Only 1.2 Percent of People Got a Perfect Score on This Photographic Memory Test—See If You Can

Do you have a photographic memory, a thing that may or may not exist?

UK-based vision company Lenstore has an online game called Photographic Memory. For just seven seconds, players are shown a variety of photos—10 images total—and have to answer multiple choice questions about them. For instance: You’ll see a busy photo filled with potted plants. What kind of pot are the plants in? They’ll ask you specific and detailed questions about colors, how many people are in the photo, what kind of food is in the bowl on the table, and what type of flag is hanging up, and what wasn’t in the photo. Some of the photos have a lot of content, while others are more minimal.

In June 2019, Lenstore surveyed 2000 UK adults who played the game. They discovered that six out of 10 was the most common score, with only 1.2 percent of participants getting all 10 questions correct. Seventy-one percent of the participants that received a perfect score were female, and 92 percent of those who scored 10 out of 10 do regular brain exercises.

Sixty-six percent of the perfect scores landed in the 18- to 34-year-old demographic, and 83 percent of perfect scores came from people who have an artistic hobby and/or play video games at least once a week.

Those who want to work on their photographic memory skills can take the test multiple times; each time it includes a mix of familiar and new images. Once you know what to look for, the game becomes less frustrating. And then you can apply those skills to the real world.

In a press release, memory expert and author Kevin Horsley gave a tip for remembering: “Connect to what you already know,” he said. “If you wanted to remember that the Zulu word for dog is inja, then you could think of an injured dog. If you connect the new information to what you already know, then you will strengthen your memory network.”

Once you’re done, try solving Einstein’s famous house riddle, test your color perception, and try out this math problem for fifth graders.

A version of this story ran in 2019; it has been updated for 2023.