What's Your Brain Age?
A quick cognitive assessment grounded in neuroscience research.
Based on paradigms from the NIH Toolbox and Cambridge Brain Sciences.
Find Out →What Does This Quiz Measure?
Processing Speed
How quickly you identify and respond to visual information. Measured through choice reaction time and symbol-digit coding tasks adapted from the NIH Toolbox.
Working Memory
Your ability to hold and manipulate information in real time. Assessed via spatial span, a paradigm validated by Cambridge Brain Sciences.
Executive Function
How well you inhibit impulses and switch between mental sets. Tested with Stroop interference and trail-making tasks grounded in decades of clinical research.
Memory
Immediate and delayed recall of verbal information, plus recognition memory. Based on the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT) paradigm.
How It Works
Lifestyle Assessment
Four quick questions about sleep, stress, social connection, and mood -- factors that research shows affect cognitive age.
Cognitive Tasks
Six short tests measuring processing speed, working memory, executive function, and verbal memory. Takes about 6 minutes.
Your Brain Age
We combine your cognitive scores with lifestyle factors using age-normed data to estimate your brain age relative to your actual age.
The Science
This assessment adapts well-established cognitive paradigms used in clinical research. Reaction-time and symbol-coding tasks are drawn from the NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery (Weintraub et al., 2013). Spatial span follows the methodology of Cambridge Brain Sciences (Hampshire et al., 2012). The Stroop and trail-making tasks have been standard measures of executive function for over 80 years.
Your cognitive scores are compared to age-stratified norms and converted to z-scores. We apply a weighted composite model inspired by Salthouse (2010) to estimate cognitive age, then adjust for lifestyle factors -- sleep (Spira et al., 2014; Tai et al., 2022), chronic stress (Lupien et al., 2009), social connection (Livingston et al., 2020), and mood (Han et al., 2020) -- each supported by published effect sizes.
This quiz is not a clinical tool. It provides an educational estimate that can motivate healthier habits. For clinical evaluation, consult a neuropsychologist.
Key references:
- Weintraub et al. (2013). Cognition assessment using the NIH Toolbox. Neurology.
- Hampshire et al. (2012). Fractionating human intelligence. Neuron.
- Salthouse (2010). Selective review of cognitive aging. J Int Neuropsychol Soc.
- Spira et al. (2014). Self-reported sleep and beta-amyloid deposition. JAMA Neurol.
- Lupien et al. (2009). Effects of stress on the brain. Nat Rev Neurosci.
- Livingston et al. (2020). Dementia prevention (Lancet Commission). The Lancet.
- Han et al. (2020). Brain aging in major depressive disorder. PNAS.