Visual memory test: method

What it measures

Visual short-term memory for static patterns seen all at once (pattern span), as distinct from memory for sequences of locations.

Procedure

Each round: a 600 ms pause, then a random set of squares lights up together for 1,200 ms, then all go dark. The player taps the squares that were lit, in any order; each square counts once; no time limit. The round is passed when all lit squares are found with fewer than 3 wrong taps; the third wrong tap fails it. Level n lights n + 2 squares. Grid: 3 x 3 for levels 1–2, 4 x 4 for 3–5, 5 x 5 for 6–9, 6 x 6 for 10–14, 7 x 7 from level 15. A failed round costs one of 3 lives and the same level is replayed with a new pattern. Maximum level 40. No practice. Input: tap or click, or move the keyboard focus to a square and press Enter or Space.

Parameters

Scoring

Score = the highest level passed; higher is better. Also: squares at that level (level + 2), rounds played, lives lost. No player comparison is shown.

Valid-run rules

Each round must match its level: the right number of distinct lit squares, inside that level's grid, and taps inside the grid; otherwise the run is rejected. Rounds after the third lost life are ignored. The server rebuilds every run from the raw log (and the run's seed where there is one) and computes the score itself; anything the page says about right or wrong is ignored. A log that breaks the game's rules is rejected, and nothing is stored. Stored runs can carry quality flags that are never shown and never block a result: 10 or more runs from one IP address, a missing visitor id, tab switches, and automation signals (automated browser, impossible speed, no input events, machine-regular timing).

Differences from the classic task

The Visual Patterns Test uses fixed printed patterns in which about half of the cells are filled, and people mark the pattern on an empty grid. Here the patterns are random, the share of lit squares changes with the level and grid, the display is short (1.2 s), answers are taps, and a lives system replaces the published scoring. The paper version's norms do not apply.

Limitations

Some random patterns form easy shapes and others don't, so the level can jump between runs. Naming parts of the pattern helps some people (verbal coding). Screen size matters. Practice raises scores. Unsupervised setting, no norms, not a clinical test.

Languages and review status

Language-independent stimuli, instructions in all site languages (English plus 99 other languages).