Verbal Memory
Semantic Recognition Memory
SEEN it before or NEW? You have 3 lives.
One wrong answer costs a life — three strikes and you're out
01 /How to Play
- Click 'Begin Protocol' to start the assessment.
- A word will appear on screen — decide if you've SEEN it before in this session or if it's NEW.
- Click the correct button as accurately as possible.
- One incorrect answer ends the test immediately.
- Your score is the total number of correct identifications before your first mistake.
02 /The Science
Semantic recognition memory — the ability to identify previously encountered verbal stimuli — is a core function of the medial temporal lobe, particularly the hippocampus and perirhinal cortex. This test probes familiarity-based recognition, a signal generated by the perirhinal cortex independently of full recollection. As the word pool grows, the interference between similar items increases, placing greater demands on the prefrontal cortex to resolve conflict between competing memory traces. Verbal memory capacity is one of the earliest cognitive functions to show decline in neurodegenerative conditions, making recognition paradigms like this a clinically validated early-screening tool.
03 /Pro Tips
- Don't overthink — your first instinct is usually correct. Deliberation introduces false memories.
- Focus on unusual or emotionally salient words — they form stronger memory traces.
- Avoid looking away between words — sustained attention improves encoding.
- If truly unsure, NEW is statistically safer early in the test when the seen pool is small.
- Mental fatigue rapidly degrades recognition accuracy — take the test when alert.