Episodic Memory
Attentional Boost Task
Also called: Attentional boost effect, target detection and memory, dual-task encoding
Measure the difference in picture memory when people detect a target color while studying a stream of pictures.
5-7 minTimed: desktop or laptop with a mouse or trackpad
Free to start: 10 free participants per account, then $0.99 per participant for academic research, or any yearly plan. Try it here first, with no account.
- Papers, 2021 to 2025
- 118
- Evidence grade
- D
- Registered clinical studies
- 1
What it measures
Compare memory for pictures shown with target and distractor colors. Press for one color while studying pictures, then recognize the pictures among new ones.
Constructs
- Temporal attention
- Episodic recognition
- Dual-task encoding
Research uses
- Attention and memory research
- Visual memory research
How the paradigm works
Detecting a target can affect memory for an image shown at the same moment. This task asks participants to press Space for one color while remembering a stream of pictures. It then compares recognition of pictures paired with target and distractor colors.
More about the paradigm
The standard stream has 32 pictures, 16 paired with each color. Each appears in three shuffled passes, keeping the same color across passes. A picture and blue or orange square appear together for 500 ms, followed by a 500 ms blank. Participants have the full 1,000 ms trial to press Space only for the target color. Pressing a key never shortens the trial. The target color and picture assignments are chosen from the saved session seed.
After 30 seconds of true-or-false arithmetic, 64 pictures appear one at a time: the 32 studied pictures and 32 new pictures, without color marks. Participants answer Seen or New with no deadline. A short recognition practice and four color-detection practice trials with feedback precede the stream. Settings allow 8 to 20 studied pictures per condition, one to three study passes and a delay of 0 to 120 seconds.
The primary score is the target-paired hit rate minus the distractor-paired hit rate. Scores also report the common new-picture false alarm rate, d-prime for each condition and color-detection performance. Recognition answers under 100 ms are counted and excluded. Study and recognition scores use the same run. No norms are applied to this task: the signed effect has no better direction.
This version uses existing Noto Emoji pictures, a square lasting 500 ms, binary recognition and no blank baseline. It measures the relative target/distractor difference, not enhancement above single-task memory. The pictures overlap Picture Superiority and Directed Forgetting, so use separate sessions to limit prior exposure. A desktop or laptop keyboard is required, and participants must be able to distinguish the two colors.
Scores
- Attentional boost effect%
- Hit rate for target-paired pictures minus hit rate for distractor-paired pictures. Positive means better memory for pictures paired with the target color.
- Research measure; compare conditions within a study
- Target-paired hit rate%
- Share of studied target-paired pictures called Seen.
- Research measure; compare conditions within a study
- Distractor-paired hit rate%
- Share of studied distractor-paired pictures called Seen.
- Research measure; compare conditions within a study
- New-picture false alarm rate%
- Share of new pictures called Seen; a common baseline for both study conditions.
- Research measure; compare conditions within a study
- Target-paired d-primed'
- Recognition sensitivity for target-paired pictures against the common new-picture false alarm rate, with log-linear correction.
- Research measure; compare conditions within a study
- Distractor-paired d-primed'
- Recognition sensitivity for distractor-paired pictures against the same new-picture false alarm rate.
- Research measure; compare conditions within a study
- Color detection hit rate%
- Share of target-color trials with a Space response at or after 100 ms.
- Research measure; compare conditions within a study
- Color detection false alarm rate%
- Share of distractor-color trials with any Space response.
- Research measure; compare conditions within a study
- Target detection timems
- Median time to press Space on target trials, excluding responses under 100 ms.
- Research measure; compare conditions within a study
- Early color responsescount
- Space responses under 100 ms in the study stream.
- Research measure; compare conditions within a study
- Recognition accuracy%
- Share of usable Seen/New answers that are correct.
- Research measure; compare conditions within a study
- Correct recognition timems
- Median correct recognition time; descriptive only.
- Research measure; compare conditions within a study
- Early recognition answerscount
- Recognition answers under 100 ms, excluded from memory scores.
- Research measure; compare conditions within a study
- Pictures testedtrials
- Recognition rows in the selected run.
- Research measure; compare conditions within a study
- Study presentationstrials
- Study-stream rows in the same run as recognition.
- Research measure; compare conditions within a study
- Arithmetic accuracy%
- Share of answered delay problems that are correct.
- Research measure; compare conditions within a study
Use and evidence
118 papers from 2021 to 2025 name this task in their title or abstract, up 151% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 223 of 582 test families in our census. See the counts for every test.
Show the numbers
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 35 |
| 2024 | 28 |
| 2023 | 18 |
| 2022 | 24 |
| 2021 | 13 |
| 2020 | 12 |
| 2019 | 12 |
| 2018 | 11 |
| 2017 | 7 |
| 2016 | 5 |
| 2015 | 6 |
| 2014 | 11 |
| 2013 | 11 |
| 2012 | 3 |
| 2011 | 5 |
| 2010 | 11 |
| 2009 | 2 |
| 2008 | 3 |
| 2007 | 1 |
| 2006 | 0 |
| 2005 | 1 |
| 2004 | 0 |
| 2003 | 2 |
| 2002 | 0 |
| 2001 | 0 |
| 2000 | 0 |
Use grade C
100 to 299 papers from 2021 to 2025.
Evidence grade D
Little published measurement evidence found.
- Papers on test-retest reliability
- 0
- Papers on reliability or validity
- 4
- Registered clinical studies using it as an outcome
- 1
Measured on ConductCognition
Pooled across the studies that feed our platform norms, by device group. A figure needs 50 or more people.
No pooled figure yet.
How the grades work
Use: A is 1,000 or more papers from 2021 to 2025, B 300 to 999, C 100 to 299, D 30 to 99 and E fewer than 30. Evidence: A means at least 25 papers report its test-retest reliability and at least 25 registered clinical studies use it as an outcome; B, at least 8 test-retest papers, and either 5 registered clinical studies or 150 reliability or validity papers; C, at least 2 test-retest papers, 30 reliability or validity papers or 3 registered clinical studies; D, little published measurement evidence found. The counts measure use. They include every paper that names the task in its title or abstract. Grades describe the published research on this task, not ConductCognition's version of it.
Source: ConductCognition test census 0.39.0, counted 8 November 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
Task design
The trial sequence as the test runs in ConductCognition.
- Pictures
- 80 Noto Emoji object and animal pictures plus 4 practice pictures. Shared with Picture Superiority and Directed Forgetting; separate these tasks across sessions.
- Study
- 16 pictures per color by default, adjustable from 8 to 20. Three passes (96 trials) by default, adjustable from one to three; a picture keeps its condition.
- Stream
- Picture and square together for 500 ms, then 500 ms blank. Space responses are accepted across the full 1,000 ms trial and do not shorten it.
- Color
- Blue and orange; the session seed chooses the target color and assigns picture roles. Half the study trials are targets.
- Practice
- Two pictures to study, four Seen/New decisions and four color-detection trials with feedback.
- Delay
- 30 seconds of true-or-false arithmetic by default; adjustable from 0 to 120 seconds.
- Recognition
- 64 pictures by default: 32 studied and 32 new. Untimed Seen/New buttons, no colored squares and no test feedback.
- Main score
- Target-paired hit rate minus distractor-paired hit rate, with a common new-picture false alarm rate. This version has no blank baseline.
Quality checks
Each session is marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason, before you see its scores.
Scored rows: attentional_boost_test from the run with most recognition rows; ties use the latest. Half the items are old. Accuracy significantly below 50% invalidates; accuracy not above chance over at least 10 answers is flagged. The same answer on 90% of items invalidates when accuracy is not above chance. Answers under 200 ms on at least half of 4 or more answered items invalidate. An incomplete run or skipped delay arithmetic is flagged. A hidden tab withholds the percentile.
Why these rules
Recognition is a balanced Seen/New decision. The signed condition difference itself is never judged. Study exposure and delay require attention to the screen.
No percentile. Scores and quality flags only.
Running this test
Settings you can change
| Setting | Standard | Allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Studied pictures per color | 16 | 8 to 20 |
| Study passes | 3 | 1 to 3 |
| Arithmetic delay (seconds) | 30 | 0 to 120 |
Yearly plans can change settings within these limits. Free and pay-as-you-go studies use the standard settings.
Need a setting this test does not have?
Devices and languages
- Timed test: participants need a desktop or laptop with a mouse or trackpad. Participant devices
- Languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (Simplified) and Japanese.
- Available on: Every plan, including the free plan.
- No percentile. Scores and quality flags only. How norms work
- Recruiting online? See the setup guides for Prolific, Sona Systems, CloudResearch Connect and Qualtrics.
Cite and describe
Participants completed the Attentional Boost Task in a web browser (ConductCognition task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0; Swallow & Jiang, 2010; Sisk & Lee, 2024), with the standard settings (studied pictures per color: 16; study passes: 3; arithmetic delay (seconds): 30). The main score was attentional boost effect (hit rate for target-paired pictures minus hit rate for distractor-paired pictures).
ConductCognition versions: task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0. Every export records the versions each session used, for a methods section.
- Swallow, K. M., & Jiang, Y. V. (2010). The Attentional Boost Effect: Transient increases in attention to one task enhance performance in a second task. Cognition, 115(1), 118-132. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2009.12.003
- Sisk, C. A., & Lee, V. G. (2024). The attentional boost effect reflects both enhanced memory for target-paired objects and impaired memory for distractor-paired objects. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 50(8), 1187-1198. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0001320
- Hautus, M. J. (1995). Corrections for extreme proportions and their biasing effects on estimated values of d′. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 27(1), 46-51. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03203619Log-linear correction for recognition sensitivity.
Source papers
- Swallow, K. M., & Jiang, Y. V. (2010). The Attentional Boost Effect: Transient increases in attention to one task enhance performance in a second task. Cognition, 115(1), 118-132.Paradigm source
Questions
How long does the Attentional Boost Task take?
About 5 to 7 minutes, as listed in the test library.
What device does a participant need?
Timed test: participants need a desktop or laptop with a mouse or trackpad. The browser must be Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari.
What scores does it produce?
Attentional boost effect, Target-paired hit rate, Distractor-paired hit rate, New-picture false alarm rate, Target-paired d-prime, Distractor-paired d-prime, Color detection hit rate, Color detection false alarm rate, Target detection time, Early color responses, Recognition accuracy, Correct recognition time, Early recognition answers, Pictures tested, Study presentations and Arithmetic accuracy. Each session is also marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason.
How widely is the Attentional Boost Task used in research?
118 papers from 2021 to 2025 name it in their title or abstract, up 151% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 223 of 582 test families in the ConductCognition test census (use grade C). Source: ConductCognition test census 0.39.0, counted 8 November 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
How much reliability evidence does the Attentional Boost Task have?
In the published research, 0 papers report its test-retest reliability and 1 registered clinical study uses it as an outcome (evidence grade D in the ConductCognition test census).
Does it report a percentile?
No. Scores and quality flags only.
Which settings can a researcher change?
Studied pictures per color (8 to 20), study passes (1 to 3) and arithmetic delay (seconds) (0 to 120). Settings can be changed on yearly plans; free and pay-as-you-go studies use the standard settings.
Which languages can participants use?
Participants can take this test in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (Simplified) and Japanese. English is on every plan, and the other languages come with yearly plans. Have a native speaker read the machine-translated text before launch.
Is this a clinical test?
No. ConductCognition is for research use only. It runs, scores and exports the test; clinical interpretation is outside the platform.
Every test: the full test list.
Run this test in your next study
Start free with 10 free participants on any test, then use participant credits or a yearly plan.