How Does Your Memory for Presidents Stack Up?

Name all the U.S. presidents you can and compare your powers of recollection with the American population’s collective memory

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History buffs take heart! Your love of presidential particulars may set you apart from many of your peers—and give you an edge in an intriguing memory test that may illustrate the typical pattern of cultural forgetfulness. Follow the instructions below to take the presidential memory test and then see how your performance compares with various groups of Americans at different points in time.

In 1974, 1991 and 2009 researchers led by psychologist at Washington University in Saint Louis asked college students to recall as many presidents’ names as possible, in the chronological order that they served. In 2009 they also surveyed adults of different ages. Results, this past November, show that almost everyone forgets presidents at a predictable rate—only about chief executives prior to the one currently in office are remembered by most of the population. In addition, almost everyone remembers the first few and a couple important names in the middle of the pack. Learn more about what this study reveals about our cultural memory in .

To see how your memory compares, first make a list of the numbers 1 through 44. Then write down the presidents’ names in the numerical slot you believe to be correct (for instance, put Obama at number 44).

All done? Time to score yourself. First simply count how many presidents you could remember, without paying attention to their numerical placement.

Compared with college students in 2009,if you named:                              you're in the:27 presidents................................80th percentile21 presidents................................60th percentile18 presidents................................40th percentile13 presidents................................20th percentile

These results were pretty similar for people of all ages, as you will see depicted in the graphs below. The college students were able to name slightly more presidents than people ages 30 to 49 or 50 to 69, probably because their history lessons happened more recently, the researchers suspected.

Compared with college students in 2009,if you placed:                               you're in the:15 presidents................................80th percentile 9 presidents................................60th percentile 7 presidents................................40th percentile 5 or fewer................................20th percentile or lower.

The researchers studied numerical placement because a large body of data exists on how people remember ordered lists—they tend to remember items at the beginning, at the end and occasional ones in the middle—when an item is particularly important or unusual. Our collective memory for presidents follows the same trend.

One final point: The researchers noted that a very small handful of participants were able to name every president in order, with ease—almost as if they had memorized them with a mnemonic or otherwise made it a point of personal pride to know the whole list. To those students of history (and trivia geeks), we tip our hats.

----------------------1. George Washington3. Thomas Jefferson5. James Monroe7. Andrew Jackson9. William Henry Harrison11. James K. Polk13. Millard Fillmore15. James Buchanan17. Andrew Johnson19. Rutherford B. Hayes21. Chester A. Arthur23. Benjamin Harrison25. William McKinley27. William Howard Taft29. Warren G. Harding31. Herbert Hoover33. Harry S. Truman35. John F. Kennedy37. Richard M. Nixon39. James Carter41. George H. W. Bush43. George W. Bush

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