How does the sequence memory test work?
Nine tiles sit in a 3×3 grid. They light up one at a time in a sequence; when it ends, tap the same tiles in the same order. If you get it right, a new random sequence plays, one tile longer than the last. One wrong tap ends the run. Each tile stays lit for 450 milliseconds with a 200-millisecond gap, and no tile lights twice in the same sequence until it is longer than nine.
How is your result calculated?
Your result is the length of the longest sequence you repeated without a mistake. Getting to round 8 and missing there means a result of 7. Tapping is not timed.
What does a sequence memory test measure?
It measures how many places in a row you can hold in mind and replay in order: spatial short-term memory for sequences. The idea comes from the Corsi block-tapping test, described by Philip Corsi in 1972, in which an examiner taps a series of nine wooden blocks and the person repeats it. This version runs on a regular grid in your browser, so Corsi norms are only a rough guide to it.
How to remember longer sequences
- See the shape of the path. A sequence often traces a zigzag or a loop. Remembering the shape is easier than remembering single tiles.
- Name the tiles. Numbering them 1 to 9 like a phone keypad and saying the numbers to yourself turns a spatial task into a verbal one, which some people find easier.
- Split it into short pieces. Every round is a fresh sequence, so nothing carries over. Hold a long one as two or three short paths of three or four tiles each.
What this test does not measure
It measures your longest sequence in one run, on your device. It isn't a memory assessment and says nothing about dementia or any other condition. For memory for a whole pattern at once, try the Visual Memory Test; for sequences of numbers, the Digit Span Test.