SoundaryChimp Test — Free Number Memory Challenge (Can You Beat a Chimp?)
The chimp test: memorize scattered numbers like a snapshot, then tap the masked squares in order. About 3 minutes, climbing from 4 up to 15 numbers, with your best score and every retake saved so you can track your trend. Free.
What's included
- Time
- ~3 min
- Price
- Free
FAQ
Why is it called the chimp test?
It comes from a famous 2007 study by Inoue and Matsuzawa at Kyoto University's Primate Research Institute, where a young chimpanzee named Ayumu recalled the positions of briefly flashed, then masked numerals faster and more accurately than university students. This test mirrors that setup: you encode the whole number layout at once, then tap the masked squares in order from 1, measuring instant visuospatial working memory.
How is the score calculated, and how do I read it?
You start with 4 numbers and gain one more with each success, up to 15. There is no time limit for memorizing, but the moment you tap 1 the rest are masked; a mistake costs a strike and you retry the same count, and three strikes end the test. Your score is the highest count you fully cleared. Rather than chasing an absolute benchmark, the most useful reading is how your own record moves across repeated runs under similar conditions.
Can practice get me to chimp level?
Practice clearly helps. Once you stop memorizing digits one by one and start chunking the layout into shapes captured as a single scene, scores rise noticeably. That said, the original study's intriguing conclusion was that Ayumu's split-second, near-perfect encoding is a knack of young chimpanzees that humans struggle to match even with training. Losing to a chimp is perfectly normal — aim to beat your own record instead.
How often should I retake it, and how does the trend feature help?
Every one to two weeks works well. Retesting too often mixes in a practice effect from strategy learning, making real memory changes harder to see. Results are saved and each retake shows the change from your previous records, so a best-score trend measured at a similar time of day on the same device helps you spot periods when your focus is sharp versus scattered.
Source
This task is based on the paradigm from: Inoue, S., & Matsuzawa, T. (2007). Working memory of numerals in chimpanzees. Current Biology, 17(23), R1004–R1005. This task is a Soundary implementation based on a published academic paradigm. It is not any commercial test product or its test form.
Related tests
This is a self-screening tool, not a medical diagnosis. If the result concerns you, please consult a mental health professional.