Atkinson–Shiffrin
Memory Battery
A short browser-based memory task — our implementation inspired by the Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968) modal / multi-store model (not a licensed or endorsed product). You complete three paradigms in turn — paired-associate learning, a brief serial display, and free recall — and see how your performance maps onto the sensory register, short-term store, and long-term store. Administered by a clinician or researcher through an assigned assessment link.
What this test is
Welcome. The Memory Battery is a short set of memory tasks inspired by the multi-store model of memory, which describes a brief sensory register, a short-term store and a long-term store. You learn word pairs, view a brief list and recall what you saw.
How would you like to use it?
For researchers
Sign up as an Implicitify researcher to use the full suite of measures in your studies, or pay for each test you give. Research pricing is still being set, so we will confirm it with you when you get in touch.
Become a researcherFor clinicians
Open a clinician account to send this measure to your clients or patients through a secure link and review their scored results in one place.
Create a clinician accountAlready have an account? Go to your clinician dashboard.For educators
Use our measures in your courses to show students how psychological assessment works and to teach the principles of testing.
Request course accessWhat you'll get
The battery runs three classic memory paradigms back to back, each tied to a part of the Atkinson & Shiffrin (1968) multi-store model:
- Paired-associate learning — your encoding accuracy and a lag-decay slope (how accuracy changes as the gap between studying a pair and being tested on it grows), an indicator of transfer from short-term to long-term storage
- Serial display — your partial-report accuracy for letters shown very briefly, with an exploratory exposure-duration slope tied to the fast-fading sensory register
- Free recall — your total recall plus primacy and recency effects, the classic serial-position signature of separate long-term and short-term stores
Every figure is a raw, within-subject score. There is no percentile, no T-score, and no Higher/Average/Lower band, because no published reference table matches this exact list length, presentation rate, and item type. The primacy and recency effects are measured against your own total recall, so they stand on their own. A single session is indicative, not diagnostic.
Common questions
What is the multi-store model?
Atkinson and Shiffrin (1968) described memory as a flow through three stores: a brief sensory register, a limited-capacity short-term store, and a durable long-term store, linked by control processes such as rehearsal. Each of the three sub-tasks here probes a different part of that architecture.
What are the primacy and recency effects?
In free recall, people tend to remember the first few items well (the primacy effect, attributed to extra rehearsal into long-term storage) and the last few items well (the recency effect, attributed to the short-term store still holding them at test). The dip in the middle produces the familiar U-shaped serial-position curve.
How long does it take?
There are no adaptive stopping rules — you complete a fixed set of trials in each sub-task.
Why is there no percentile or IQ-style score?
We deliberately do not attach borrowed test norms to this task. Published memory norms come from specific, standardized administrations with their own list lengths, timing, and item types; applying them to a different browser task would misrepresent your result. We report honest raw scores and within-subject effects instead.
Can it be repeated?
Yes — repeat administrations through a new assessment link are fine. Memory scores are noisy and a little practice effect across the first attempts is normal.