Same or Different

About the Same or Different exercise

Checking that the number on a prescription label matches the one on the box, or that a reference on a bank statement matches the invoice, means comparing two things closely and trusting the answer. After a stroke or a brain injury, or when attention drifts, the eye can settle on the first item and skip the second, or see a change that is not there.

Same or Different is a visual discrimination activity. It puts two items side by side, letters and numbers, rows of symbols, or line figures, and asks one question: exactly the same, or has one small thing changed? Half the pairs are identical. Every answer is timed, and the results separate the two ways of being wrong: a real change that was missed, and a change seen where there was none.

What Same or Different practices

Visual discrimination

The changes are graded plain, subtle, and fine: a clearly different character at one end, and twins like O and 0, a heavier line, or a dot nudged one step at the other.

Attention to detail

Half the pairs are the same, so the second item has to be checked character by character or line by line rather than glanced at. Guessing scores half marks.

Processing speed

Every answer is timed from the moment both items can be compared. Median speed is reported for the round, and mean speed per item type when the round is mixed.

Visual memory

With the memory dial on, the first item shows alone for 1 to 5 seconds, hides, and then the second appears, so the comparison is made against what was held in mind.

How the tool works and what it records

Items are letters and numbers, symbols, figures, or mixed. The change is plain (a character or symbol clearly replaced, a line added or removed, a figure flipped), subtle (two neighbours swapped, a look-alike, a turned symbol, a moved line or dot), or fine (twins like O and 0, a symbol filled or emptied, a heavier line, a nudged dot). Dials set 4 to 10 characters per item, 4 to 8 lines per figure, a memory exposure of 0 to 5 seconds, 10 to 40 items, and feedback after each item or at the end. Pro unlocks the dials; large-print mode is free.

Answers are two large buttons, Same and Different; with feedback after each item, the right answer and what changed show briefly before the next pair. The panel reports accuracy, median speed, differences caught of total, false differences, and time, with a note on which way the errors lean and a list of the change types missed. Free accounts get 5 rounds per tool per day; Pro adds unlimited rounds and a PDF worksheet with an answer key, and accounts with the session log feature have each round saved.

Screen or paper?

The screen suits this task when timing matters: every answer is clocked, the two kinds of error are separated automatically, the memory dial hides the first item on a timer, and the pairs are fresh each round. Paper suits sessions with no device or wifi, where ticking a box with a pen is the point, or where a sheet with its answer key needs to be kept in a file.

The printable version is the Visual Discrimination worksheet set on rehabworksheets.com, and there is a free visual discrimination worksheet to try first, with no email required.

Using it well

• Start plain, with strings of 5. The first preset, letters and numbers, 5 characters, plain changes, gives a quick read on the basic sweep. Move to subtle when differences caught is close to all of them and false differences stay at zero.
• Read which way the errors lean. Missed differences and false differences are shown separately for a reason. Mostly missed changes points to the second item not being checked; mostly false differences points to guessing under time pressure. The note under the tiles says which it was.
• Use guided feedback while learning the change types. With feedback after each item, the tool names the change, one line moved, two neighbours swapped, before moving on. Switch to feedback at the end once the person can name the change themselves.
• Turn the memory dial on gently. Any exposure above 0 turns the task into a comparison from memory. Start at 5 seconds, which gives the most time to study the first item, and shorten it step by step. Expect speed to drop at first.
• Adapt for hand and speech. The two buttons are large, and Enter or the space bar answers when a button has keyboard focus. A partner can press the button the person says or points to; the time still counts from when the second item appeared. Large-print mode is free.

Common questions