are allowed to rehearse silently. With rehearsal, people reach about seven items; without it, roughly four chunks. Digit span measures the first case.

Span depends on the language you count in

Digit span is partly a property of the language you are rehearsing in, not just of your memory. A Memory & Cognition study (2018) recorded 6.94 digits for English speakers tested in English and 8.84 for Mandarin speakers tested in Chinese, while the same Mandarin speakers tested in English managed only 5.77.

So a span measured in a second language understates you, and cross-language comparisons of digit span are not comparisons of memory. Test in the language you count in, and compare against your own history rather than against a number you read somewhere.

FAQ

How many digits can the average person remember
Around seven for English speakers, with most people between five and nine. A Memory & Cognition study (2018) put English speakers tested in English at 6.94 digits on average, and Mandarin speakers tested in Chinese at 8.84 -- span depends heavily on how quickly the digit names can be rehearsed.
What is working memory
Working memory is the small amount of information you can hold and actively work with over a few seconds. Keeping a number in mind while you look for something to write it on is working memory doing its job. Its capacity is small and its duration short, which is exactly why a few-minute test can measure it.
What is the difference between short-term and working memory
Short-term memory holds information as it arrived; working memory holds it while doing something to it, such as reversing a digit string. Backward digit span usually runs about two digits shorter than forward span, and that gap is the cost of the manipulation step.
Is visual memory the same as verbal memory
No. Remembering block positions and remembering a digit string draw on different systems, so one person can score well on one and average on the other. This category keeps position, order and digits as separate tests for that reason -- a combined score would hide the difference that matters.
How do I test my memory accurately
Run three rounds on the same interface and take the median rather than trusting a single run. Note that grouping digits into familiar chunks -- reading 1949 as one unit -- reliably raises the score. That is not cheating, it is how memory works, but you should know you did it rather than conclude your capacity grew.
Do brain training games actually improve memory
Scores on the trained task improve reliably; evidence that the gains transfer to everyday remembering is weak. The standard reference is the Simons et al. review in Psychological Science in the Public Interest (2016), and the US FTC fined Lumosity two million dollars in 2016 over claims of this kind. Treat these as measurement and practice, not treatment.
Can children take a memory test
Yes, the rules have no age requirement beyond recognising digits. But capacity changes with age during childhood, so reading a child's score against adult ranges produces the wrong conclusion. For a child, the useful comparison is their own scores over a few weeks.
Is digit span related to IQ
Digit span is one subtest of the Wechsler intelligence scales, but a single subtest is not an intelligence score, and a formal assessment has to be administered by a qualified professional using the full battery. The tests here are for self-knowledge and practice and produce no diagnostic result.

Your scores are stored in this browser only. This site collects no personal data and never asks you to sign up.