How this photographic memory test works
Most online memory tests show you a single picture and ask a few questions. This one tests five different kinds of memory, because memory isn't one skill. Someone who never forgets a face can still struggle with a phone number, and a chess player who remembers whole games may forget where they left their keys.
| Round | What you do | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| The Scene | Study an illustrated room, then answer five detail questions | Visual detail: the closest thing to "photographic" memory |
| The Grid | Tap the squares that lit up; each success adds one | Visual-spatial memory |
| Number Span | Repeat digits in order as the string grows | Short-term memory, as in professional IQ tests |
| The Chessboard | Put the pieces back on the squares where they stood | Pattern and location memory |
| The Word List | Pick out the words you saw from a list with decoys | Verbal recognition memory |
Every round is generated fresh each time you play, so you can retake the test and get a new room, new numbers, new boards and new words. You don't need to know chess, and nothing you do is sent to our servers. Your best score is kept only in your own browser.
The three difficulty modes of the memory test
- Relaxed gives you longer looks and smaller starting challenges, such as 15 seconds to study the room and 10 seconds to study a board with 4 pieces. It is ideal for a first attempt.
- Standard is the balanced test: 10 seconds for the room, and 5 seconds for a 6-piece chessboard, the same viewing time Garry Kasparov was given in his famous 1987 memory test.
- Kasparov mode is for memory athletes: 6 seconds for the room, 3 seconds for an 8-piece board, faster digits and more words.
What your photographic memory test score means
Each round gives a percentage, and your overall score out of 100 is the average of the five. Your profile shows which kinds of memory are your strongest, which is usually more interesting than the total.
- 85 to 100: exceptional. Your memory held up across very different kinds of material.
- 70 to 84: very strong. Well above what most people manage on a first try.
- 50 to 69: solid. A typical-to-good memory, usually with clear strengths in one or two rounds.
- Below 50: room to grow. Memory responds quickly to technique, so the tips below can make a real difference.
We don't turn your result into a percentile, because that would need a large, representative group of people to compare you with, which an online test doesn't have. Where research gives a useful yardstick, we show it: in the number round, most adults can repeat about 5 to 9 digits, a finding the psychologist George Miller made famous in 1956 as the "magical number seven, plus or minus two".
Is photographic memory real?
For the full story, read our guide Photographic memory: is it real? In brief: probably not in the way most people imagine. A truly photographic memory, the ability to recall a page or a scene as precisely as a photograph, has never been reliably demonstrated in an adult. The best-known claim, a 1970 report in the journal Nature about a woman who could supposedly merge two dot patterns from memory, was never repeated by other researchers.
What does exist is eidetic imagery: a small minority of children report seeing a vivid afterimage of a picture for a short time after it is taken away. It usually fades by adulthood, and even then the "image" contains errors. Adults with remarkable memories, from memory champions to chess grandmasters, turn out to use strategies and deep knowledge rather than a mental camera. When researchers scanned the brains of top memory competitors in 2003, they found no unusual brain structure; the difference was the memory-palace technique they used. That is also why no online "eidetic memory test", ours included, can prove you have a photographic memory. The one extraordinary memory scientists have confirmed is much narrower: hyperthymesia, a rare ability to recall the days of your own life by date.
Chess is the clearest example. In 1973 the psychologists William Chase and Herbert Simon found that chess masters could rebuild real game positions after a few seconds' look, yet lost most of their advantage when the pieces were placed at random. Their memory is for meaningful patterns. That is why the random chessboard in our test is harder than it looks, and why Garry Kasparov's recall of 117 of 120 pieces from real positions, in a test we describe in our article on Kasparov's IQ, is so striking.
How memory relates to IQ
Memory and intelligence are linked, but they are not the same thing. Professional IQ tests such as the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale include a working memory score, built from tasks very like our number round: repeating digits forwards, backwards and in order. Working memory matters because reasoning often means holding several pieces of information in mind at once.
But an IQ score also reflects reasoning, verbal ability, visual problem solving and speed. A brilliant memory doesn't guarantee a high IQ, and a high IQ doesn't guarantee a brilliant memory. If you'd like to see how your reasoning compares, our free IQ test covers four areas of reasoning, and our IQ score range chart explains what each level means.
Three proven ways to improve your memory
- Build a memory palace. Picture a familiar route, such as your home, and "place" each thing you want to remember at a spot along it. In a 2017 study in the journal Neuron, ordinary volunteers who practised this method for 30 minutes a day over 40 days more than doubled the number of words they could recall.
- Chunk the information. Group items into meaningful units. A phone number is easier as three chunks than as ten separate digits, and chess masters see groups of pieces rather than single pieces. In the grid round, try seeing the lit squares as a shape.
- Test yourself. Trying to recall something strengthens memory more than rereading it. Researchers call this the testing effect: students who practised recalling a text remembered it better a week later than students who simply studied it again.
Then come back and take the test again in a harder mode. Because every round is randomly generated, you'll be testing your memory, not your memory of the last test.
Frequently asked questions
Can a test tell if I have a photographic memory?
No online test can confirm a photographic memory, and scientists have never reliably found one in an adult. What a test like this can show is how strong your short-term visual, spatial, numerical and verbal memory is, and where your strengths lie.
What is a good score on this memory test?
Scores of 70 or more out of 100 on Standard mode are very strong, and 85 or more is exceptional. For the number round specifically, most adults can repeat about 5 to 9 digits in order, so a span of 8 or more is well above typical.
If I score 100%, do I have a photographic memory?
A perfect score means an excellent memory and good strategies, but not a photographic one. People who score highly usually group information into meaningful chunks or patterns, which is a skill rather than a camera-like ability.
Why is the chessboard round so hard?
Because the positions are random. Research on chess masters shows they remember real game positions brilliantly but lose most of their advantage on random boards, since their memory relies on familiar patterns. Garry Kasparov recalled 117 of 120 pieces from real positions in 1987.
Can I improve my memory score?
Yes. Techniques such as the memory palace, chunking and regular self-testing can improve recall quickly. In one study, people who practised the memory palace technique for 40 days more than doubled the number of words they could remember.
Is memory part of IQ?
Yes. Professional IQ tests such as the Wechsler scales include a working memory score, built from tasks like repeating digits. Memory is one ingredient of intelligence, alongside reasoning, verbal ability and processing speed.
Sources
- Miller, G. A. (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus two. Psychological Review, 63(2), 81–97.
- Chase, W. G. and Simon, H. A. (1973). Perception in chess. Cognitive Psychology, 4(1), 55–81.
- Dresler, M. et al. (2017). Mnemonic training reshapes brain networks to support superior memory. Neuron, 93(5), 1227–1235.
- Roediger, H. L. and Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249–255.
- Maguire, E. A., Valentine, E. R., Wilding, J. M. and Kapur, N. (2003). Routes to remembering: the brains behind superior memory. Nature Neuroscience, 6(1), 90–95.
- Stromeyer, C. F. and Psotka, J. (1970). The detailed texture of eidetic images. Nature, 225, 346–349.
- Der Spiegel (1987). Genieblitze und Blackouts: Kasparov's chess memory test.
- Chess piece drawings: Cburnett, Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0.
