Free memory game — instant play, no signup, no download
Symbol Recall shows abstract symbols and asks you to remember them. Because the symbols have no names and no meaning, the usual verbal strategies are unavailable — which makes this an unusually pure test of visual memory.
Symbols are displayed for a short period.
They are hidden.
Identify or reproduce the symbols you saw.
Correct answers add more symbols.
Your score is the most symbols you held.
Visual memory for meaningless material. Most everyday memory leans on meaning; removing it shows how much of your capacity depends on being able to name things.
Invent a name for each symbol — 'the fork', 'the wave'. An arbitrary label is far better than none.
Look for resemblances to letters or objects. Anything meaningful is easier to hold.
Group symbols by visual feature: curved ones, angular ones.
Do not try to memorise the exact drawing. One distinguishing feature per symbol is enough.
Because verbal encoding is unavailable by default. Giving them names restores it, which is why the naming strategy helps so much.
No — it is the strategy the task is designed to elicit. Finding it is part of doing well.
Flash Memory uses recognisable emoji. Abstract symbols remove the meaning that makes those easy.
Track your own. Scores on abstract material are highly sensitive to display time.