For a 2014 study published the journal Science, psychology researchers Henry L. Roediger and K. Andrew DeSoto had nearly 500 adults ages 18-64 write down the names of as many presidents as they could remember in five minutes, and the order in which they served, on a blank sheet of paper. (You can take a similar quiz, with pictures of the presidents, on TIME.com.)
The list of the most memorable presidencies is unsurprising. Overall, people tended to remember the first five presidents — 94% remembered America’s first President George Washington — and the five most recent presidents. In terms of who they remember in the middle, Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy (both of whom were assassinated, and also associated with memorable eras in American history) also did well, remembered by 88% and 83% of the participants. It’s also not surprising that 60% would remember Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who served for four terms, or that 82% of participants could recall Richard Nixon, who resigned because of Watergate. But having a historic presidency wasn’t always enough to jog participants’ memories; for example, though Gerald Ford remains the only man to serve in the office who was neither elected President nor Vice President, only 62% named him.
“Unless you are associated with a really famous event,” Roediger tells TIME, “you will probably be forgotten.”
Participants had the most trouble recalling the 19th century presidents other than Lincoln. Chester Arthur was the worst-remembered president, with only 6.7% of participants being able to recall him, followed by Franklin Pierce (7.1%), and Millard Fillmore (8.2%).