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Neuroscience For Kids

Memory experiments, on-line short term memory games.

Grades K-12

Think you have a good memory? Then take this little Short Term Memory Test . Also, test your memory for pictures with this Short Term Memory Picture Game

On-line "Simon Says" Memory Games

Simon says, "Play These Games!" to test your memory. Both SIMON games require that your browser is "JAVA-enabled."

• Play SIMON SAYS Game 1
• Play SIMON SAYS Game 2

Try Game 1 with and without sound. Do you do better with the sound on or with the sound off?

Face Memory Test

How good is your memory for faces? Find out with the Face Memory Test.

There are two versions of the test:

• Face Memory Test - Version 1
• Face Memory Test - Version 2

Now You See It, Now You Don't

Let's test short term memory . Get a tray or a large plate. (The kind of trays from the cafeteria work well). Put 10 to 20 objects on the tray, then cover them with a towel or cloth. Tell your subjects that you have a number of objects on the tray and that you want them to remember as many items as possible. Also tell them that they will have only one minute to view them. Then take off the cover from the tray and start timing one minute. After one minute, cover up the tray. Have your subjects write down all the items that they can remember. Could they remember all of the items? Are there any items that were forgotten by all the subjects? Teach your subjects some of the memory techniques (see below) and repeat the experiment.

• Tray or plate
• 10-20 small items (like an eraser, pencil, coin, marble, etc.)
• Cloth or towel to cover the tray
• Paper and pencils for your subjects to write down what they remember

What's Missing

This experiment is a variation of the previous experiment to test short term memory. Get your tray and items and cloth ready again. This time have you subjects view the items for 1 minute. Then cover the tray again. Without the subjects seeing, REMOVE 1 item from the tray. Show the tray and remaining items to your subjects again. Ask them, "What is missing?". Can they guess what you removed?

• Try it again giving the subjects more time to view all the items.
• Try it with less time.
• Try it with more objects on the tray.
• Try it with fewer objects, but have your subject identify the missing object feeling the remaining objects without seeing them.
• Try it again, but this time remove 3-4 objects.

Who's Missing

Think you know your classmates? Let's see how good your memory for them really is. Have one student leave the room. While this student is out of the room, have another student hide. Then bring the first student back into the room. Can this student name the student who is missing?

Classroom Mix-up

This game is a bit like "Who's Missing". This time a few students or the whole class can test their memory at the same time. Tell everyone to take a good look around the classroom. Ask them to remember where objects are located in the room. Then send a few students out of the room while you change the location of various objects in the class. You could also do this while the students are at recess or lunch. When the students come back into the classroom, ask them to write down all of the things that have changed. Make sure you keep a list of all the things that you have changed!

Everyday Memory

Grades 3-12

Go to the Exploratorium to see if you remember what this common everyday object really looks like. What can it be? What can it be?

This experiment is based on a study by Nickerson, R.S. and Adams, M.J. titled "Long-term memory for a common object," Cognitive Psychology , 11:297-307, 1979.

Eyewitness Game

Have you ever been an eyewitness to a crime? Is your memory of the crime the same as other people's recollection? Here is a way to explore eyewitness memory. Plan to have someone (a teacher or a student) come into your class. Let's call this person, "X". X should plan on doing several things in class such as:

• Change the time on the clock
• Take a book and put it in a bag
• Erase the chalkboard
• Close a window
• Talk to someone

Before X comes into the room, have all of the students working or reading at their desks. When X comes into the room, most of the students will be curious about what he or she is doing. After X leaves the room, have the students write down all the things that happened. (You can do this immediately after X leaves or sometime later). Once everyone has finished writing, find out what everyone remembers and what they did not.

What details do they recall? What did X wear? How long was X in the room? What book did X take? Who did X talk to? What did X say? You may even ask some leading questions to influence memory. For example, if X was not wearing a hat, ask, "What color hat was X wearing?". Compare how everyone's memory was the same and different.

False Memories

Sometimes your brain makes up its own memories. Try to "implant" a memory by asking people to remember the words on list 1. Wait about five minutes, then probe their memory by asking them which words on list 2 they remember.

List 1: read, pages, letters, school, study, reading, stories, sheets, cover, pen, pencil, magazine, paper, words

List 2: house, pencil, apple, shoe, book, flag, rock, train, ocean, hill, music, water, glass, school

Did they say that "book" was on list 1? Only pencil and school were on list 1.

Try these words:

List 1: sheets, pillow, mattress, blanket, comfortable, room, dream, lay, chair, rest, tired, night, dark, time

List 2: door, tree, eye, song, pillow, juice, orange, radio, rain, car, sleep, cat, dream, eat

Did they say that "sleep" was on list 1? Only pillow and dream were on list 1.

Make up your own lists and see if you can create a false memory.

Concentration

• Deck of playing cards

On-line Brain Concentration Game and Sensory Concentration Game

Test your memory with this on-line concentration game by locating the matching brains of different animals and matching the senses. These games require that your browser is "JAVA-enabled."

PLAY BRAIN CONCENTRATION

PLAY SENSORY CONCENTRATION

The Memory Game

How good is your memory? I will present you with a table of 25 different objects. Look at them for 30 seconds, then close the object window to return to this page. Then write down all the objects that you can remember.

Here are the 25 objects .

How did you do? How many did you remember? Try some of the memory techniques (see below) and see if you do better.

• Pencil (or pen) and paper

There's a Chunk

Does this chunking really work? Find out. Get a partner. Tell your partner that you are going to read some numbers and you want him or her to remember as many as possible. Don't tell your partner how many numbers or what range they will be in. Read these numbers in the following order at a rate of about 1 every second:

9 1 5 11 2 4 6 15 10 3 7 13 12 8 14

Immediately ask your partner to write down the numbers he or she remembers. Now tell your partner that you will read another set of numbers and you want him or her to remember them. Read these numbers in the following order at a rate of about 1 every second:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

Immediately ask your partner to write down the numbers he or she remembers. Was the second time easier? Did your partner remember more numbers the second time? Both sets of numbers are exactly the same...it is just that the second one can really be "chunked" into 1...one series of numbers that is easy to remember.

More memory tricks and mnemonics from "Mind Tools"

A Trip to Memory Market

Write a story about a trip to the grocery store. In the story include many food items (10-20 items) that you bought. Read your story to the class and see how many items they can remember. Use the memory tricks and tips (see below) to increase the number of items that can be remembered.

Look up a random phone number in the phone book. Take about one minute to memorize the phone number. Can you remember it 5 minutes later? 1 hour later? 6 hours later? The next day?

Grocery Store

Here is another grocery store game, called "Grocery Store" how original).

Get everyone together. The first player starts the grocery list by saying "I went to the grocery story and bought some ____." The player should fill in the blank with an item from the grocery store. For example, the player could say "I went to the grocery story and bought some apples." The next player must repeat the list and add a second item. For example, the second player can say, "I went to the grocery store and bought some apples and a bag of potato chips." The third player must create a list using apples, bag of chips and add a third item. The game continues until someone forgets one of the items.

Now or Later - The "Recency/Primary" Effect

Grades 6-12

Here is a memory experiment that requires a group of subjects to test. Get 5 or more friends to serve as your experimental subjects. Tell them that you will read a list of 20 words and that their job is to remember as many of the words as possible. Read the following list of 20 words at a rate of 1 word every second. Ask your subjects to write down the words that they can remember immediately after you finish reading the list.

Here is the list of words:

cat apple ball tree square head house door box car king hammer milk fish book tape arrow flower key shoe

• Find out if there was better recall of any particular words on your list.
• Was there better recall of words that were read first or last?

To do this assign a "position" to each word that you read. So, "cat" was word #1, apple was word #2, ball was word #3,....,shoe was word #20. Calculate the percent of recall for each word. For example, if you had 10 subjects and 7 of them remembered the word "cat", then "cat" (word #1) had a percent recall of 70%. Calculate the percent of recall for each of the 20 words.

Now plot your results: the X-axis will be word position and the Y-axis will be % recall. Do you see a pattern? Does is look anything at all like this figure?:

The results of this kind of experiment usually result in a graph similar to this one. This kind of graph is called a "serial-position curve." Words read first and words read last are remembered better than words read in the middle of a list.

This type of experiment provides evidence that there are 2 types of memory processes. It is thought that memory is good for the words read last because they are still in short term memory - this is the recency effect. Memory is good for the words read first because they made it into long term memory - this is the primacy effect.

It is also possible that some words in the list were very easy to recall for other reasons. For example, if your teacher just dropped a hammer on his or her toe, then everyone may find that the word "hammer" was easy to remember. Or perhaps, the last name of someone in the group of subjects is "King", then everyone would remember the word "king".

You can try this experiment again with a slight twist. Ask a new set of subjects to remember the same set of words. However, immediately after you finish reading the list, DISTRACT your subjects by having them count backwards from 100 by threes (100, 97, 94, 91, etc) for about 15-30 seconds. Plot your serial position curve again. Do you see any changes? Usually, distraction causes people to forget the words at the end of the list. Did it happen to your subjects?

A Head for Numbers

Grades 1-12

Concrete Words, Abstract Words and Just Plain Nonsense

The ability to recall a word depends on how meaningful the word is to a person. Along with the meaningfulness of a word, the "concreteness" of a word is important for memory. Concreteness refers the ability of a word to form a mental image. A word with high concreteness is easy to "see"; a word with low concreteness (an "abstract" word) is difficult to visualize.

Here are three lists of words: concrete words, abstract words and nonsense words. See which list is easier to memorize. You could also read these lists to other people to see how many words from each list they remember.

Concrete Words

alligator - apple - arrow - baby - bird - book - butterfly - car - corn - flower - hammer - house - money - microscope - ocean - pencil - rock - shoes - table - window

Abstract Words

anger - belief - boredom - chance - concept - effort - fate - freedom - glory - happiness - honor - hope - idea - interest - knowledge - mercy - mood - moral - theory - truth

Nonsense Words

ator - botam - crov - difim - firap - glimoc - ricul- hilnim - jolib - kepwin - leptav - lumal - mib - natpem - peyrim - rispaw - stiwin - tubiv - vopec - yapib

The concrete words and abstract words were scored as having high and low concreteness, respectively, in a paper by A. Paivio, J.C. Yuille and S.A. Madigan, Concreteness, imagery, and meaningfulness values for 925 nouns, Journal of Experimental Psychology , Monograph Suppl., vol. 76, no.1, part 2, pages 1-25, 1968.

Memory Methods and Techniques

After you learn some of these methods, try to memorize a list of words. See if you can remember the list the next day. How many can you remember the next week!

Technique 1: Visualize It! - Visualization

When you have an item to remember, "see" it in your mind. The more absurd you make the image the more likely you are to remember it. For example, if you go to the mall and park the car on the level C in space #5, you might imagine that there are 5 Cats waiting in your car for your return. The Cats is for the level "C"; the 5 of course is for the space #5.

Technique 2: Chain It! - Chaining

Chaining is a form of visualizing, but now you might have to remember several items in order. This time you must link the items together by thinking of images that connect them. While a grocery list does not necessarily have to be remembered in order (although it sometimes helps to find things faster), let's use it as an example: milk, bread, eggs, cheese, orange juice. Now, chain them with images:

• A carton of milk pouring onto bread.
• A sandwich (the bread) with raw eggs on it.
• Eggs stuck in the holes of a Swiss cheese.
• Pieces of cheese hanging from an orange tree.

Here is a longer list of words to try:

shoe - piano - tree - pencil - bird - bus - book - dog - pizza - flower - basketball - door - TV - rabbit - spoon - eye - chair - house - computer - rock

You may find that bizarre and wild associations are easy to remember. Here is an example of chaining for the first three words (shoe - piano - tree) of this list.

Technique 3: Place It! - The Method of Loci

Location, Location, Location. Devised during the Roman Empire, the method of loci uses the chaining method with a twist. Now all the items to-be-remembered are linked to specific places in the order you would visit them. For example, you might think of the route you take to school:

• Your room (you wake up)
• Your kitchen (you have breakfast)
• Front door of your house
• Friend's house that you see from the bus
• Gas Station that you see from the bus
• Market that you see from the bus

Now you must link the items that you want remembered to each of these places. You have to remember the places first, of course, but this should be easy. Then chain each item to the places...remember, the more wild your idea the better. Using the grocery store example again: milk pouring on you in your room, bread that you can't get out of the toaster (kitchen), eggs splattered on your front door, etc.

Technique 4: Chunk It! - Chunking

Ever wonder why phone numbers are really one 3 digit number and one 4 digit number and NOT one 7 digit number. It's 999-9999, not 9999999. Or what about those social security numbers. It's 999-99-9999, not 999999999. They are a lot easy to remember in small chunks. Remembering things is easier when they are in pieces.

Technique 5: Acrostic It! - Those Catchy Phrases

An acrostic is a phrase that uses the first letter of a word to remember it. In neuroanatomy, one of the most familiar ones is:

On Old Olympus Towering Top A Famous Vocal German Viewed Some Hops.

"What does this mean", you ask. Well, the first letters of each of these words in this little phrase stand for the first letters of each of the cranial nerves , in order:

Olfactory nerve (I), Optic nerve (II), Oculomotor nerve (III), Trochlear nerve (IV), Trigeminal nerve (V), Abducens nerve (VI), Facial nerve (VII), Vestibulocochlear (VIII), Glossopharyngeal nerve (IX), Vagus nerve (X), Spinal accessory nerve (XI), Hypoglossal nerve (XII).

Here's another one:

My Very Early Morning Jam Sandwich Usually Nauseates People

My Very Excellent Mom Just Served Us Nine Pizzas

These two phrases represent the order of planets from the Sun:

Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto

One last one...do you know the order of colors in a rainbow? Just remember this person's name: Roy G. Biv

R=red; O=orange Y=yellow G=green B=blue; I=indigo V=violet

Simply "A-maze-ing"

Let's see if we can demonstrate some fast learning.

• [Maze 1 - easy]
• [Maze 2 - harder]
• [Maze 3 - hardest]

(Click on the maze, then "save" the big maze or just print it out). Get at least 3 copies of each maze. When you have the maze, have a friend keep track of the amount of time it takes you to complete the maze...go from "START" to "FINISH" on the maze. Record the amount of time it takes you. Then, do the SAME maze over again on a new copy of the same maze. Record the amount of time it takes you to complete it. Then do it a third time and even a fourth time if you want. Does it take you less time to complete the maze on the second, third and fourth time? I hope so...you are learning!! By the way, you could do this same experiment with a jigsaw puzzle.

• A stopwatch or clock with a second hand
• Pencil and paper to record times

The Space Place

This experiment involves BOTH memory and learning. Get a small object like a ball, book, block or even a crumpled up piece of paper. Put a blindfold on your subject. Place the small object on the floor about 10 feet away from your subject, but don't tell your subject where it is. Tell your subject that he or she must find the object on the floor when you say "GO". When you do say "GO", start a stopwatch and measure the amount of time it takes your subject to find the object. Don't let your subject get too far away from the object and don't let your subject bump into anything dangerous, but let your subject find the object without too much help. Once your subject has found the object, stop the stopwatch and record the amount of time it took to find the object.

Repeat your experiment with the same subject. Bring your subject back to the exact same spot where you started and place the object in the exact same spot as it was the first time. Say, "GO" and start your stopwatch again. Did your subject take less time to find the object? You may want to repeat the test several more times and plot the amount of time it took to find the object for the different times you ran the test. Do you see a decrease in the amount of time to find the object in later tests? What would happen if you tested the same subject the next day?

• Small object (such as a ball or book)

Concentration Game - Learning

Have one person (the "setter") set up matched pairs of playing card like in the concentration game. Have this person "map" where each of the cards was located at the start of the game. Have another person (the player) play the concentration game as fast as he can. Time how long it takes the player to finish the game. Record the time. Have the setter, use the map and place the cards back in their original positions. So the cards will be in exactly the same locations for the second game. Have the player match the cards again and record the time. Reset the cards and play again. Play a few more times...does the time it takes to finish the game get shorter?

Have you ever wondered how they train animals to do tricks in the circus or on TV? One way that trainers teach animals to learn new things is through a method called shaping. This technique involves reinforcing each behavior that looks like the final act you want. In other words, the trainer gives the animal a treat each time the animal does something that looks like the final behavior.

Now it's your turn to shape a friend. First, get a collection of "treats"...these could be little candies or pennies or buttons. Without telling your friend the exact behavior you would like to see, just say that you will give him or her a treat when they do the right thing. The FINAL right thing may be to turn off a light or pick up a pencil or open a book.

Let's say the final behavior you are looking for is to have your friend turn off a light. Start giving treats when your friend gets up. Give another when your friend starts to walk. Give another one when your friend gets close to the light. Give another when your friend touches the light. Give another when your friend turns off the light. Do not give treats for behaviors that are not related to turning off the light.

You can shape almost any behavior as long as your friend is interested in getting the treat.

Motor Learning

Use this easy-to-build device to test motor learning. It's like the old "operation" game. Follow the diagram below to build the wire maze. Your wire maze must be a material that is electrically conductive. A coat hanger works as long as it does not have any paint on it. Attach a loop of a hanger to a wire, then attach the wire to the battery. Attach the battery (9 volt) to the buzzer (or light) using wire. Attach the buzzer to the wire maze using more wire.

Thread the loop of the metal hanger through the wire maze. Measure the time it takes to get from one end of the maze to the other. Also count the number of errors (buzzes) during each trial. Go through the maze several times and plot the amount of time and number of errors vs. the trial number on a graph.

• 9 Volt battery
• Buzzer or small DC powered light
• Hanger (for the maze and the loop)
• Wire (to create an electrical circuit)
• Wood Holder (or other material to hold the maze)

More Resources

• Memory: A five-day unit lesson plan for high school psychology teachers from the Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools (American Psychological Association, 2013).

Copyright © 1996-2017, Eric H. Chudler All Rights Reserved.

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A Simple DIY Short-Term Memory Experiment

Test Your Memory With Lists of Words

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Amanda Tust is an editor, fact-checker, and writer with a Master of Science in Journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.

Muharrem Oner / Getty Images

Short-term memory is the part of memory that stores a limited amount of information for a short amount of time. It's brief (about 20 to 30 seconds), and you can only remember so much information (such as a five to nine-word list).

If you want to see for yourself just how short your short-term memory really is, try memorizing some of the word lists below. It can be a great way to learn more about your own limits and can even be an excellent exercise for boosting your memory powers.

At a Glance

Short-term memory experiments often involve memorizing a list of words and then trying to remember them. Most people can hold five to nine words in short-term memory, but your own abilities may vary. You can learn more by using some of the memory test words below. If your results leave something to be desired, performing similar memory challenges may help you gradually boost your abilities.

Test Your Memory With Word Lists

This quick short-term memory test is a simple psychology experiment you can try at home. You can do this experiment on your own or with a small group of volunteers. By seeing how many words you can memorize in a brief period of time, you can learn more about both the capacity and duration of short-term memory .

Look at the list of words below for two minutes. Memorize as many words as you can in this amount of time. Next, get out a sheet of paper. Without looking at the list, give yourself two minutes to write down as many words from the list as you can.

How many words did you get correct? Despite having two minutes to memorize the words, you may have found it surprisingly difficult to recall even a handful of words.

This experiment demonstrates some of the limitations of short-term memory. According to researcher George A. Miller, the typical storage capacity for short-term memory is seven, plus or minus two items.

Try Chunking to Remember More

While short-term memory capacity is limited, some strategies may help improve it a bit. Memory rehearsal strategies, such as chunking , can significantly increase memorization and recall.

Because these items can be easily grouped based on category, you can probably remember far more of these words. Clustering can be a useful memorization strategy that can improve the retention and recall of information.  

Perform Your Own Word Memorization Experiment

There are a number of different approaches you could take in conducting your own word memorization experiment.

• Compare random words versus related words . Create two lists of words: One that is completely random and another that has groups of related words. Ask participants to first complete one trial with the random words, and then complete another trial with the related words. Compare the results of the two trials.
• Compare results between male and female participants . Have a group of participants perform the memorization activity, and then compare how many words the male participants remembered on average to how many the female participants remembered.
• Try the experiment with gender-associated terms versus gender-neutral terms . Create a list of terms related to objects or concepts commonly associated with women or men. Then create a list of neutral terms. Administer both tests to a group and compare the results between the men and women. Did women or men find it easier to remember the gender-associated terms? Or were the results insignificant?
• Compare results among different age groups . For example, create a group of school-age children, a group of college students, a group of middle-aged adults, and a group of older adults. Give the same test to each participant and then compare the results of each group. Which group performed the best? Which one performed the worst? What do these results have to say about memory and age?

Key Questions for Background Research

• On average, how many words can a person remember?
• Can other factors such as gender and age have an impact on memory?
• Do people tend to remember certain words more than others?
• What strategies might improve memorization?

When you are exploring  psychology experiment ideas , be sure to understand how to conduct a psychology experiment  to get accurate results and to perform experiments ethically.

Factors That Impact Performance on Word Lists

How well you do at recalling words on a memorization list depends on a variety of factors. Some issues that can affect your performance on memorization lists include things such as:

• Side effects of medications
• Sleep deprivation
• Substance use

Another issue that might play a role is the serial position effect. It involves a tendency to recall words at the beginning or end of a list while having difficulty remembering those in the middle.

Better recall for words at the beginning of a list is known as the primacy effect , and better recall for those at the end of a list is the recency effect .

How to Improve Your Short-Term Memory

If you'd like to strengthen your memory, some strategies can help you boost your memorization powers.

• Brain training : Some research has found that cognitive training can help slow brain aging and sharpen your mental skills, including short-term memory. Practicing memorizing word lists on your own is one strategy, but there are also many online brain games and apps that can be helpful.
• Healthy habits : The Alzheimer's Association suggests that strategies such as regular exercise, avoiding smoking, eating a balanced diet, and getting enough rest are crucial for protecting brain health and memory.
• Try mnemonics : Songs, rhymes, and acronyms are examples of memory devices that can help you remember things more effectively. For example, when you are memorizing a list of words, you might try singing the list to the tune of a familiar melody. Some research suggests that using such tools can boost your memory by as much as 20%!
• Manage your stress : Chronic stress can take a serious toll on your health and mental well-being, but it can also worsen your memory and concentration. That's why it's so crucial to find ways to minimize and manage stress effectively. Self-care can help, as can using stress management techniques like deep breathing and meditation.
• Consider herbal memory boosters : Certain herbs purportedly have memory benefits and other positive effects on brain health. Sage, ginseng, and lemon balm are a few that may have a positive impact on memory.

Always check with your doctor before trying any herbal supplement or remedy.

When to Get Help

Less than stellar performance on a memory word list isn't necessarily a reason for concern. It might mean you are distracted, tired, or have difficulty concentrating. If you are noticing other problems with your memory, however, it is essential to discuss your concerns with your doctor.

Your doctor can evaluate your symptoms to determine if a medical or mental health condition might be affecting your memory.

Mental conditions such as depression can lead to problems with memory and concentration. Medical conditions affecting memory include mild cognitive impairment, dementia, Alzheimer's disease , infections, and medication side effects.

Kelley P, Evans MDR, Kelley J.  Making memories: Why time matters .  Front Hum Neurosci . 2018;12:400. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2018.00400

Von Bastian CC, Oberauer K. Effects and mechanisms of working memory training: A review . Psychol Res . 2013;78(6):803-820. doi:10.1007/s00426-013-0524-6

National Institute on Aging.  Do memory problems always mean Alzheimer's disease ?

Gicas KM, Honer WG, Wilson RS, et al. Association of serial position scores on memory tests and hippocampal-related neuropathologic outcomes .  Neurology . 2020;95(24):e3303-e3312. doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000010952

Hampshire A, Sandrone S, Hellyer PJ.  A large-scale, cross-sectional investigation into the efficacy of brain training .  Front Hum Neurosci . 2019;13:221. doi:10.3389/fnhum.2019.00221

Alzheimer's Association. 10 ways to love your brain .

Knott D, Thaut MH.  Musical mnemonics enhance verbal memory in typically developing children .  Front Educ . 2018;3. doi:10.3389/feduc.2018.00031

Yaribeygi H, Panahi Y, Sahraei H, Johnston TP, Sahebkar A. The impact of stress on body function: A review .  EXCLI J . 2017;16:1057-1072. doi:10.17179/excli2017-480

National Institute on Aging. Memory, forgetfulness, and aging: What's normal and what's not ?

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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Experiment [memory] - memory practical

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Course : Introduction To Psychology (C-PSY-01)

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How to Do a Psychology Short-Term Memory Experiment

Introduction: How to Do a Psychology Short-Term Memory Experiment

Step 1: Gather Supplies

Step 2: First Volunteer and Study Explanation

Step 3: Preparation to Begin

Step 4: First Trial of Word Memorization

Step 5: First Trial of Word Recall

Step 6: Second Word List Trial

Step 7: Debriefing

Step 8: Second Volunteer

Step 9: Third Volunteer

Step 10: Fourth Volunteer

Step 11: General Conclusions

Step 12: Important Note

Step 13: Step 15:

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A Classic Memory Experiment for the Classroom

10th August 2016

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A recent Guardian article questions the accuracy memory and provides a useful classroom strategy for testing memory.

Read: Is your memory as accurate as you think it is?

Running the experiment

To run the experiment, present students with three lists of words (pictured above). Then present students with another list of words and ask them to state which ones appeared in the original lists.

You might find that your students report seeing words like slow, sweet and strong, despite the fact they didn’t appear in the original lists. This experiment is a classic example of false recognition , but may be an interesting way to discuss models of memory or even eyewitness testimony.

Reference: Etchells, P. (2016, August 8). Is your memory as accurate as you think it is? (Guardian) Retrieved August 10, 2016.

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60 Psychology Experiment Ideas

Here are a number of great psychology experiment ideas. If you need an idea for an experiment, this is a great place to start.

In this article

If you’re taking a psychology class, you’re likely tasked with designing an experiment or study at some point. Choosing the right psychology experiment idea is crucial and often depends on several factors, including the number of participants you can gather, the time constraints of your project, and the materials available to you. Before you settle on an experiment, consider these aspects carefully.

In this article, we will explore a variety of psychology experiment ideas that can inspire your project and guide you through the research process.

A Quick List of Psychology Experiment Ideas

If you are looking for a quick experiment idea that would be easy to tackle, the following might be some research questions you want to explore:

• How many items can people hold in short-term memory ?
• Are people with a Type A personality more stressed than those with a Type B personality?
• Does listening to upbeat music increase heart rate?
• Are men or women better at detecting emotions ?
• Are women or men more likely to experience imposter syndrome ?
• Will students conform if others in the group all share an opinion that is different from their own?
• Do people’s heartbeat or breathing rates change in response to certain colors?
• How much do people rely on nonverbal communication to convey information in a conversation?
• Do people who score higher on measures of emotional intelligence also score higher on measures of overall well-being?
• Do more successful people share certain personality traits ?

More Experiment Topics to Explore

Most of the following ideas are easily conducted with a small group of participants, who may likely be your classmates. Some of the psychology experiment or study ideas you might want to explore:

Sleep and Short-Term Memory

Does sleep deprivation have an impact on short-term memory ?

Ask participants how much sleep they got the night before and then conduct a task to test short-term memory for items on a list.

Social Media and Mental Health

Is social media usage linked to anxiety or depression?

Ask participants about how many hours a week they use social media sites and then have them complete a depression and anxiety assessment.

Procrastination and Stress

How does procrastination impact student stress levels?

Ask participants about how frequently they procrastinate on their homework and then have them complete an assessment looking at their current stress levels.

Caffeine and Cognition

How does caffeine impact performance on a Stroop test?

In the Stroop test , participants are asked to tell the color of a word, rather than just reading the word. Have a control group consume no caffeine and then complete a Stroop test, and then have an experimental group consume caffeine before completing the same test. Compare results.

Color and Memory

Does the color of text have any impact on memory?

Randomly assign participants to two groups. Have one group memorize words written in black ink for two minutes. Have the second group memorize the same words for the same amount of time, but instead written in red ink. Compare the results.

Weight Bias

How does weight bias influence how people are judged by others?

Find pictures of models in a magazine who look similar, including similar hair and clothing, but who differ in terms of weight. Have participants look at the two models and then ask them to identify which one they think is smarter, wealthier, kinder, and healthier.

Assess how each model was rated and how weight bias may have influenced how they were described by participants.

Music and Exercise

Does music have an effect on how hard people work out?

Have people listen to different styles of music while jogging on a treadmill and measure their walking speed, heart rate, and workout length.

The Halo Effect

How does the Halo Effect influence how people see others?

Show participants pictures of people and ask them to rate the photos in terms of how attractive, kind, intelligent, helpful, and successful the people in the images are.

How does the attractiveness of the person in the photo correlate to how participants rate other qualities? Are attractive people more likely to be perceived as kind, funny, and intelligent?

Eyewitness Testimony

How reliable is eyewitness testimony?

Have participants view video footage of a car crash. Ask some participants to describe how fast the cars were going when they “hit into” each other. Ask other participants to describe how fast the cars were going when they “smashed into” each other.

Give the participants a memory test a few days later and ask them to recall if they saw any broken glass at the accident scene. Compare to see if those in the “smashed into” condition were more likely to report seeing broken glass than those in the “hit into” group.

The experiment is a good illustration of how easily false memories can be triggered.

Simple Psychology Experiment Ideas

If you are looking for a relatively simple psychology experiment idea, here are a few options you might consider.

The Stroop Effect

This classic experiment involves presenting participants with words printed in different colors and asking them to name the color of the ink rather than read the word. Students can manipulate the congruency of the word and the color to test the Stroop effect.

Memory Recall

Students can design a simple experiment to test memory recall by presenting participants with a list of items to remember and then asking them to recall the items after a delay. Students can manipulate the length of the delay or the type of encoding strategy used to see the effect on recall.

Social Conformity

Students can test social conformity by presenting participants with a simple task and manipulating the responses of confederates to see if the participant conforms to the group response.

Selective Attention

Students can design an experiment to test selective attention by presenting participants with a video or audio stimulus and manipulating the presence or absence of a distracting stimulus to see the effect on attention.

Implicit Bias

Students can test implicit bias by presenting participants with a series of words or images and measuring their response time to categorize the stimuli into different categories.

The Primacy/Recency Effect

Students can test the primacy /recency effect by presenting participants with a list of items to remember and manipulating the order of the items to see the effect on recall.

Sleep Deprivation

Students can test the effect of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance by comparing the performance of participants who have had a full night’s sleep to those who have been deprived of sleep.

These are just a few examples of simple psychology experiment ideas for students. The specific experiment will depend on the research question and resources available.

10 Cognitive Psychology Experiment Ideas

If you want to explore a topic in cognitive psychology , here are 10 ideas to get you started:

• Memory recall and emotion: Investigate how emotional content influences memory recall by comparing participants’ ability to remember neutral versus emotional stories presented to them.
• Effects of multitasking on cognitive performance: Study how performing multiple tasks simultaneously affects performance on cognitive tasks, measuring reaction times and accuracy in completing a primary task.
• Priming and decision-making: Examine how exposure to specific words or images can influence participants’ subsequent choices in decision-making tasks, assessing the impact of priming on their selections.
• Impact of cognitive load on problem-solving: Investigate how varying levels of cognitive load (e.g., working memory demands) affect participants’ ability to solve complex problems or puzzles.
• Visual perception and illusions: Study how different types of visual illusions affect participants’ perception and interpretation of images, analyzing how context influences their understanding.
• Language processing speed: Examine how bilingualism impacts language processing speed by testing participants on language tasks in their native and second languages.
• The role of sleep on memory consolidation: Investigate the relationship between sleep quality and memory retention by testing participants on a memory task before and after different sleep durations.
• Spatial awareness and navigation: Explore how different types of navigation strategies (e.g., map-based vs. landmark-based) influence participants’ ability to navigate through virtual environments.
• Attention and selective perception: Study how distractions affect participants’ ability to focus on a primary task, measuring how external stimuli impact their performance and attention span.
• The role of context in memory retrieval: Investigate how context influences memory retrieval by presenting participants with a list of words in a specific setting (e.g., a quiet room versus a noisy environment) and then testing their recall of the words in different contexts.

10 Social Psychology Experiment Ideas

Some ideas that might inspire your research in social psychology include:

• Peer pressure: Examine how group dynamics influence personal choices by surveying participants on risky versus safe options.
• Conformity: Test how group size affects conformity by having participants answer questions in varying group sizes and comparing their responses.
• Social media impact: Analyze the effect of limiting social media use on self-esteem by having participants complete self-assessments before and after the experiment.
• Behavioral labels: Explore how labeling individuals as “leaders” or “followers” influences their interactions in group tasks.
• Authority influence: Investigate how perceived authority affects decision-making by creating scenarios where participants must choose to obey or defy directives.
• Humor in persuasion: Examine whether humorous messages are more effective than serious ones in persuading participants about a product or topic.
• First impressions: Assess how initial interactions shape long-term perceptions of individuals in social situations.
• Groupthink: Analyze how group cohesion leads to poor decision-making by observing discussions around controversial topics.
• Online vs. in-person communication: Compare the effectiveness of communication styles in digital versus face-to-face interactions.
• Emotional contagion: Investigate how emotions are spread within a group by measuring mood changes before and after group interactions.

10 Developmental Psychology Experiment Ideas

Development is one interesting topic area you might want to explore in your research. Some ideas you might consider include:

• Attachment styles and emotional regulation : Investigate how different attachment styles (secure, anxious, avoidant) in children influence their ability to regulate emotions in stressful situations through observational studies.
• Effects of parenting styles on child development : Study the impact of authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive parenting styles on children’s self-esteem and social skills by surveying parents and assessing children’s behaviors in structured settings.
• Language acquisition and social interaction : Examine how the frequency and quality of social interactions influence language acquisition in toddlers by comparing language development in children with different levels of verbal interaction.
• Impact of screen time on attention span : Investigate how varying amounts of screen time affect attention span in preschoolers by conducting attention-focused tasks before and after screen exposure.
• Moral development and peer influence : Study how peer interactions influence moral reasoning in adolescents by presenting them with moral dilemmas and analyzing their responses in group discussions versus individual settings.
• Role of play in cognitive development : Explore how different types of play (free play versus structured play) affect cognitive skills like problem-solving and creativity in early childhood by observing children during playtime.
• Socialization and gender roles : Investigate how exposure to gendered toys and activities influences children’s understanding of gender roles by comparing children’s preferences and behaviors in mixed-gender and single-gender playgroups.
• Resilience in childhood : Examine factors that contribute to resilience in children facing adversity by conducting interviews with children and parents to identify coping strategies and support systems.
• Impact of early education on academic achievement : Study the long-term effects of early childhood education programs on academic performance in later years by analyzing test scores and classroom behaviors of students who attended different types of early education.
• The influence of culture on identity development : Investigate how cultural background shapes identity development in adolescents by conducting surveys and interviews that explore the intersection of cultural values and personal identity.

5 Forensic Psychology Experiment Ideas

Interested in forensic psychology? Here are some experiment ideas that might inspire you:

• Witness memory accuracy: Investigate how the time elapsed since witnessing an event affects memory recall accuracy by presenting participants with a video and later testing their memory of details.
• The effect of stress on decision-making: Study how different stress levels impact decision-making in simulated police interrogation scenarios by varying stress-inducing factors and analyzing participant choices.
• Facial recognition and emotion: Examine how different emotional expressions on faces influence participants’ ability to accurately recognize faces in a lineup setting.
• Influence of media on perception of crime: Analyze how exposure to crime-related media influences participants’ perceptions of safety and risk in their own communities through surveys before and after media exposure.
• Role of empathy in jury decision-making: Explore how jurors’ levels of empathy affect their verdicts by presenting them with case studies and measuring their emotional responses.

Elements of a Good Psychology Experiment

Finding psychology experiment ideas is not necessarily difficult, but finding a good experimental or study topic that is right for your needs can be a little tough. You need to find something that meets the guidelines and, perhaps most importantly, is approved by your instructor.

Requirements may vary, but you need to ensure that your experiment, study, or survey is:

• Easy to set up and carry out
• Easy to find participants willing to take part
• Free of any ethical concerns

In some cases, you may need to present your idea to your school’s institutional review board before you begin to obtain permission to work with human participants.

Tips for Finding a Good Experimental Idea

Consider your own interests.

At some point in your life, you have likely pondered why people behave in certain ways. Or wondered why certain things seem to always happen. Your own interests can be a rich source of ideas for your psychology experiments.

As you are trying to come up with a topic or hypothesis, try focusing on the subjects that fascinate you the most. If you have a particular interest in a topic, look for ideas that answer questions about the topic that you and others may have. Examples of topics you might choose to explore include:

• Development
• Personality
• Social behavior

This can be a fun opportunity to investigate something that appeals to your interests.

Read About Classic Psychology Experiments

Sometimes, reviewing classic psychological experiments that have been done in the past can give you great ideas for your own psychology experiments. For example, the false memory experiment above is inspired by the classic memory study conducted by Elizabeth Loftus.

Textbooks can be a great place to start looking for topics, but you might want to expand your search to research journals. When you find a study that sparks your interest, read through the discussion section. Researchers will often indicate ideas for future directions that research could take.

Ask Your Instructor

Your professor or instructor is often the best person to consult for advice right from the start.

In most cases, you will probably receive fairly detailed instructions about your assignment. This may include information about the sort of topic you can choose or perhaps the type of experiment or study on which you should focus.

If your instructor does not assign a specific subject area to explore, it is still a great idea to talk about your ideas and get feedback before you get too invested in your topic idea. You will need your teacher’s permission to proceed with your experiment anyway, so now is a great time to open a dialogue and get some good critical feedback.

Experiments vs. Other Types of Research

One thing to note, many of the ideas found here are actually examples of surveys or correlational studies .

For something to qualify as a tru e experiment, there must be manipulation of an independent variable .

For many students, conducting an actual experiment may be outside the scope of their project or may not be permitted by their instructor, school, or institutional review board.

If your assignment or project requires you to conduct a true experiment that involves controlling and manipulating an independent variable, you will need to take care to choose a topic that will work within the guidelines of your assignment.

Types of Psychology Experiments

There are many different types of psychology experiments that students could perform. Examples of psychological research methods you might use include:

Correlational Study

This type of study examines the relationship between two variables. Students could collect data on two variables of interest, such as stress and academic performance, and see if there is a correlation between the two.

Experimental Study

In an experimental study, students manipulate one variable and observe the effect on another variable. For example, students could manipulate the type of music participants listen to and observe its effect on their mood.

Observational Study

Observational studies involve observing behavior in a natural setting . Students could observe how people interact in a public space and analyze the patterns they see.

Survey Study

Students could design a survey to collect data on a specific topic, such as attitudes toward social media, and analyze the results.

A case study involves in-depth analysis of a single individual or group. Students could conduct a case study of a person with a particular disorder, such as anxiety or depression, and examine their experiences and treatment options.

Quasi-Experimental Study

Quasi-experimental studies are similar to experimental studies, but participants are not randomly assigned to groups. Students could investigate the effects of a treatment or intervention on a particular group, such as a classroom of students who receive a new teaching method.

Longitudinal Study

Longitudinal studies involve following participants over an extended period of time. Students could conduct a longitudinal study on the development of language skills in children or the effects of aging on cognitive abilities.

These are just a few examples of the many different types of psychology experiments that students could perform. The specific type of experiment will depend on the research question and the resources available.

Steps for Doing a Psychology Experiment

When conducting a psychology experiment, students should follow several important steps. Here is a general outline of the process:

Define the Research Question

Before conducting an experiment, students should define the research question they are trying to answer. This will help them to focus their study and determine the variables they need to manipulate and measure.

Develop a Hypothesis

Based on the research question, students should develop a hypothesis that predicts the experiment’s outcome. The hypothesis should be testable and measurable.

Select Participants

Students should select participants who meet the criteria for the study. Participants should be informed about the study and give informed consent to participate.

Design the Experiment

Students should design the experiment to test their hypothesis. This includes selecting the appropriate variables, creating a plan for manipulating and measuring them, and determining the appropriate control conditions.

Collect Data

Once the experiment is designed, students should collect data by following the procedures they have developed. They should record all data accurately and completely.

Analyze the Data

After collecting the data, students should analyze it to determine if their hypothesis was supported or not. They can use statistical analyses to determine if there are significant differences between groups or if there are correlations between variables.

Interpret the Results

Based on the analysis, students should interpret the results and draw conclusions about their hypothesis. They should consider the study’s limitations and their findings’ implications.

Report the Results

Finally, students should report the results of their study. This may include writing a research paper or presenting their findings in a poster or oral presentation.

Britt MA. Psych Experiments . Avon, MA: Adams Media; 2007.

Martin DW. Doing Psychology Experiments. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning; 2008.

Editor-in-Chief

Kendra Cherry, MS.Ed., is a writer, editor, psychosocial therapist, and founder of Explore Psychology, an online psychology resource. She is a Senior Writer for Verywell Mind and is the author of the Everything Psychology Book (Adams Media).

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Cognition Laboratory Experiments

John H. Krantz, Hanover College, [email protected]

Working Memory

Long-term memory, mental imagery.

• Language & Motor

Here is a small set of experiments designed for my cognitive psychology class.  There are many sets of cognitive psychology experiment available.  What is unique about these is the combination of their being web deliverable and that the parameters of the experiment can be adjusted by you.  I will add instructions pages when I get. 

If you have any suggestions for variables that you would like me to add to my experiment, please email me .  If I add your suggested variable, I will acknowledge you on the instruction page for the experiment.

Related Sites:

Hanover College Psychology Department

Listed below are experiments that explore different features of attention.

Attentional Blink : Watch a string of letters and determine if targets have been presented. What happens to your ability to detect one stimulus right after detecting another stimulus.

Stroop Experiment : The classic Stroop task where the word and color of the word do not match. You have to try to name the color.

Listed below are experiments that explore different features of working memory.

Memory Span Experiment : A simple experiment that allows you to explore the limits of working memory with regard to semantic and relate materials.

Brown-Peterson Experiment : A replication of the classic experiment by Brown (1958) and Peterson and Peterson (1959).

Partial Report Experiment : A replication of the classic partial report paradigm created by George Sperling.

Listed below are experiments that explore long-term memory.

DRM False Memory : an experiment that explores the Deese–Roediger–McDermott paradigm for creating false memories.

Serial Position Effect : use this experiment to explore the classic serial position effect.

Listed below are experiments that explore mental imagery.

Mental Rotation : A replication of the classic mental rotation experiment by Cooper, Metzler, and Shepherd.

Listed below are experiments that explore perception.

Lexical Decision Making : Explore perception.

Listed below are experiments that explore language.

Lexical Decision Making : Explore features of language using Lexical decision making.

Mirror Tracing : Explore a classic task were you have to trace a figure but when you move right your drawing goes left. A digital version of the this task most interestingly used with HM.

Listed below are experiments that explore statistics and statistical decition making.

Central Limit Theorem : Explore one of the central ideas of statistics. Statistical Decision Making : Explore the underlying logic of statistical decision making.