How the visual memory test works
At the start of each level a set of squares lights up for about a second. Then the board goes blank. Tap every square that was lit, in any order.
Level 1 shows three squares on a 3 by 3 board. Each level adds one square, and the board grows as you go, up to 7 by 7. A wrong tap is marked in red. Three wrong taps on one level costs a life and gives you a new pattern at the same level. Lose all three lives and the test ends.
Your score is the highest level you cleared.
What is a good visual memory score?
| Highest level cleared | Rating |
|---|---|
| 13 or more | Exceptional |
| 11 to 12 | Strong |
| 9 to 10 | Above average |
| 7 to 8 | Average |
| 5 to 6 | Below average |
| Under 5 | Keep practicing |
Two kinds of short-term memory
In 1974 psychologists Alan Baddeley and Graham Hitch proposed that working memory is not one single store. Their model has separate parts for speech-based information and for visual and spatial information. They named the visual part the visuospatial sketchpad.
That split is why this test feels so different from the number memory test. With digits you can repeat the sequence in your head. With a pattern of squares there is nothing to say. You have to hold an image, and images fade quickly unless you organize them.
It also explains why the two skills do not always go together. Some people who struggle past seven digits handle a dozen squares easily, and the other way around.
How to remember more squares
See shapes, not squares. Three squares in a row are a line. Four in a block are a box. An L, a T, a diagonal. Ten squares might only be three shapes, and three shapes are easy to hold.
Anchor to the edges and corners. Positions on the border are easier to place than ones floating in the middle. Note which corners are lit first, then fill in the rest relative to them.
Look at the whole board. Keep your eyes near the center and take in the pattern as one picture. Jumping from square to square wastes the short display time.
Tap the hard ones first. As soon as the board goes blank, place the squares you feel least sure about while the image is fresh. The obvious shapes will still be there a second later.
Use your free mistakes. Two wrong taps on a level cost nothing. If you are down to the last square and unsure, a careful guess is fine.
Why the board grows
A bigger board does two things. It allows more squares, and it makes each position harder to pin down because there are more neighbors to confuse it with. On the 3 by 3 board every square is an edge or the center. On the 6 by 6 board most squares are somewhere in the middle, and being off by one cell is the typical error.
Where visual memory matters
You use this kind of memory when you glance at a map and then walk the route, remember where pieces sit on a chess board, find your place again on a page, or keep track of where other players are in a game. To add order to the mix, play the sequence memory test or the chimp test.