Processing Speed
Beat Alignment Task
Also called: beat alignment test, BAT perception test, beat perception test, beat judgment task
Measure beat perception as participants hear beeps over a rhythm of tones and say whether the beeps fall on the beat or off it.
8-11 minUntimed
Free to start: 10 free participants per account, then $0.99 per participant for academic research, or any yearly plan. Preview any test free after you sign up.
- Papers, 2021 to 2025
- 33
- Evidence grade
- C
- Registered clinical studies
- 3
What it measures
Measures how well people hear whether beeps fit the beat of a rhythm. Each round plays a rhythm of tones, and after a few seconds beeps join it, on the beat or off it: early, late, too fast or too slow. The main score is d-prime, how well beeps off the beat are told from beeps on it.
Constructs
- Beat perception
- Rhythm perception
- Temporal prediction
- Auditory timing
Research uses
- Rhythm and timing research
- Music and movement research
- Parkinson's disease research
How the paradigm works
The beat alignment task measures how well people hear whether a train of beeps fits the beat of a rhythm, without moving to it. It follows the perception part of Iversen and Patel's (2008) Beat Alignment Test, in which listeners judged whether beeps over a music clip were on the beat or off it: too fast or too slow, or too early or too late. Here a rhythm of tones built by the task's own code takes the place of the music, so no recording is used.
More about the paradigm
Each clip is one bar of four beats played four times, then a closing tone. Its tones fill intervals of one to four quarter beats, arranged so that an accent falls on every beat (the accent rules of Povel and Essens, 1985), which makes a beat clear with no other cue (Grahn and Brett, 2007). The beat is 500 to 700 ms and the tones take one of six pitches from 294 to 587 Hz, both drawn for each clip. From the third bar, 8 beeps of 1,000 Hz, 100 ms long, play on every beat, or shifted as Iversen and Patel shifted them: 25% of the beat early or late (phase), or one every 0.9 or 1.1 beats (tempo). The beeps are on the beat in half the rounds.
At the standard setting a session has 32 rounds: 16 with the beeps on the beat and 4 each early, late, faster and slower, in runs of 8 that hold each kind, in an order drawn from the session's seed (24 to 48 rounds as a setting). Participants first hear the beeps alone, as in the original test, then do 4 practice rounds with feedback. Each round starts with Play, and the answer, On the beat or Off the beat, comes once the sound has ended, with no time limit. Before the test participants set a comfortable volume and pass a short headphone check (Woods and colleagues, 2017). The test needs headphones and normal hearing, and it does not test hearing.
The main score is d prime, how well beeps off the beat are told from beeps on it, with the beeps off the beat as the signal and both rates log-linear corrected (Hautus, 1995), as an online beat alignment test was scored (Fiveash and colleagues, 2026). The task also gives d prime for phase and for tempo shifts, the accuracy on the beat, for each shift type and for each direction, the hit and false alarm rates and the response criterion. In Iversen and Patel's first listeners, beeps on the beat were judged right 90% of the time, and beeps off the beat were more often called on the beat than the reverse. Answers within 100 ms of the buttons turning on are counted as anticipations and left out. Scores support research and do not diagnose.
Scores
- d Primed'
- Sensitivity over all rounds: z of the rate of Off the beat answers when the beeps were shifted minus z of that rate when they were on the beat, both log-linear corrected.
- Higher is better
- Response Criterionz
- Minus half the sum of the two z values behind d prime. Negative values mean a leaning to answer Off the beat.
- Informational
- d Prime, Phase Shiftsd'
- d prime for beeps 25% of the beat early or late, against the rounds on the beat.
- Higher is better
- d Prime, Tempo Shiftsd'
- d prime for beeps one every 0.9 or 1.1 beats, against the rounds on the beat.
- Higher is better
- Percent Correct%
- Rounds answered correctly, as a percent of the scored rounds (chance is 50%).
- Higher is better
- Accuracy on the Beat%
- Percent of rounds with the beeps on the beat answered On the beat.
- Higher is better
- Phase Shift Accuracy%
- Percent of early and late rounds answered Off the beat.
- Higher is better
- Tempo Shift Accuracy%
- Percent of faster and slower rounds answered Off the beat.
- Higher is better
- Early Beeps Accuracy%
- Percent of rounds with the beeps 25% of the beat early answered Off the beat.
- Higher is better
- Late Beeps Accuracy%
- Percent of rounds with the beeps 25% of the beat late answered Off the beat.
- Higher is better
- Faster Beeps Accuracy%
- Percent of rounds with a beep every 0.9 beats answered Off the beat.
- Higher is better
- Slower Beeps Accuracy%
- Percent of rounds with a beep every 1.1 beats answered Off the beat.
- Higher is better
- Hit Rate%
- Share of rounds with shifted beeps answered Off the beat, uncorrected.
- Higher is better
- False Alarm Rate%
- Share of rounds with the beeps on the beat answered Off the beat, uncorrected.
- Lower is better
- Median Response Timems
- Median time from the answer buttons turning on to the answer, over the scored rounds.
- Informational
- Anticipationscount
- Answers within 100 ms of the buttons turning on, left out of the scores.
- At least half the rounds makes the session invalid
- Completed Roundscount
- Test rounds answered.
- Informational
- Planned Roundscount
- Test rounds planned by the settings.
- Informational
- Headphone Check Passed0/1
- 1 when the headphone check before the test passed (at least 5 of 6 right), 0 when it did not.
- 0 withholds the percentile
Use and evidence
33 papers from 2021 to 2025 name this task in their title or abstract, up 50% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 287 of 395 test families in our census. See the counts for every test.
Show the numbers
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 3 |
| 2024 | 5 |
| 2023 | 6 |
| 2022 | 10 |
| 2021 | 9 |
| 2020 | 3 |
| 2019 | 1 |
| 2018 | 8 |
| 2017 | 7 |
| 2016 | 3 |
| 2015 | 3 |
| 2014 | 2 |
| 2013 | 2 |
| 2012 | 3 |
| 2011 | 0 |
| 2010 | 0 |
| 2009 | 0 |
| 2008 | 1 |
| 2007 | 0 |
| 2006 | 0 |
| 2005 | 0 |
| 2004 | 0 |
| 2003 | 0 |
| 2002 | 0 |
| 2001 | 1 |
| 2000 | 0 |
Use grade D
30 to 99 papers from 2021 to 2025.
Evidence grade C
At least 2 test-retest papers, 30 reliability or validity papers or 3 registered clinical studies.
- Papers on test-retest reliability
- 3
- Papers on reliability or validity
- 10
- Registered clinical studies using it as an outcome
- 3
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 0.14.0, counted 2 November 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
Task design
The trial sequence as the test runs in ConductCognition.
- Clip
- One bar of four beats played four times, then a closing tone: tones that fill intervals of one to four quarter beats, with an accent on every beat, built by the task's own code. The beat is 500 to 700 ms and the pitch one of six from 294 to 587 Hz, drawn for each clip.
- Beeps
- From the third bar, 8 beeps of 1,000 Hz, 100 ms long: on every beat, 25% of the beat early or late, or one every 0.9 or 1.1 beats.
- Round
- Play, then the clip with its beeps. On the beat and Off the beat buttons work once the sound has ended, with no time limit.
- Rounds
- 4 rounds of each shift (standard, 3 to 6) and as many with the beeps on the beat, in runs of 8 that hold each kind, in an order drawn from the session's seed: 32 rounds. The beeps alone and 4 practice rounds with feedback come first.
- Sound setup
- A comfortable volume set on a steady tone, then a six-round headphone check (Woods and colleagues, 2017). By default a failed check ends the test.
- Score
- d prime with the beeps off the beat as the signal, both rates log-linear corrected, overall and for phase and tempo shifts, with the accuracy for each shift. Answers within 100 ms of the buttons turning on leave the score.
The original test plays music clips; this version plays rhythms of tones, so its scores are not on the original's scale. The test needs headphones and normal hearing, and it does not test hearing. The scores support research and do not diagnose.
Quality checks
Each session is marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason, before you see its scores.
Scored rows: beat_alignment_test from the scored run, one On the beat or Off the beat answer per round once the clip has ended, with no time limit (chance 1 in 2; the beeps are on the beat in half the rounds), graded from the saved condition. Accuracy significantly below chance invalidates and not above chance is flagged. One answer on 90% of rounds invalidates when accuracy is not above chance. Answers within 100 ms of the buttons turning on, on at least half the rounds, invalidate. A run short of its planned rounds is flagged for review. A failed headphone check that stopped the test invalidates; one the study's setting ran past is flagged and withholds the percentile.
Why these rules
Accuracy significantly below chance (one-sided exact test, p < .05) cannot come from guessing; it means the response mapping was reversed or the task was not followed (Slick, Sherman and Iverson 1999 treat below-chance forced-choice performance as definite response bias). Chance-level accuracy can be a real result in impaired participants, so it is only flagged. One option on at least 90% of answered trials, when the correct options are balanced and accuracy is not above chance, means the answers did not depend on the items (the task counterpart of long-string responding in surveys; Curran 2016). The answer buttons turn on only when the last sound has been heard, and the decision forms while listening, so a quick answer is expected; an answer within 100 ms of the buttons turning on was pressed before they could be seen, and the session is invalid only when at least half the answers are that fast. Woods, Siegel, Traer and McDermott (2017) let only listeners who passed the headphone check go on, because a listener on loudspeakers hears the sounds differently; a session that ran after a failed check keeps its scores but not its percentile.
Running this test
Settings you can change
| Setting | Standard | Allowed |
|---|---|---|
| When the headphone check fails | Stop the test | Stop the test, Continue the test |
| Rounds per shift | 4 | 3 to 6 |
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
- Untimed test: runs on desktops, laptops, tablets and phones. Needs headphones. Participant devices
- Languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (Simplified) and Japanese.
- Available on: Every plan, including the free plan.
- Recruiting online? See the setup guides for Prolific, Sona Systems, CloudResearch Connect and Qualtrics.
Cite and describe
Participants completed the Beat Alignment Task in a web browser (ConductCognition task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0; Iversen and Patel, 2008), with the standard settings (when the headphone check fails: Stop the test; rounds per shift: 4). The main score was d prime (sensitivity over all rounds: z of the rate of Off the beat answers when the beeps were shifted minus z of that rate when they were on the beat, both log-linear corrected).
ConductCognition versions: task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0. Every export records the versions each session used, for a methods section.
- Iversen, J. R., & Patel, A. D. (2008). The Beat Alignment Test (BAT): Surveying beat processing abilities in the general population. In K. Miyazaki, Y. Hiraga, M. Adachi, Y. Nakajima, & M. Tsuzaki (Eds.), Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition (pp. 465-468).
- Grahn, J. A., & Brett, M. (2007). Rhythm and beat perception in motor areas of the brain. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19(5), 893-906. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2007.19.5.893Rhythms whose accents fall on every beat induce one.
- Povel, D.-J., & Essens, P. (1985). Perception of temporal patterns. Music Perception, 2(4), 411-440. https://doi.org/10.2307/40285311The accent rules behind the clips.
- Harrison, P. M. C., & Müllensiefen, D. (2018). Development and validation of the computerised adaptive beat alignment test (CA-BAT). Scientific Reports, 8, 12395. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-30318-8A later, adaptive version of the paradigm.
- Fiveash, A., Foster, N. E. V., Gordon, R. L., Dalla Bella, S., & Tillmann, B. (2026). Distinct rhythmic competencies identified via internet-based assessment. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1562, e70372. https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.70372A beat alignment test online, scored with d prime.
- Woods, K. J. P., Siegel, M. H., Traer, J., & McDermott, J. H. (2017). Headphone screening to facilitate web-based auditory experiments. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 79(7), 2064-2072. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-017-1361-2The headphone check before the test.
Source papers
- Iversen and Patel (2008): the beat alignment test, its phase and tempo shifts and its first listeners. Grahn and Brett (2007) and Povel and Essens (1985): rhythms whose accents induce a beat. Fiveash and colleagues (2026): a beat alignment test online, scored with d prime.Paradigm source, Adults
Questions
How long does the Beat Alignment Task take?
About 8 to 11 minutes, as listed in the test library.
What device does a participant need?
Untimed test: runs on desktops, laptops, tablets and phones. Needs headphones. The browser must be Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari.
What scores does it produce?
d Prime, Response Criterion, d Prime, Phase Shifts, d Prime, Tempo Shifts, Percent Correct, Accuracy on the Beat, Phase Shift Accuracy, Tempo Shift Accuracy, Early Beeps Accuracy, Late Beeps Accuracy, Faster Beeps Accuracy, Slower Beeps Accuracy, Hit Rate, False Alarm Rate, Median Response Time, Anticipations, Completed Rounds, Planned Rounds and Headphone Check Passed. Each session is also marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason.
How widely is the Beat Alignment Task used in research?
33 papers from 2021 to 2025 name it in their title or abstract, up 50% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 287 of 395 test families in the ConductCognition test census (use grade D). Source: ConductCognition test census 0.14.0, counted 2 November 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
How much reliability evidence does the Beat Alignment Task have?
In the published research, 3 papers report its test-retest reliability and 3 registered clinical studies use it as an outcome (evidence grade C in the ConductCognition test census).
Which settings can a researcher change?
When the headphone check fails (Stop the test, Continue the test) and rounds per shift (3 to 6). 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.
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