Visual Paired Associates test online: picture memory

24 pairs of pictures appear one pair at a time. After a minute of something else you see the first picture of each pair and pick its partner from 4. The number of partners you match is your score.

Start the paired associates test

24 pairs · about 5 min · mouse, keys or touch

When you answer the last picture you see your score and can keep it with a free account.

Which one went with this?1 of 24 · pick from 4

How it works

One run of about 5 minutes: 2 minutes of pairs, 1 minute of digits, then the memory questions. A single practice question with a hint comes before the part that counts.

  1. 1 · Part 1

    Learn 24 pairs

    Each pair stays up for 5 seconds, with a short blank before the next. There is nothing to press: link the two pictures any way you like.

  2. 2 · Part 2

    A minute of digits

    Digits appear one at a time and you tap Odd or Even. It is not scored. It fills the gap, so the questions test memory after a delay.

  3. 3 · Part 3

    Pick the partner

    You see the first picture of a pair and 4 pictures you studied. Tap the one it was shown with. If 10 seconds pass, the same question comes back once.

  4. 4 · Your score

    Pairs remembered

    Each pair counts once. Your score is how many partners you picked correctly, from 0 to 24.

During the questions nothing tells you whether an answer was right. Their order, and which studied pictures sit next to the right one, change on every attempt. The 24 pairs themselves are the same for everyone.

Learning pairs is one of the oldest ways to study memory. Computer versions spread after Sahakian and colleagues (1988) used a visual paired associates task to compare memory in two groups of older patients; theirs paired abstract patterns with places on the screen. This version follows the TestMyBrain picture task: two pictures side by side, then a choice.

What it measures

The test asks you to tie two unrelated things together and get the link back a few minutes later.

While you learn

  • Binding: joining two pictures into one memory, often by imagining them in a scene or a little story.
  • Attention to each pair during the 5 seconds it is on screen.
  • Recognising everyday objects, which most adults find easy, so the hard part is the link.

When you choose

  • Recall of the link after a filled delay, which researchers call episodic or associative memory.
  • Telling the real partner apart from pictures that feel familiar because you studied them too.
  • Steady effort over 24 questions, each at your own pace within 10 seconds.

Every wrong choice is also a picture you saw, so knowing a picture is not enough: you have to remember what it went with. That is what sets paired associates apart from simple recognition tasks.

Working memory tests such as Digit Span ask what you can hold for a few seconds. Here the minute of digits clears that short store first, so the score leans on memory that lasts longer.

A test, not a diagnosis.

A score from one session on one task cannot confirm or exclude any condition.

What you get

Your score is on screen the moment you answer the last picture.

On the result screen

  • How many of the 24 pairs you remembered, and the same number as a percentage.
  • A reading of that score against a large online sample of adults of all ages: fewer than most, within the usual range, or more than most.
  • A row of 24 squares showing which pairs you got, missed or ran out of time on.
  • A data panel with timeouts and response times, and a CSV file of every answer.

When you keep it

  • A free account stores your score, and you can come back to it from any device.
  • Listed in your results next to Digit Span, Corsi Blocks and the other memory tests you take.
  • A next test is offered as soon as you finish.

How this version is scored

Every pair shown, every question and every answer is recorded. The score comes from that record.

Correct partner
You picked the picture that was shown beside the first picture while you were learning. There is no partial credit.
Score
Correct partners out of 24. Accuracy is the same number as a percentage.
Timeout
No answer within 10 seconds. The question comes back once straight away; if it runs out again, the pair counts as not remembered. It is recorded as a timeout, not as a wrong choice.
Practice
The guided question with the example pair, the answer ringed. It is never scored.
Response time
Recorded for every answer and shown in the data panel. It does not change the score: the test is about what you remember, not how fast you choose.

Why 4 choices. Pure guessing among 4 pictures gets about 6 of 24 right on average, so a score near 6 means the links were mostly not recalled. The TestMyBrain version offers 6 choices.

A ceiling. About 2 in 100 adults in the comparison sample matched all 24. A full score shows the test was easy for you, not how far beyond it your memory goes.

The same pairs for everyone. The 24 pairs are fixed by a seeded shuffle, so scores from different people can be compared. The price is that a second attempt is not a fresh test.

Reference values

Average scores in the TestMyBrain Visual Paired Associates norm sample: 1,000 volunteers aged 18 to 89 who took the test online, spread evenly across ages (The Many Brains Project, 2023).

Correct partners out of 24
AgePeopleAverageMiddle half
18 to 2918516.614 to 20
30 to 3915616.213 to 19
40 to 4915616.313 to 19
50 to 5915715.111 to 19
60 to 6915713.911 to 16
70 to 7913913.010 to 16
80+5010.88 to 12

Scores hold steady into the 40s and are lower from the 50s on, as in most memory tests. The middle half is the range between the 25th and 75th percentile.

Provisional norms. TestMyBrain used photographs of scenes and 6 choices, while this version uses object pictures and 4, so scores here may run a little higher than the table.

The result screen reads your score against all ages together. It does not use your age.

Before you start

The pairs are shown only once, so the first 2 minutes matter most.

For a cleaner attempt

  • Find 5 quiet minutes: the task cannot be paused.
  • Keep your eyes on the screen while the pairs show; a pair you miss does not come back.
  • Silence notifications and stay on the tab until the end.
  • On a phone, hold it steady or set it down so the pictures stay in view.

Interpret cautiously when

  • You were tired, unwell, in pain or interrupted, above all while the pairs were showing.
  • You have taken this test before: you may remember the pairs from last time.
  • You have low vision, use a screen reader or find some pictures hard to tell apart.
  • You wrote the pairs down or said them aloud, which turns it into a different task.

Questions

What does a paired associates test measure?

It measures associative, or episodic, memory: how well you link two new things and recall the link after a delay. The pictures are easy to recognise, so the work is in remembering which went with which. Paired-associate tasks are a standard part of memory research and of clinical test batteries.

What is a good score?

In the TestMyBrain sample of 1,000 adults the average was 15 of 24, and the middle half of people under 50 matched between 13 and 20. Scores were lower from the 50s on. Those adults saw scene photographs with 6 choices, so treat the numbers as rough context for this version.

I got all 24. What does that tell me?

That this test did not find your limit. About 2 in 100 adults in the comparison sample matched every pair. Short memory tests often have a ceiling like this, so a 24 says you did very well here, not that nothing harder would trip you up.

Can I take it again?

You can, but the second score is not comparable. The 24 pairs are the same every time, so a retake partly measures what you remember from the first attempt. If you want to compare over time, leave several weeks and read any change with that in mind.

Can I take it on my phone?

Yes. The pictures and the 2 by 2 grid fit a phone screen and the choices are large enough to tap. TestMyBrain found only small differences between phones, tablets and computers on this test.

Sources

By Cristian Dominguez Rein-Loring, Creative Technology Lead · Updated October 12, 2026