Sequence Memory Test

How to take the sequence memory test

1. Press Start. One tile flashes.
2. Click that tile. The sequence plays again with one more tile added to the end.
3. Repeat the whole sequence from the beginning each level. The same tile can appear more than once in a row.
4. A wrong click ends the game and shows the tile you should have pressed. Your score is the last level you completed.
5. Press Start again for a new sequence. Your best level is kept in this browser.

What the results mean

Your score is the length of the longest sequence you repeated correctly. It measures serial working memory: holding items in order, which is harder than holding them in any order because each extra step can be confused with its neighbours.

Because every level replays the full sequence, the early steps get rehearsed many times and are rarely the ones you forget; mistakes nearly always happen in the last two or three steps. The flashes speed up slightly as the level rises, so later levels test attention as well as memory.

Sequence memory, Simon and the Corsi test

This format comes from two places. In 1978 the Simon electronic game turned an ordered sequence of lights into a toy, and in the 1970s the Corsi block-tapping test turned it into a clinical measure: the examiner taps wooden blocks in a sequence and the patient repeats it. Corsi span is one of the standard measures of visuospatial working memory and averages around 6 for adults, somewhat lower than digit span because positions are harder to rehearse than words.

Repeating a sequence uses a loop of encoding, rehearsal and recall. Each new step has to be attached to the end of a chain you have already stored, and the chain decays unless you rehearse it, which is why the pause before you can click matters so much. Serial memory also underlies learning a tune, a dance step or a sequence of moves, so practice here feels familiar to musicians and gamers.

How to get further

Rehearse the sequence while it plays rather than waiting for it to finish; mouth the positions or tap your fingers in time. Group the steps into phrases of three or four, the way you would remember a phone number, and notice repeats within a phrase ("corner, corner, middle"). Give the tiles names (top left, centre, bottom right) and say the names, because a verbal label survives longer than a visual flash. When you click, go at the speed you rehearsed; rushing the end of a long sequence is the most common way to lose. For the unordered version, try the visual memory test; for numbers on a grid, the chimp test.

Common problems and fixes

I clicked during the playback and it counted as wrong

Clicks during playback are ignored, not counted. Wait for the status line to say "Now repeat it" before clicking.

The same tile flashed twice in a row and I missed it

Repeats are allowed. A double flash on one tile is two steps; watch for the tile going dark between them.

The flashes are too fast

The gap shrinks slightly with the level, from 0.7 s down to about 0.4 s. Rehearsing out loud as the sequence plays makes the speed matter less.

My best level disappeared

The best level lives in this browser only. Clearing site data or private browsing resets it.