A ball moves in a straight line, then vanishes. Click where it would be now if it had kept moving at the same speed. 8 rounds.
This test is based on "representational momentum," a well-documented effect first described by psychologist Jennifer Freyd in the 1980s, where the mental image of a moving object continues to "drift" forward in the direction of motion even after the object stops or vanishes. In other words, your memory of where something was doesn't just freeze in place - it keeps moving slightly, biased in the direction the object was heading.
This isn't a flaw - it's a useful predictive mechanism that helps you catch a thrown ball, anticipate a car that's momentarily blocked from view, or track a person walking behind a pillar. This free spatial memory test measures how accurately your brain performs that automatic extrapolation when the object disappears completely rather than just slowing down.
Researchers have found this forward-drift bias occurs across many types of motion perception, not just simple ball movement - it applies to rotating objects, growing/shrinking objects, and even implied motion in still photographs. This test focuses specifically on linear motion, the most common and easiest-to-measure version of the effect.
Identify the ball's direction of travel as early as possible in its visible path, not just right before it vanishes.
Watch how far the ball travels per moment while visible - that pace should stay roughly constant after it disappears.
Representational momentum is largely automatic - overthinking the extrapolation often hurts more than it helps.
Cognitive psychology students learning about perception and memory, sports scientists studying anticipation in ball sports, and anyone curious about the quirks of human motion perception will find this free test a fascinating, research-backed self-assessment.
Here you're extrapolating a specific point in time and space with no barrier as a visual anchor, which relies purely on your internal motion model rather than timing a reveal.
The direction of the bias (forward drift) is consistent across almost everyone, but the magnitude of the effect and how accurately people compensate for it varies quite a bit.
Yes, completely free with 8 rounds per attempt and instant results with global percentile comparison.
It tests spatial memory by briefly showing an object's location before it vanishes, requiring you to recall exactly where it was.
Spatial memory specifically encodes location and position information, while visual memory can include color, shape, and other object features β the two often rely on different brain regions.
Yes, spatial memory is one of the cognitive domains most affected by normal aging, often declining earlier than verbal memory.
Yes, tasks requiring you to track and recall locations, like this test or navigation-based games, can improve spatial memory with repeated practice.