Photographic Memory Test

A photographic memory would let you take a mental snapshot of something and read the details back later, as if you were looking at a photograph. This free test checks whether you can. Each of its three short rounds asks for something that a snapshot would make easy, and then shows you what you got right.

The test is for fun and learning. It is not a clinical assessment of your memory.

How the Test Works

Before the first round and after the last, the test asks whether you think you have a photographic memory. Each round shows you something to study while a timer counts down, and you can stop early when you are ready. The questions have no time limit, and "I don't know" is always an answer. Afterwards you see the material again with your answers marked.

1. A page of words. Study 8 lines of 4 common words for 20 seconds. Then, for 3 marked spots on a blank map of the page, pick the word that sat there. The 4 choices were all on the page, so only remembering where a word was helps.
2. A digit grid. Study a 5 × 5 grid of digits for 20 seconds. Then read 3 lines of it back from memory, 5 digits each: a row from right to left, a column and a diagonal, in whichever direction the test asks.
3. Dot patterns. Study a 24 × 24 pattern of random dots for 10 seconds. Then it disappears and a second pattern appears. Each one alone looks like noise, but laid over each other they show a shape. Pick it from 6 shapes. The round has 2 trials, each with new patterns.

What Your Score Means

The test asks for 20 answers in all: 3 words, 15 digits and 2 shapes. Guessing alone gets about 3 of them. A real photograph in your head would get all 20, because you could look at it again and read off every answer.

• 0 to 4: about what guessing gets.
• 5 to 9: an ordinary memory, well short of a photograph.
• 10 to 19: a strong memory, but not a photographic one.
• 20: a perfect score. That is what a photograph would get, but a memory technique, a lucky run or a screenshot can get it too.

Why Nobody Passes

A true photographic memory has never been proved to exist, as our article on eidetic and photographic memory explains in full. The only case that seemed to prove one was a Harvard student named Elizabeth, who in 1970 was said to combine two patterns of random dots, seen at different times, into one three-dimensional image. She was never tested again. When a researcher later placed a photographic memory test in magazines and newspapers, roughly a million people tried it, and none of the people he visited could repeat her feat with him watching. The dot patterns in this test are a much simpler version of her task.

What to Do Instead

The people who win memory competitions don't have photographic memories either. They use memory techniques, such as the memory palace, and some of them can memorize a deck of playing cards in under 20 seconds. Almost anyone can learn the same techniques with some practice. Start with our free ebook, Learn the Art of Memory, and our guide on how to learn memory techniques. Then practice with our free memory games, and compete with other people on Memory League.