Welcome to TestMyBrain

TestMyBrain is a not-for-profit initiative dedicated to collaborating with citizen scientists throughout the world by providing measurement tools that allow people to engage in science and learn about themselves.

At TestMyBrain, we have the same goal that you do - to understand more about your brain. All of our experiments are designed to provide personalized feedback that is specific to you and will help you learn more about your own mind and brain.

What we learn from your participation helps us understand more about how the brain works, how we change as we get older, and the mental and physical disorders that affect brain health.


Mission Our Team Discoveries FAQ

As of 2017, we have tested...

  • 1,725,172

    Participants

  • Across 149

    research studies

  • From 240

    Countries & Territories

OUR MISSION

The mission of TestmMyBrain is to promote brain science, education, and public engagement in science through the development of high quality neurocognitive tests and sharing of individual research results. To serve this mission, we provide resources for participants, researchers, and educators that are open and accessible.

For Participants

We engage research participants as citizen scientists. People come to TestMyBrain to learn more about themselves and contribute to brain science.

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For Researchers

We develop tools that can be used to assess and understand neurocognition in large, diverse samples, without the need for a trained administrator.

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For Educators

Teachers can use TestMyBrain in the classroom to facilitate learning through interaction and expose students to current research in the brain sciences.

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RECENT DISCOVERIES

At TestMyBrain, we have a fundamental commitment to advancing brain science. Below are some examples of recent discoveries we have made using data collected through TestMyBrain.org.

Gender Inequality and Attention

In this study, we found that gender differences in attention around the world are related to differences in gender inequality. The performance of men and women was most similar in countries where men and women are valued more equally. Results were based on 21,484 TestMyBrain participants.

Genes and Face Preferences

In this study, we discovered that differences in how people judge face attractiveness (or individual face preferences) are primarily explain by differences in their environments rather than their genes. Results were based on 36,518 TestMyBrain participants (including 761 twin pairs).

The Smartest Age

In this study, we looked at how core cognitive abilities differ across the lifespan. We found that different cognitive abilities peak at different ages, suggesting that what we are good at changes as we get older. Results were based on 48,537 TestMyBrain and GamesWithWords.org participants.

Who We Are

TestMyBrain.org began at Harvard University in the Vision Sciences Lab, but is now a resource supported and/or managed by the nonprofit Many Brains Project, the Laboratory for Brain and Cognitive Health Technology at McLean Hospital & Harvard Medical School, and the Human Variation Lab at Wellesley College.

Frequently Asked Questions

General Participation

TestMyBrain is a not-for-profit initiative dedicated to internet-based experiments and public engagement in science. All tests collect data for real life scientific experiments and provide personalized feedback to you, the person who is taking part in the experiment. When you take a test on TestMyBrain, you are collaborating with us in scientific research to help us learn more about you and your brain.

By participating in these experiments, you can learn a bit about your personality, cognitive style, and individual aptitudes. All of our experiments are designed to provide personalized feedback that is specific to you. You can share this information with your friends and family.

Volunteers and citizen scientists like you are vital to our research, and every time you take a test you are contributing to the advancement of science and our understanding of the brain. Your participation is very valuable! To see some of our latest research findings based on previous participants, check out our most recent discoveries.

The neurocognitive testing software of TestMyBrain.org is distributed under a CC-BY-SA license by the Many Brains Project, the President and Fellows of Harvard College, and Partners Healthcare


Results

TestMyBrain tests and surveys are part of experiments. Each experiment may include multiple tests and surveys. You receive your results after you have completed all tests and surveys in an experiment.

For each test, we give your individual scores as well as the scores of the average person who takes that test on our site. We hope you will find these results interesting and informative.

There are some limitations you should keep in mind as you look at your results though. Each of these experiments represents an area of active research -- until we have gathered many, many results from people like you, we can't conclude anything about what an individual's results mean. Furthermore, these kinds of results are only really meaningful at the group level -- that is, they may reflect patterns that apply on average and not necessarily to any one person. For example, let's say we decided to do a study examining male or female gender and hair length. We might find that, on average, women have longer hair than men. However, having long hair doesn't make you female and being female doesn't give you long hair. In other words, females have longer hair on average, but this information doesn't allow us to make any conclusions about an individual.

If you are surprised by your results on any of these tests, you shouldn't be concerned. There are many reasons why scores on this task might differ. For instance, differences in computer systems or distractions while doing the task can affect results. These tests were not specifically designed to assess you, and scores can vary widely among the people who complete it.

We encourage you to share any results you find interesting with your friends. Just keep in mind the following limitations of these experiments:

  • These tests are not meant to assess you, and should not be used to make any conclusions about your abilities.
  • Each experiment is an area of active research and thus we do not yet fully understood what these results mean.
  • There are many reasons why scores of any particular test might differ, including differences in computer systems,distractions while doing the task, or even what you had for lunch that day. Scores can vary widely among the people who complete each test.

Your results (without any information about your identity) will be used to test scientific theories about the way the mind and brain work. We have already made a number of exciting discoveries based on data from people just like you who visit TestMyBrain. These and any discoveries we make later down the line will be posted on the discoveries section of this page.

No one will be able to connect your results with any uniquely identifying information that you provide us. If you are 18 years of age or older and give us your email address to be contacted about future experiments, this will be stored in a secure database and kept separate from your test scores. We take every precaution to make sure your information and your data are secure, and all of our tests, data collection methods, and data storage processes are reviewed by an appropriate Institutional Review Board prior to appearing on TestMyBrain. As for the results of these experiments, your identity-free data will be used by TestMyBrain researchers to learn more about the way the brain works. Any discoveries or research findings that emerge from TestMyBrain experiments will be posted on the discoveries section of this site when available.

Experiments and Tests

The links on the front page take you to particular experiments, each of which includes one or more tests. For instance, an experiment might include three tests: one personality test, one test of your verbal memory, and another test of your memory for pictures.

Every test on TestMyBrain is part of an experiment that was designed by our team of researchers to learn more about cognition and the brain. Some of our tests are measures of very general abilities, such as processing speed and memory. Other tests are designed to help us look at more specific functions, like face memory, emotion processing, and different aspects of personality. We want to look at the way different cognitive functions relate to one another, the way they change as we get older, and how they might affect (or depend on!) our personality. We also want to make sure that every test is fun, challenging, and educational, to make sure that users like you find the experience of participating in our research as rewarding as possible.

One of the main things we are interested in is how different cognitive abilities and personality features relate to things like age, sex, education, and other personal characteristics. The information we ask you about yourself helps us to understand (a little better) what factors make people unique.

One of the main things we are interested in is how different cognitive abilities and personality features relate to things like age, sex, education, and other personal characteristics. The information we ask you about yourself helps us to understand (a little better) what factors make people unique.

We ask that you do not leave your computer while you are in the middle of a test or experiment, as this makes it difficult for us to interpret your results. All experiments include information at the beginning about how long the experiment will take, so that you can plan accordingly.

Tests are posted on the website for different amounts of time, so you may find that if you leave Test My Brain and return the next day, the tests may have changed. If there is a test that you saw on our website and really wanted to try, but is no longer available, please let us know as we are happy to make popular tests available to our users even if they are no longer being used for our research.

You can redo an experiment as many times as you like! Just make sure when you get to the end of the experiment that you respond "No" when it asks if it is your first time doing the test or study.

Unfortunately there are a limited number of tests available on our site at any given time. When you've done all of the tests we have available (thanks!) you can sign up for email notifications for future tests (your email will not be connected to your results) by emailing us at testmybrain@gmail.com.


Support

If you are having problems with any of the tests or experiments, or need help interpreting your results, please contact us at testmybrain@gmail.com.

If you have questions or comments about our work here at TestMyBrain, feedback on any of our studies, or would just like to say hello, drop us a line at testmybrain@gmail.com. We would love to hear from you!