Sequence Memory Test

By Murat Şahin · Updated November 11, 2026 · How we test

How the sequence memory test works

Press Start test. One square in the 3×3 grid lights up. When it goes dark, tap it. Now the same square lights up again, followed by a new one: tap both, in that order. Every level replays the whole sequence from the start and adds one new step at the end, so level 5 is a 5-step sequence and level 10 is a 10-step one. If you prefer a pattern that flashes all at once, the visual memory test lights every square together.

Some details that matter:

• Each square stays lit for half a second, with a short pause between steps.
• The same square never lights twice in a row, but it can come back later in the sequence.
• There is no time limit for your answer, and the counter above the grid shows how many steps you have entered.

You have 3 lives for the whole test. If you tap a wrong square it turns red, the square you should have pressed lights up, and you lose a life. Then the same sequence plays again, so you get another look before you retry. After the third mistake the test ends. Your score is the longest sequence you repeated without an error. Your best score and recent results are saved in this browser only.

On a keyboard, use the arrow keys to move between squares and Enter or Space to select.

What this test measures

You are using spatial working memory for order: remembering not only where something happened but in which sequence. Psychologists have a classic tool for this, the Corsi block-tapping task. Philip Corsi developed it at McGill University in the early 1970s, working with Brenda Milner. In the original version an examiner taps a sequence on nine wooden blocks fixed to a board, and the person copies it. Sequences grow until the person fails, just like here.

This online version borrows the idea, not the procedure. In Corsi's task the blocks are scattered irregularly, the examiner taps them by hand and there are usually two tries at each length. Here the nine squares form a neat grid, each new level extends the same sequence instead of starting a fresh one, and you see the whole sequence again after a mistake. Because the sequence builds up level by level, your score here is usually higher than a Corsi span would be. The two numbers should not be compared.

The same build-up mechanic is what made the electronic game Simon, released by Milton Bradley in 1978, so addictive: you only need to add one item each round, but you must keep the whole chain. The chimp test asks for order too, but shows all the positions at once.

There is no published typical score for this exact game, so your result card compares you with your own history.

Why sequences are harder than lists

In Alan Baddeley and Graham Hitch's 1974 working memory model, spatial information is held in a "visuospatial sketchpad", separate from the "phonological loop" that holds words and digits. Studies that test both often find people's spatial span a little shorter than their digit span. If you are curious about your own digit span, the number memory test measures it, although its scoring differs from this test's. A practical consequence: many good players quietly turn the visual task into a verbal one by naming the squares ("top left, middle, bottom right") or numbering them 1 to 9.

How to improve your score

• Name or number the squares. Saying the sequence to yourself recruits verbal memory as a second store.
• Trace the path. See the sequence as a line drawn across the grid. Shapes such as a triangle or a zigzag are easier to keep than separate jumps.
• Only memorize the new step. Since earlier steps repeat each level, focus on what is added at the end.
• Wait for the last flash. Start tapping only after the final square has gone dark and the message says it is your turn.
• Rested and quiet. Fatigue and noise shorten every kind of span.

Limits of an online test

This is a self-check for curiosity and practice, not a medical or psychological assessment. Your score can swing between rounds, so look at your best of several tries. If you notice real changes in your everyday memory or attention, talk to a doctor.

More memory games are on the memory and brain tests page.

Sources

• Corsi, P. M. (1972). Human memory and the medial temporal region of the brain (Doctoral dissertation). McGill University, Montreal.
• Milner, B. (1971). Interhemispheric differences in the localization of psychological processes in man. British Medical Bulletin, 27(3), 272–277.
• Baddeley, A. D., & Hitch, G. (1974). Working memory. In G. H. Bower (Ed.), The Psychology of Learning and Motivation (Vol. 8, pp. 47–89). Academic Press.

Frequently asked questions