Episodic Memory
Short Story Recall Test
Capture language-sensitive verbal episodic memory with a brief story, free recall, and recognition scoring in the browser.
4-6 minUntimed
Free to start: 10 free participants per account, then $0.99 per participant for academic research, or any yearly plan. Try it here first, with no account.
- Papers, 2021 to 2025
- 1,038
- Evidence grade
- A
- Registered clinical studies
- 315
Maria met Carlo near the market...
Free Recall
What it measures
Measures verbal episodic memory with a brief narrative, free recall, and recognition questions in the participant language.
Constructs
- Verbal episodic memory
- Narrative encoding
- Free recall
- Recognition memory
Research uses
- Research batteries requiring verbal memory sampling
- Language-sensitive cognitive study workflows
- Within-participant longitudinal recall tracking
- Raw narrative recall export for investigator review
How the paradigm works
Short Story Recall measures verbal episodic memory using a brief narrative followed by free recall and recognition questions. The participant reads a language-matched story, types what they remember, then answers multiple-choice recognition items.
More about the paradigm
The task is useful when researchers need a self-administered verbal memory probe that can run in English or Italian with exportable raw recall and recognition data.
Scores
- Free Recall Word Countcount
- Number of normalized words typed during free recall.
- Informational
- Unique Recall Wordscount
- Number of unique normalized words in the free recall response.
- Informational
- Recall Character Countcount
- Length of the typed free recall response.
- Informational
- Recognition Accuracy%
- Proportion of recognition questions answered correctly.
- Higher is better
- Recognition Correctcount
- Number of recognition questions answered correctly.
- Higher is better
Use and evidence
1,038 papers from 2021 to 2025 name this task in their title or abstract, up 10% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 26 of 632 test families in our census. See the counts for every test.
Show the numbers
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 226 |
| 2024 | 191 |
| 2023 | 260 |
| 2022 | 157 |
| 2021 | 204 |
| 2020 | 234 |
| 2019 | 174 |
| 2018 | 165 |
| 2017 | 213 |
| 2016 | 158 |
| 2015 | 186 |
| 2014 | 150 |
| 2013 | 152 |
| 2012 | 143 |
| 2011 | 126 |
| 2010 | 118 |
| 2009 | 92 |
| 2008 | 121 |
| 2007 | 75 |
| 2006 | 83 |
| 2005 | 66 |
| 2004 | 72 |
| 2003 | 54 |
| 2002 | 64 |
| 2001 | 42 |
| 2000 | 43 |
Use grade A
1,000 or more papers from 2021 to 2025.
Evidence grade A
At least 25 papers report its test-retest reliability and at least 25 registered clinical studies use it as an outcome.
- Papers on test-retest reliability
- 52
- Papers on reliability or validity
- 445
- Registered clinical studies using it as an outcome
- 315
Measured on ConductCognition
Pooled across the studies that feed our platform norms, by device group. A figure needs 50 or more people.
No pooled figure yet.
How the grades work
Use: A is 1,000 or more papers from 2021 to 2025, B 300 to 999, C 100 to 299, D 30 to 99 and E fewer than 30. Evidence: A means at least 25 papers report its test-retest reliability and at least 25 registered clinical studies use it as an outcome; B, at least 8 test-retest papers, and either 5 registered clinical studies or 150 reliability or validity papers; C, at least 2 test-retest papers, 30 reliability or validity papers or 3 registered clinical studies; D, little published measurement evidence found. The counts measure use. They include every paper that names the task in its title or abstract. Grades describe the published research on this task, not ConductCognition's version of it.
Source: ConductCognition test census 0.44.0, counted 31 October 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
Quality checks
Each session is marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason, before you see its scores.
Scored rows: short_story_free_recall typed recall and short_story_recognition answers (3 choices). Recall has no chance level; the few recognition items cannot reach significance, so accuracy is not judged against chance in practice. Recalling nothing is flagged. Recognition answers under 200 ms on at least half the items invalidate. A hidden tab withholds the percentile.
Why these rules
Free recall has no options to guess between, and an empty recall can be a real result in amnesia, so it is flagged for review. The recognition answers are in a fixed order, so a repeated answer is not judged. An answer under 200 ms is faster than a simple visual reaction, so it cannot reflect the item. Following response-time effort screening for untimed tests (Wise and Kong 2005), the session is invalid only when at least half the answers are that fast. A hidden tab lets the study, delay or response timers run without the participant, so a percentile is withheld after one.
Running this test
Settings you can change
| Setting | Standard | Allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Self-paced study | On | On or off |
| Maximum study time | 90,000 | 15,000 to 180,000 |
| Include recognition items | On | On or off |
Yearly plans can change settings within these limits. Free and pay-as-you-go studies use the standard settings.
Need a setting this test does not have?
Devices and languages
- Untimed test: runs on desktops, laptops, tablets and phones. Participant devices
- Languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (Simplified) and Japanese.
- Available on: Every plan, including the free plan.
- Recruiting online? See the setup guides for Prolific, Sona Systems, CloudResearch Connect and Qualtrics.
Included in these batteries
Each battery runs this test with others in a fixed order, with standard settings.
- At-Home Memory Battery4 tests, 26 minutes per participant
Cite and describe
Participants completed the Short Story Recall task in a web browser (ConductCognition task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0), with the standard settings (self-paced study: On; maximum study time: 90,000; include recognition items: On). The main score was recognition accuracy (proportion of recognition questions answered correctly).
Paradigm source: Logical Memory tradition; Wechsler Memory Scale story recall paradigms.
ConductCognition versions: task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0. Every export records the versions each session used, for a methods section.
Source papers
- No platform-matched normative source is currently seeded for this task in ConductCognition.Paradigm source, N/A
Questions
How long does the Short Story Recall Test take?
About 4 to 6 minutes, as listed in the test library.
What device does a participant need?
Untimed test: runs on desktops, laptops, tablets and phones. The browser must be Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari.
What scores does it produce?
Free Recall Word Count, Unique Recall Words, Recall Character Count, Recognition Accuracy and Recognition Correct. Each session is also marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason.
How widely is the Short Story Recall Test used in research?
1,038 papers from 2021 to 2025 name it in their title or abstract, up 10% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 26 of 632 test families in the ConductCognition test census (use grade A). Source: ConductCognition test census 0.44.0, counted 31 October 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
How much reliability evidence does the Short Story Recall Test have?
In the published research, 52 papers report its test-retest reliability and 315 registered clinical studies use it as an outcome (evidence grade A in the ConductCognition test census).
Which settings can a researcher change?
Self-paced study (On or off), maximum study time (15,000 to 180,000) and include recognition items (On or off). Settings can be changed on yearly plans; free and pay-as-you-go studies use the standard settings.
Which languages can participants use?
Participants can take this test in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (Simplified) and Japanese, with its words in the same language. English is on every plan, and the other languages come with yearly plans. Have a native speaker read the machine-translated text before launch.
Is this a clinical test?
No. ConductCognition is for research use only. It runs, scores and exports the test; clinical interpretation is outside the platform.
Every test: the full test list.
Run this test in your next study
Start free with 10 free participants on any test, then use participant credits or a yearly plan.