How does your memory work?
Instead of telling you what people usually remember — let's find out for ourselves. I've been running this experiment for several years, and more than 250 people have taken part so far. You'll get to compare your results with theirs.
How it works
- You'll have one minute to study the list of words on the next page.
- Read them left to right, like a book — not down the columns.
- No note-taking — this is a read-only challenge.
- When your time is up, write down every word you can remember.
Once you're done, I'll show you how your recall compares to the broader sample — and what this tells us about how memory actually works.
Read the words — left to right
No note-taking. Commit as many as you can to memory.
Write down every word you remember
Separate words with commas, spaces, or new lines — order doesn't matter.
Don't worry about spelling — close matches count.
Here's how you did
Words you remembered are highlighted in green below.
Compare your results
Open the form below, paste your recalled words into the text box at the top, then check off each word from the list. When done, explore the summary to see how you compare with 250+ others.