Fix the pattern.
After studying a pattern of colored tiles for a few seconds, can you restore it when some of the tiles swap places?
Original study
- Phillips, W. A. (1974). On the distinction between sensory storage and short-term visual memory. Perception & Psychophysics, 16(2), 283–290. Source
- Luck, S. J., & Vogel, E. K. (1997). The capacity of visual working memory for features and conjunctions. Nature, 390(6657), 279–281. Source
- Cowan, N. (2001). The magical number 4 in short-term memory: A reconsideration of mental storage capacity. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24(1), 87–114. Source
- Wheeler, M. E., & Treisman, A. M. (2002). Binding in short-term visual memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 131(1), 48–64. Source
- Johnson, J. S., Hollingworth, A., & Luck, S. J. (2008). The role of attention in the maintenance of feature bindings in visual short-term memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 34(1), 41–55. Source
- Rensink, R. A., O'Regan, J. K., & Clark, J. J. (1997). To see or not to see: The need for attention to perceive changes in scenes. Psychological Science, 8(5), 368–373. Source
Our adaptation
A change-correction task on feature binding in visual working memory (Wheeler and Treisman, 2002). In each round a grid of colored, shaped tiles is studied during a countdown (3×3 / 3 s, 4×4 / 4 s, 4×4 / 4 s, 5×5 / 5 s, 5×5 / 5 s); after a 300 ms blank the grid returns with some tile pairs swapped (1, 1, 2, 2, 3 pairs) and the pattern is repaired within 20 seconds by tapping two tiles to swap them.
Differences from the original study
- Each condition is measured once.
- From round 3 to 4 both grid size and study time change, so the grid effect is not fully isolated.
- The score rewards accuracy and speed together.
Measured variables
The columns of the open data file. List fields are expanded into numbered columns (for example rt_60, est_3); JSON columns contain only numbers and fixed stimulus names.
| Column | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
r | JSON | Rounds: [[side, swapped pairs, positions repaired, positions broken, time in ms, swaps made] × 5]. |
acc_1 | number | Round accuracy: max(0, repaired − broken) / (2 × pairs). (item 1) |
acc_2 | number | Round accuracy: max(0, repaired − broken) / (2 × pairs). (item 2) |
acc_3 | number | Round accuracy: max(0, repaired − broken) / (2 × pairs). (item 3) |
acc_4 | number | Round accuracy: max(0, repaired − broken) / (2 × pairs). (item 4) |
acc_5 | number | Round accuracy: max(0, repaired − broken) / (2 × pairs). (item 5) |
pts_1 | number | Round score: 10 × accuracy × (0.6 + 0.4 × share of time left). (item 1) |
pts_2 | number | Round score: 10 × accuracy × (0.6 + 0.4 × share of time left). (item 2) |
pts_3 | number | Round score: 10 × accuracy × (0.6 + 0.4 × share of time left). (item 3) |
pts_4 | number | Round score: 10 × accuracy × (0.6 + 0.4 × share of time left). (item 4) |
pts_5 | number | Round score: 10 × accuracy × (0.6 + 0.4 × share of time left). (item 5) |
points | number | Total score (0–50). |
perfect | integer | Number of fully repaired rounds. |
Columns present in every file (14)
row_id | string | Row code. Regenerated at random in every release; it does not identify a person and cannot be matched across releases or experiments. |
experiment | string | Short name of the experiment (URL slug). |
experiment_version | integer | Version of the answer format. For experiments whose format changed, only the current format is published. |
date | YYYY-MM-DD | YYYY-Www | YYYY-MM | Day the answer was given (Istanbul time). If fewer than 5 answers share the same day, language and device, it is coarsened to the ISO week, and to the month if that is still too few. |
date_precision | day | week | month | Precision of the date column. |
lang | tr | en | (boş) | Interface language. Language recording started in the first week of October 2026; for earlier answers it is known only in experiments whose stimuli depend on the language, and empty otherwise. |
device | desktop | mobile | tablet | (boş) | Device class reported by the browser (class only; browser details are neither stored here nor published). |
source | site | embed | Where the answer came from: the balabs site or the experiment embedded on another site. The embedding site is not published. |
mode | free | daily | challenge | race | session | (boş) | Play mode in scored experiments: free play, daily round, challenge, race room, experiment session. Empty for unscored experiments and for older answers that did not store it. |
color_vision | normal | rg | by | contrast | (boş) | In color-based experiments, the color vision mode the participant chose: normal, red-green, blue-yellow or high contrast. Stimuli are generated along different axes per mode, so compare within a mode. Empty for other experiments. |
first_play | 1 | Every row is a participant’s first play of this experiment (always 1). Replays are stored only as leaderboard scores and are not part of the open data. |
seen_before | yes | no | unsure | (boş) | Participant’s own report of whether they had seen this experiment or its known answer before (in experiments that ask). |
duration_s | number | Time from the start of the experiment to submitting the answer, in seconds (measured in the browser, 0.1 s). |
play_score | number | Leaderboard score of the first play (scored experiments; defined on the method card). Empty for unscored experiments. |
Exclusion criteria
The server checks that each round's grid size and pair count follow the plan and that repaired and broken positions are within the possible range; inconsistent submissions are rejected.
- Only each participant's first answer to this experiment; replays are not included.
- Simulated rows, bots, banned and sample accounts are not included.
- Answers before 3 October 2026 are not included (the first day the open data notice was live).
Scoring
Leaderboard score: total score (0–50); higher is better.
Leaderboard measure: pattern memory (higher is better). The play_score column in the open data is this score for the first play.
Version notes
- October 2026
The interface language (lang) started being stored with each answer; for earlier answers it is known only in experiments whose stimuli depend on the language, and empty otherwise.