Battery guide
Visual Attention Battery guide
Four timed tasks of responding to rare targets, spatial orienting, response conflict and inhibition, for visual attention research.
- Guide version
- 1.2.0
- Battery version
- 1.0.0
What it measures
Who it is for: Visual attention research.
It measures Responding to rare targets, Spatial orienting of attention, Spatial response conflict and Inhibition of reflexive orienting.
Attention: Keeping attention on a task and picking out what matters.
Executive function: Planning, switching rules, handling conflict and making decisions.
Response inhibition: Stopping or holding back a response.
Scores describe how a person performs on these tasks. Research use only.
Tests in order
The tests run in this order. A study started from the battery keeps the order and the settings.
1. Oddball Target Detection.
2. Posner Cueing. Measures how quickly attention shifts to a location that briefly flashes. Response times to a dot in the flashed box (valid cue) are compared with the other box (invalid cue) and with trials where both boxes flash (neutral cue).
3. Simon Task. Measures interference from a location that is irrelevant to the task. Participants press the key for a red or blue square's color while the square appears left or right of center. Half of sessions use F for red and J for blue, the other half the reverse.
4. Antisaccade Task. Measures the ability to stop a reflexive glance toward a sudden cue. A small square flashes on one side, then a brief arrow appears and is covered. In the antisaccade block the arrow appears on the opposite side, so participants must look away from the cue at once to read it. They answer with the arrow keys.
| Order | Test | Domain | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oddball Target Detection | Attention | 6 to 7 minutes |
| 2 | Posner Cueing | Attention | 3 to 4 minutes |
| 3 | Simon Task | Executive function | 2 to 4 minutes |
| 4 | Antisaccade Task | Response inhibition | 10 to 12 minutes |
Time and devices
Allow about 27 minutes for the whole battery. The table gives each test's time.
The battery has timed tests. Participants need a desktop or laptop with a mouse or trackpad, and the timed tests run in full screen. Tablets and phones cannot run it.
On a desktop or laptop the screen must be at least 1024 by 700 pixels.
Participants need Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari.
| Test | Timing | Devices |
|---|---|---|
| Oddball Target Detection | Timed | Desktop or laptop |
| Posner Cueing | Timed | Desktop or laptop |
| Simon Task | Timed | Desktop or laptop |
| Antisaccade Task | Timed | Desktop or laptop |
Languages
Runs in all eight participant languages.
How to give it
Start a study from the battery in the app. The tests, their order and their settings are already set and stay fixed. If you change, reorder or customize a test, the study becomes a custom study and no longer carries the battery.
Each test opens with its instructions. Participants see these:
Oddball Target Detection: Press the spacebar for the star. Do not press for any other shape.
Posner Cueing: Keep your eyes on the central cross. When the dot appears, press F if it is in the left box or J if it is in the right box.
Simon Task: Press the key for the square's color, F for one color and J for the other, as the screen shows. Ignore which side the square appears on.
Antisaccade Task: Keep your eyes on the cross. When the square flashes, look to the side where the arrow will appear, then press the arrow key for its direction: left, up or right.
| Step | Before you invite participants |
|---|---|
| 1 | Ask participants to use a desktop or laptop with a keyboard, in a quiet room, in one sitting. |
| 2 | Ask participants to sit centered in front of the display, about an arm's length away. |
| 3 | Pilot the battery yourself: the four tasks take about 27 minutes. |
| 4 | Review quality flags before comparing groups. |
How each test is scored
The server scores each test when the participant finishes it. The primary score is the one the app compares with a norm. The other scores are reported with it.
Every result records its scoring version. For this battery they are Oddball Target Detection 1.0.0, Posner Cueing 2.0.0, Simon Task 2.0.0 and Antisaccade Task 1.0.0.
| Test | Score | What it is | Better |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oddball Target Detection | Median Target Response Time (ms, primary) | Median response time of correct presses to the rare target, from the shape's onset. | Lower is faster |
| Oddball Target Detection | Hit Rate (proportion) | Share of targets pressed for at or after 100 ms. | Higher is better |
| Oddball Target Detection | False Alarm Rate (proportion) | Share of frequent shapes pressed for at or after 100 ms. | Lower is better |
| Oddball Target Detection | d-prime | z(hit rate) minus z(false alarm rate), with the log-linear correction. | Higher means targets were better told apart from the frequent shape |
| Oddball Target Detection | Mean Target Response Time (ms) | Mean response time of correct presses to the target. | Lower is faster |
| Oddball Target Detection | Response Time SD (ms) | Standard deviation of the response times of correct presses to the target. | Lower is steadier |
| Oddball Target Detection | Response Time Variability | Standard deviation divided by the mean of the response times of correct presses to the target. | Lower is steadier |
| Oddball Target Detection | Slowing Across the Session (ms/trial) | Slope of target response time on trial number, with at least 10 correct presses. | Positive values mean slowing across the session |
| Oddball Target Detection | Hit Rate, First Half (proportion) | Hit rate in the first half of the session. | Higher is better |
| Oddball Target Detection | Hit Rate, Second Half (proportion) | Hit rate in the second half of the session. | Higher is better |
| Oddball Target Detection | Change in Hit Rate (proportion) | Second-half hit rate minus first-half hit rate. | Negative values mean more targets were missed later on |
| Oddball Target Detection | Sequence Effect (ms/item) | Slope of target response time on the number of standards just before the target, with at least 10 correct presses. | Negative values mean faster responses after longer runs of standards |
| Oddball Target Detection | Anticipations | Presses under 100 ms from a shape's onset, on any shape. They count as neither hits nor false alarms. | Lower is better |
| Oddball Target Detection | Distractor False Alarm Rate (proportion) | Share of distractors pressed for, when the three-stimulus version runs. | Lower is better |
| Oddball Target Detection | Hits | Targets pressed for at or after 100 ms. | Informational |
| Oddball Target Detection | Misses | Targets with no press. | Lower is better |
| Oddball Target Detection | False Alarms | Frequent shapes pressed for at or after 100 ms. | Lower is better |
| Oddball Target Detection | Target Trials (trials) | Targets shown in the scored run. | Informational |
| Oddball Target Detection | Standard Trials (trials) | Frequent shapes shown in the scored run. | Informational |
| Oddball Target Detection | Distractor Trials (trials) | Distractors shown in the scored run. | Informational |
| Oddball Target Detection | Planned Trials (trials) | Trials the session planned to show. | Informational |
| Oddball Target Detection | Total Trials (trials) | Trials in the scored run. | Under 90% of the planned trials is invalid |
| Posner Cueing | Orienting Cost (ms, primary) | Invalid-cue minus valid-cue mean response time, correct trials only. | Larger values mean a stronger pull of the cue |
| Posner Cueing | Valid Cue RT (ms) | Mean correct response time when the dot appears in the flashed box. | Lower is faster |
| Posner Cueing | Invalid Cue RT (ms) | Mean correct response time when the dot appears in the other box. | Lower is faster |
| Posner Cueing | Neutral Cue RT (ms) | Mean correct response time when both boxes flash. | Lower is faster |
| Posner Cueing | Cue Benefit (ms) | Neutral minus valid mean response time. | Informational |
| Posner Cueing | Cue Cost (ms) | Invalid minus neutral mean response time. | Informational |
| Posner Cueing | Accuracy (proportion) | Share of test trials answered with the key for the dot's side. | Higher is better |
| Posner Cueing | Anticipation Rate (proportion) | Share of responses faster than 100 ms after the dot appears. These are left out of response-time means. | Lower is better |
| Simon Task | Simon Effect (ms, primary) | Incongruent minus congruent mean response time, correct trials only. | Larger values mean more interference |
| Simon Task | Congruent RT (ms) | Mean correct response time when the square is on the side of its key. | Lower is faster |
| Simon Task | Incongruent RT (ms) | Mean correct response time when the square is on the opposite side. | Lower is faster |
| Simon Task | Mean Correct RT (ms) | Mean response time on all correct test trials. | Informational |
| Simon Task | Accuracy (proportion) | Share of test trials answered with the key for the square's color. | Higher is better |
| Simon Task | Congruency Accuracy Cost (proportion) | Congruent minus incongruent accuracy. | Larger values mean more interference |
| Antisaccade Task | Antisaccade Accuracy (proportion, primary) | Share of antisaccade trials answered with the arrow's direction; a missed response counts as an error. | Higher is better |
| Antisaccade Task | Prosaccade Accuracy (proportion) | Share of prosaccade (cued side) trials answered with the arrow's direction. | Higher is better |
| Antisaccade Task | Antisaccade Cost (proportion) | Prosaccade accuracy minus antisaccade accuracy. | Larger values mean a bigger drop when the arrow appears opposite the cue |
| Antisaccade Task | Antisaccade RT (ms) | Mean correct response time on antisaccade trials, from the mask onset. | Lower is faster |
| Antisaccade Task | Prosaccade RT (ms) | Mean correct response time on prosaccade trials, from the mask onset. | Lower is faster |
| Antisaccade Task | Antisaccade RT Cost (ms) | Antisaccade minus prosaccade mean correct response time. | Larger values mean more slowing when the arrow appears opposite the cue |
Session quality rules
The app checks every session when it scores it and records one of four states.
An Invalid session stays in the study's results, labelled with its reason, and does not count toward norms.
A session can carry warnings and still be valid. The results list the warnings next to the scores.
| State | What it means |
|---|---|
| Norm-ready | The session passed every check and a norm exists for it, so the app can show a percentile. |
| Raw-only | The scores are usable, but the app shows no percentile. Typical reasons are no norm for the test, changed settings, or a warning that makes a comparison unfair, such as a restart or a screen too short for the display. |
| Invalid technical | The setup broke the timing or the task. Examples are leaving full screen, a browser tab that lost focus during a timed test, and long pauses. |
| Invalid behavioral | The responses suggest the task was not done as asked. Examples are a failed attention check, repeated switching away from the task, and accuracy at or below chance on a choice task. |
Published norms used
No published norm is used for any test in this battery.
ConductCognition also builds norms from its own participants. An age band of a test uses them once it holds at least 50 valid sessions on the same device and input type, run with standard settings and scored with the current scoring version. Sessions from paying customers' studies and from clinical or patient samples do not count.
A report shows a percentile only when the app has stored one for that session. Otherwise it shows the raw scores.
Every reference group covers ages 18 and over. No reference group covers a participant under 18, so their report shows raw scores only, and their sessions do not count toward norms.
How to cite
ConductScience, Inc. Visual Attention Battery guide, version 1.2.0. ConductCognition. https://conductcognition.com/batteries/visual-attention/guide
Cite the guide version you used. Name the battery version (1.0.0) and the scoring versions listed in this guide.