Elephant Memory

Game Description

The saying that elephants never forget is a true fact. Can we say the same thing for you? See if you can build up memory over a few seconds or minutes and hold on to it. In this game you are presented with a grid of 25 words for 60 seconds that you will have to memorize. Then, you will be asked to recognize these same words from a longer list that also contains other distractor words.

Cognitive Function Exercised

In this exercise, you will practice your language and memory skills. The main brain region involved is the left temporal lobe. The functions of the left temporal lobe involve low-level perception, sound processing, and extend to comprehension, naming, verbal memory and other language functions such as the knowledge of the meaning of words.

Your ability for visual word recognition will depend on how familiar these words are to you and also their length. If you are an avid reader with an extensive repertory of words and a strategy to mentally classify them then you will succeed at this exercise.

Benefits to Daily Life

Word recognition and classification are important abilities that one uses every day. Those with an extensive lexicon, who are familiar with complex words, terms and expressions, will have an easier time at this memory task. We use visual recognition when we take a multiple-choice exam and we use word classification when we try to remember a shopping list. Also, most people that learn multiple languages have an easier time recognizing words than retrieving them.