Cognitive Testing
Test Your Brain. Track It Over Time.
There's a specific kind of frustration that comes with not being able to tell whether something is working. I tried non-stimulant ADHD medication but wasn't totally sure whether it was actually doing anything measurable - or whether I was just convincing myself it was because I wanted it to be. That question is what got me interested in cognitive testing.
These tests won't give you a clinical diagnosis. They're not designed for that and I won't pretend otherwise. But used consistently, at the same time of day, once a month, they can give you something genuinely useful: a picture of your own cognitive trend over time. Not compared to anyone else. Just you, tracked against yourself.
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Who this is for
I built this battery with three types of people in mind.
If you're tracking ADHD medication or maybe herbal supplements that you are trialling, this gives you a way to measure what's actually changing - not just how you feel about it. The numbers will tell you something your gut feelings can't always agree on.
If you're monitoring your cognitive health as you get older, or to assess the impact of alcohol consumption, a monthly session gives you a personal baseline. The value isn't in any single score. It's in spotting a sustained change across several tests at once.
And if you're just curious - if you're the kind of person who wants to put a number on everything - these tests are genuinely interesting to do. That last one is very me.
Before you start
A word of caution first. These tests are for personal curiosity and informal tracking only. A poor score on any given day does not mean something is wrong — cognitive performance varies by up to 15% across the day depending on sleep, stress and a dozen other things. If you have genuine concerns about your cognitive health, please speak to your doctor.
Always test at the same time of day. That single habit will do more for the reliability of your data than anything else. Morning is usually best, before the day has had a chance to wear you down.
Run the Mood and Sleep rating first, every session. It takes one minute and gives you the context you need to make sense of everything that follows. A bad Stroop score means something different on four hours of sleep than it does on eight.
The first three to five sessions should be treated as practice. Scores tend to improve simply through familiarity with the tests, then plateau. Your real baseline starts after that settling-in period.
The recommended order
Run the tests in this order for a consistent session. The full battery takes around 35 minutes. If you can get through all of them in one sitting, enter everything under the same session column in your tracking spreadsheet. If you split them across different days, start a fresh session column for each sitting — each test records its own date and time so your records will stay clear either way. Use the Session Notes row at the top of each column to record anything worth tracking, like starting a new medication, a bad night's sleep, or an unusually stressful week.
Recommended Order
Run the tests in this order for a consistent session. The full battery takes around 35 minutes. If you cannot do them all in one sitting, start a fresh session column in the tracking spreadsheet for each separate sitting. Each test records its own date and time so your records stay clear. Use the Session Notes row at the top of each column to record anything worth noting, like starting a new medication or an unusually bad night's sleep.
| # | Test | Time | Scores to track | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mood and Sleep Rating | 1 min | Sleep quality (1–10), hours slept, mood (1–10), energy (1–10), stress (1–10) | Higher = better Except stress — lower stress is better |
| 2 | Simple Reaction Time | 3 min | Average (ms), standard deviation (ms), coefficient of variation, fastest (ms), slowest (ms) | Lower = better |
| 3 | Choice Reaction Time | 3 min | Correct responses (out of 30), errors, error rate (%), average of correct responses (ms), standard deviation (ms), coefficient of variation | Higher = better correct responses Lower = better RT and errors |
| 4 | Symbol Digit Modalities Test | 90 sec | Correct responses (out of 90) | Higher = better |
| 5 | Digit Span | 3 min | Maximum forward span, maximum backward span | Higher = better |
| 6 | Corsi Span | 3 min | Maximum spatial span | Higher = better |
| 7 | 2-Back Working Memory Test | 4 min | Accuracy (%), average response time on correct responses (ms) | Higher = better accuracy Lower = better response time |
| 8 | Continuous Performance Test | 4 min | Accuracy (%), average response time on correct responses (ms), false alarms | Higher = better accuracy Lower = better response time and false alarms |
| 9 | Stroop Test | 3 min | Average response time congruent (ms), average response time incongruent (ms), error rate (%) | Lower = better |
| 10 | Trail Making Test | 3 min | Part A completion time (ms), Part A errors, Part B completion time (ms), Part B errors | Lower = better |
| 11 | Category Fluency Test | 1 min | Category used, valid unique words | Higher = better |
| 12 | Verbal Learning Test | ~15 min | Score per trial (T1–T5), delayed recall score (out of 20), recognition hits (out of 20) | Higher = better |
NOTE TO SELF - Add the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test
What to look for in your results
A single session tells you very little. What matters is the pattern across sessions.
Don't compare your scores to population norms. The tests here are simplified for self-administration and the conditions aren't controlled the way a clinical assessment would be. What you're tracking is your own trend, not a ranking against other people. Although if you want to compare to friends and family just for fun, go right ahead!
The threshold worth paying attention to is a drop of more than one and a half standard deviations from your personal average across two or more tests in the same session. That's the signal. A bad score on one test on one day is almost always noise.
The Verbal Learning test is the most sensitive to practice effects, because it uses the same word list each time. Your score on that one will probably improve across the first several sessions regardless of anything else. Factor that in.
The bottom line: run the full battery once a month, always at the same time of day, always starting with the Mood and Sleep rating. Give it six sessions before you draw any conclusions. After that, you'll have something genuinely worth looking at.
Before You Start
Mood and Sleep Rating
Rate your sleep, mood, energy and stress before each session. Essential context for making sense of your scores over time.
Memory
Verbal Learning Test
20-word list across 5 learning trials, with delayed recall and recognition. Tracks how memory builds and fades.
Digit Span Test
Repeat sequences of digits forward and in reverse. A clean measure of verbal working memory capacity.
Corsi Span Test
Remember and repeat a sequence of tapped blocks. The spatial equivalent of digit span.
2-Back Working Memory Test
Press space when the current letter matches the one shown two steps ago. Sensitive to working memory load.
Attention and Executive Function
Continuous Performance Test
150 letters, 30% targets. Press space only for X. Measures sustained focus and impulse control over time.
Stroop Test
Name the ink colour, not the word. One of the most replicated measures of cognitive inhibition in psychology.
Trail Making Test
Connect numbers (Part A) then alternate numbers and letters (Part B). Part B measures cognitive flexibility.
Processing Speed
Simple Reaction Time Test
Click the moment the box turns green. 30 trials. Gives average, standard deviation and coefficient of variation.
Choice Reaction Time Test
Press left or right arrow for blue or yellow. 30 trials. Measures decision speed and accuracy under pressure.
Symbol Digit Modalities Test
Match symbols to digits using a key. 90 items in 90 seconds. One of the most sensitive measures of processing speed available.
Semantic Memory
Category Fluency Test
Name as many items as you can from a given category in 60 seconds. A simple but reliable measure of semantic memory and word retrieval.