A date-stable Visual Search block

How the 2026 Daily schedule works

The frozen 2026 specialist schedule contains 365 deterministic, distinct materialized blocks. The first 60 dates use Easy, the next 180 use Standard and the final 125 use Challenge. That progression belongs only to this specialist Daily.

Why the date is stable

The date, difficulty band and frozen source bank deterministically reconstruct the concrete target and distractor fields. Reloading the same date returns the same material. This makes the local specialist history meaningful without requiring an account or remote puzzle service.

What is saved locally

Completion history, a specialist streak, recent runs and Clean bests are stored in this browser. The Visual Search streak is independent from the main Daily streak and from other specialist Dailies.

Interpreting a Daily result

Overall accuracy is shown beside target-present accuracy, target-absent accuracy, median correct reaction time and set-size timing. A slower dense-board time is not automatically a worse result if accuracy improved. Compare like with like and keep assistance state visible.

Assisted versus Clean

Target Outline can be used to study the exact target location, but activating it marks the run Assisted. An Assisted Daily completion can remain in history while Clean best protection prevents study help from masquerading as unassisted performance.

Target authority

The answer is not taken from a stored final-answer label. The materialized grid is scanned for complete target matches. Exactly one match makes that cell correct; zero matches makes Absent correct. Challenge lures share only one target feature, so shape-only or color-only checking is insufficient.

Use the Daily as a fixed comparison, not a leaderboard

The value of a date-stable block is that everyone on the same local date gets the same specialist material and a reload does not quietly swap in an easier board. The page does not publish population ranks, percentile claims or a global leaderboard. Instead, it gives you one reproducible block and stores your local completion history in the browser.

Because difficulty changes across the frozen year schedule, a Daily streak should not be interpreted as a perfectly constant test. Early Easy dates, middle Standard dates and later Challenge dates have different set sizes and distractor rules. The streak means you completed the specialist on consecutive dates; it does not mean the raw milliseconds from one difficulty are directly interchangeable with another.

What to review after a Daily

Start with accuracy before reaction time. A 100% block with a slower largest-set median can be more useful practice evidence than a faster block with several false target selections. Then compare present and absent accuracy. Present misses suggest skipped targets or incomplete feature checking; absent errors suggest either premature termination or selecting a near-match lure.

Next, compare timing by set size inside the same Daily difficulty. A dense field naturally contains more candidates. The optional search-slope value summarizes the observed time change across the sizes present in that block. It is descriptive and can be noisy in a single session, so use it as a prompt for reflection rather than a label.

Daily difficulty bands

The frozen 2026 schedule uses 60 Easy dates, 180 Standard dates and 125 Challenge dates. Easy emphasizes feature pop-out. Standard holds shape and color constant and varies visible triangle orientation. Challenge requires a complete shape-plus-color conjunction while every distractor shares exactly one target feature. The independent verifier confirms that every one of the 365 date materializations obeys the relevant contract.

Daily uniqueness without random server content

The source bank contains 90 generated schedules, 30 per difficulty. A date deterministically selects a source and materializes concrete target/distractor grids locally. The release verifier checks all 365 dates for deterministic reconstruction, validity and distinct concrete identity. No remote puzzle endpoint is required and no commercial or clinical assessment bank is copied into the product.

Reload and storage behavior

Completing a Daily writes the specialist result to visualSearchStats in the current local DailyBrainArc store. Reloading the same date restores the completion history and streak. Migration from the previous V0.141 store preserves the previous serialized bytes, creates the V0.142 store, carries forward existing specialist samples and starts Visual Search with zero runs until you actually play it.

How assistance affects a Daily

You may turn on Target Outline if you want to study where the complete match sits among one-feature lures. The result is then explicitly marked Assisted. The completion can still appear in specialist Daily history, but the assisted record is not allowed to replace a Clean best. This keeps streak continuity separate from unassisted performance records.

Present/absent balance

Each set size uses a 75% target-present and 25% target-absent mix: Easy has 9 present and 3 absent per size, Standard 12 and 4, Challenge 15 and 5. This keeps target detection frequent enough for direct cell selection while ensuring Absent remains a real decision that must be practiced throughout the block.

Practical Daily routine

Before starting, decide on one scan pattern and keep it for the whole block. On Standard, name the target direction to yourself before scanning. On Challenge, identify both target shape and target color and refuse to click until both match. On Absent trials, finish the full scan rather than guessing based on how long the search has taken. Afterward, use the metrics to decide whether the next Practice block should emphasize accuracy, a more systematic scan, or faster confirmation.

Compare the Daily with Practice carefully

A Practice seed is best for controlled repetition because you can replay the same material on demand. The Daily is better for a once-per-date habit because the date chooses the block for you. Use those two modes for different questions. If you are testing a scan strategy, repeat a Practice seed. If you are maintaining a habit, play the Daily once and review the result. Mixing those goals can make timing comparisons confusing because a repeated board naturally becomes more familiar.

When you do compare days, favor patterns across several sessions over one unusually fast or slow run. Browser load, device input, distraction and the particular target locations can all affect a single measurement. The product stores local history so you can look for consistency without pretending that one number is a stable personal trait.

Claim boundary

This Daily is a local browser game, not an attention diagnosis, ADHD test, IQ measure, clinical assessment or population norm. The timing and accuracy values describe only the run played in this browser.