Facts

The articles are about the same things our tests measure: how quickly people react to what they see and hear, how fast they click and type, how much they can hold in mind at once, how fast they read, what a colour word test shows about attention, and what personality researchers have found over many decades. Some are about the tools as well: what a screen, a mouse or a browser adds to a result.

Each article is written to be read in a few minutes. The answer comes first. Then come the studies: what was measured, on whom, when, and the figures. Then what it means for you, a short table where figures help, a few common questions and a button to the matching test.

• Every figure comes from a source we have read: a journal article, a record keeper's listing or a governing body's rules.
• Under each source we quote the words the figure was read in, with the page and the day we read it.
• Where a study was small, old or done on one kind of person, the article says so.
• A figure a website reports about itself is labelled as reported, and kept out of headings and summaries.

No article gives medical or psychological advice, and none promises that practice will change a result by a set amount. Where research disagrees, the article shows both sides.

A study tells you about a group of people measured in one way. Your result in a browser is one person measured on one device, so it will rarely match a published figure exactly. Read the figures as a guide to what is usual, and use the tests to watch how your own results change from day to day.