Press when the lit square matches the one N steps back. 1-back up to 4-back.
This task records working memory on a fixed, repeatable version of the task. Your result is comparable to your own previous attempts on the same device.
It does not diagnose anything, and it does not claim to improve anything beyond performance on this task. Reported times include display and input latency from your own hardware.
Stop if you feel dizzy, nauseous or strained.
A gold square lights up in a 3 × 3 grid, one square at a time. In 1-back, press MATCH (Space, M or the button) when the square lights up in the same box as the one just before it, and do nothing when it is a different box. Example: top-left, then middle, then middle again: press MATCH on the second middle. At higher levels you compare with 2 steps back (2-back), then 3 and 4 steps back, and it goes faster. After every 12 squares the level goes up (90% or more right), stays, or goes down (under 70%). N-back is a classic working-memory task from psychology research.
Score (each right answer scores its level (1–10)). Higher is better. Each difficulty (Easy, Normal, Hard) keeps its own personal best, and custom settings are saved but not ranked, so your bests stay comparable.
Practice makes you better at this game, and that is well supported by research. Better school, work or everyday thinking from brain games is not proven (large reviews, 2016). Not medical advice.
Each brain game is based on a task that psychology and neuroscience labs use to measure one ability: holding things in mind (working memory), keeping focus, ignoring distractions, switching rules, planning ahead, or processing speed. Batteries such as Cambridge CANTAB, the NIH Toolbox and TestMyBrain use tasks like these.
People reliably get better at the games they practise. Large reviews (Simons and colleagues, 2016; Melby-Lervåg, Redick and Hulme, 2016) found little evidence that brain games improve everyday thinking, school or work results, or intelligence. So treat your score as how you did on this game, not as a measure of your brain.
The level adapts as you play: two right answers in a row move you up, a wrong answer moves you down, so each round settles near the edge of what you can do.
