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Memory games for brain fog
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These games practise recall, word use and working memory. You can use easier levels or stop at any point. If playing makes your symptoms worse, stop and rest.
Outside the game
Use the same ideas in daily life
- 01
Recall
Read a short message. Close it. Say the main point before you look again.
- 02
Describe
If a word will not come, say what the thing does or what it looks like. Finish the sentence and keep talking.
- 03
Keep your place
For a recipe or form, keep the instructions open and mark the line you are on with your finger or a scrap of paper. If you get interrupted, you can pick up from that line.
Why these games were chosen
Recall rounds use retrieval practice: you bring back information after hiding it. Word rounds practise finding a name or describing its meaning. Letters and squares adapts the n-back task to let you advance at your own pace. The studies below explain the choices; they did not test this collection of games as a treatment for brain fog.
- Practicing Retrieval Facilitates Learning McDermott KB. Annual Review of Psychology. 2021;72:609–633.
This review found that bringing new information back from memory soon after learning it can slow forgetting. That's why the memory game asks you to hide the words before recalling them.
- Effectiveness of Goal Management Training® in Improving Executive Functions: A Meta-Analysis Stamenova V, Levine B. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation. 2019;29(10):1569–1599. PMID: 29540124.
This meta-analysis covered 21 publications and 19 treatment-group samples. Small to moderate improvements appeared across most areas studied, including everyday executive tasks. The review studied structured Goal Management Training, not the brief tip on this page.
- Working Memory Training Does Not Improve Performance on Measures of Intelligence or Other Measures of “Far Transfer” Melby-Lervåg M, Redick TS, Hulme C. Perspectives on Psychological Science. 2016;11(4):512–534.
Across 87 publications and 145 comparisons, this review found gains on related working-memory tasks but no convincing benefit on more distant skills against active controls. Broader benefits remain debated; a better game score is not proof of recovery.
- Working memory training revisited: A multi-level meta-analysis of n-back training studies Soveri A, Antfolk J, Karlsson L, Salo B, Laine M. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. 2017;24:1077–1096.
Across 33 randomised trials in healthy adults, improvements were larger on other n-back tasks than on different cognitive tasks. In Letters and squares, you check whether a letter or square matches one shown earlier. You choose when to move to the next turn.
- Improving fluid intelligence with training on working memory: a meta-analysis Au J, Sheehan E, Tsai N, Duncan GJ, Buschkuehl M, Jaeggi SM. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. 2015;22:366–377.
This earlier review of 20 studies found a small positive effect on reasoning tests in healthy adults. Later reviews reached more cautious conclusions. The reviews agree people can get better at the practised task. They disagree about benefits beyond it.
- A Systematic Review of Semantic Feature Analysis Therapy Studies for Aphasia Efstratiadou EA, Papathanasiou I, Holland R, Archonti A, Hilari K. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. 2018;61:1261–1278.
Semantic feature analysis explores a word through its meaning and features. This research looked at aphasia therapy, not general brain fog. Our description activity borrows that idea for informal practice; it does not reproduce the therapy or assess language ability.
A score records what happened in that round. It can't tell you why brain fog is happening.