Constellation, numbers that hide

What it asks of you

Constellation asks how fast you take a snapshot of a scene and keep it. You get one look, then the numbers vanish, so you have to encode positions and their order in a glance.

It works memory and attention together. The moment you tap 1, everything rests on the picture you just took.

How to play

1. Dots numbered from 1 appear at random places, four at the start.
2. Look, then tap 1 when you are ready. All the other numbers hide.
3. Tap the hidden dots in order, 2, 3, 4 and so on.
4. A completed round adds one dot, and a wrong dot replays the level.
5. Three errors end the game. Your score is the largest number of dots you completed.

The research behind it

In 2007 Inoue and Matsuzawa showed that young chimpanzees, Ayumu first, recalled briefly shown numerals better than humans (Inoue and Matsuzawa, 2007). The task became famous as the chimp test.

Then came good news for humans. In 2009 two researchers gave people practice on the same brief task, and their accuracy matched Ayumu’s (Silberberg and Kearns, 2009). Practice on this exact skill works, and Constellation gives you that practice, round after round.

On your weekly card

Constellation feeds your Memory stat. It takes turns with Sequence in the memory slot of the morning routine.

On Sunday the memory games of your week become one figure from 1 to 99 on your card.

Questions

Can a human beat a chimpanzee at this?

With practice, yes. Trained humans matched the chimpanzee’s accuracy in a 2009 study (Silberberg and Kearns, 2009). The chimp versus human guide tells the whole story.

Why do the numbers hide after 1?

That is the heart of the task. You choose when to start, and once you tap 1, you work from memory alone.

Where is the full test?

The chimp test page has the format and the public norm.

Sources

1. Inoue S., Matsuzawa T. (2007). Working memory of numerals in chimpanzees. Current Biology 17(23), R1004 to R1005. doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2007.10.027
2. Silberberg A., Kearns D. (2009). Memory for the order of briefly presented numerals in humans as a function of practice. Animal Cognition 12, 405 to 407. doi.org/10.1007/s10071-008-0206-8