Block Path · Spatial Span Test
Scattered blocks light up one after another. When the path stops, tap the same blocks in the same order — and each round the path grows by one.
How to play Block Path
Nine blocks are scattered across the board. They light up one at a time in a path; watch carefully, then tap the blocks in the same order. Each round the path gets one block longer. One wrong tap ends the run.
What it measures
Block Path is our take on the block-tapping paradigm introduced by Philip Corsi in the 1970s — the standard measure of visuo-spatial working memory, the sketchpad your mind uses for locations and routes. It's the spatial sibling of digit span.
Honest note: Because the blocks are scattered rather than in a grid, every board is different — your score reflects the path length, not memorised positions.
What's a good score?
A typical adult spatial span is around 5 blocks; 6–7 is sharp and 8+ is rare. Spans usually run slightly shorter than digit spans. The percentile we show is an estimate based on typical distributions, not a clinical norm.
FAQ
How is this different from Echo?
Echo uses a fixed 3×3 grid and one growing sequence. Block Path scatters the blocks and generates a fresh path every round, so you're storing spatial locations, not pad positions.
Is spatial memory trainable?
You'll get better at the task itself, and meta-analyses show spatial skills broadly respond to practice — but we make no promises beyond a higher score here.
Keep training
Block Path follows the block-tapping paradigm introduced by Philip Corsi in the 1970s — the standard laboratory measure of visuo-spatial working memory, the system you use to hold locations and routes in mind. It complements verbal span tasks by testing the sketchpad instead of the phonological loop.
Who benefits most — no medical claims, just where the research points
Holding spatial layouts in mind is the everyday version of this exact task.
Spatial working memory underpins mentally arranging and rotating parts of a problem.
Most people don't know their spatial span — it's a genuinely different number from digit span.