Wait, What Was It? Test

1. A letter appears every 1.5 seconds. Just watch the first two.
2. Tap when the current letter is the same as the one two steps back. Example: B → D → B, tap on the second B.
3. After 30 letters you are done. Targets you catch (out of 10) raise the score; false taps lower it.

"Wait, What Was It?" is a 2-back working memory game. Letters keep changing, and you have to hold the last two in your head while judging whether the current one matches the letter from two steps back. Every new letter pushes the oldest one out, like a conveyor belt.

Ten of the thirty letters are targets (same as two steps back). The score is the share of targets you caught minus the share of false taps (out of 20), scaled to 0 to 100. Tapping everything scores 0, and so does tapping nothing. Tapping only on targets scores 100.

This is a concentration game played for fun. Compare results with yourself on the same device and in the same conditions. It is not a diagnosis or an assessment of any kind.

• Calls: holding a number someone reads out without writing it down.
• Conversation: tracking who just said what when several people talk.
• Cooking and work: remembering the ingredient you just added or the button you just pressed, then moving on.

References

• Wikipedia, N-back
• Kirchner (1958) Age differences in short-term retention of rapidly changing information