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Memory
Hard
SM

Shape Memory

Learn six shapes, then find them again

EUROCONTROL's "memorise shapes" exercise. Six abstract shapes appear one at a time, for five seconds each. A minute of quick sums follows — there to stop you simply holding the shapes in mind — and then you are shown four similar shapes at a time and must pick the one you saw.

Duration
~7 min
Length
Continuous
Difficulty
Hard

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What to expect

  • Six shapes, five seconds each, one after the other.
  • A minute of "is this sum correct?" in between.
  • One recognition question per shape, four options each.
  • The wrong options are the same shape with one detail changed — rotated, mirrored, or one element moved.

What it measures

  • Visual memory over a delay
  • Recognising fine detail
  • Holding information through interference

Instructions

  1. 1Describe each shape to yourself in words as it appears — a description survives the sums far better than a picture does.
  2. 2Fix on what would be hardest to fake: which way it faces, which parts are filled, where the odd element sits.
  3. 3Do the sums properly. Half-attending to them so you can rehearse the shapes is what the minute is designed to prevent.
  4. 4At recall, find the one feature that separates the options rather than judging each shape as a whole.

Tips

  • The options differ by a single detail, so "it looked roughly like that" will not get you there. Commit to one specific feature per shape while you study it.
  • Only the shapes count towards your score. The sums are interference — answer them honestly and let them do their job.
What the task looks like

Shape Memory

Six shapes are shown to learn, then hidden. You then identify them again among distractors that share some of their properties.

Visual memory under a load slightly above what most people hold comfortably. Six is chosen deliberately — it is past the point where rehearsal alone works, so it rewards grouping and chunking rather than raw effort.

Try it
Format: Study → interference → recognition · 4 options per shape · 7 minutes