Processing Speed
Beat Tapping Task
Also called: sensorimotor synchronization task, synchronization-continuation task, paced finger tapping, metronome tapping, tapping to a beat
Measure how steadily people tap with a beat as participants tap the space bar with tones at two tempos, then keep the pace after the tones stop.
7-9 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. Preview any test free after you sign up.
- Papers, 2021 to 2025
- 236
- Evidence grade
- B
- Registered clinical studies
- 7
What it measures
Measures how steadily people tap in time with a beat. Participants tap the space bar with a steady series of tones at two tempos, then keep tapping at the same pace after the tones stop. The main score is the variability of the taps' timing against the tones.
Constructs
- Sensorimotor synchronization
- Rhythm and timing
- Motor timing
- Beat keeping
Research uses
- Timing and rhythm research
- Motor control research
- Developmental and aging research
- Within-study group comparison
How the paradigm works
The Beat Tapping Task measures sensorimotor synchronization: how steadily a person taps in time with a beat (Repp, 2005; Repp and Su, 2013). It follows the synchronization-continuation paradigm (Wing and Kristofferson, 1973). Each round plays 20 short tones at a steady tempo, and the participant taps the space bar with each tone; then the tones stop and the participant keeps tapping at the same pace for 20 more beats, until a low tone says stop. The test plays only tones made by the browser, and it needs headphones and normal hearing. Before it starts, the participant sets a comfortable volume and passes a headphone check (Woods, Siegel, Traer and McDermott, 2017).
More about the paradigm
The standard tempos are intervals of 500 and 800 ms between tones, in the range where tapping variability grows in step with the interval (Repp and Su, 2013); a study can use 400 and 600 ms or 600 and 1,000 ms instead. Each tempo runs in 4 rounds (2 to 8 as a setting), in runs that hold each tempo once, in an order drawn from the session's seed, after a practice round at 600 ms that says only how many taps were counted. Every tone of a round plays from one buffer on the device's audio clock, so the intervals are exact, and each tap is timed on the same clock as the tones. The first 4 tones of each round, while the beat is found, are not scored.
Asynchrony is the time of a tap minus the time of its tone. The main score is the standard deviation of the asynchronies within a round, averaged over rounds: lower is steadier synchronization. The mean asynchrony is usually negative, because people tap slightly ahead of the beat (Aschersleben, 2002; Repp and Su, 2013). It is given against each tone as the device reports it heard, which corrects for the output delay the device reports, and against the moment the browser played it, before that delay. After the tones stop, the coefficient of variation of the intervals between taps shows how steadily the beat was kept alone, and Wing and Kristofferson's model splits that variability into a timekeeper part and a motor part. Scores support research and do not diagnose.
Scores
- Asynchrony Variabilityms
- Standard deviation of tap minus tone within a round, over the scored tones with a tap, averaged over rounds.
- Lower is steadier synchronization
- Asynchrony Variability as a Percent of the Interval%
- Each round's asynchrony standard deviation as a percent of its interval between tones, averaged over rounds.
- Lower is steadier synchronization
- Mean Asynchronyms
- Mean of tap minus tone, against each tone as the device reports it heard, averaged over rounds.
- Usually negative: taps lead the tones
- Mean Asynchrony Before the Output Delayms
- Mean of tap minus tone, against the moment the browser played each tone, before the output delay the device reports.
- Informational
- Asynchrony Variability, Faster Tempoms
- The asynchrony standard deviation over rounds at the shorter interval.
- Lower is steadier synchronization
- Asynchrony Variability, Slower Tempoms
- The asynchrony standard deviation over rounds at the longer interval.
- Lower is steadier synchronization
- Mean Asynchrony, Faster Tempoms
- The mean asynchrony over rounds at the shorter interval.
- Usually negative: taps lead the tones
- Mean Asynchrony, Slower Tempoms
- The mean asynchrony over rounds at the longer interval.
- Usually negative: taps lead the tones
- Continuation Variabilityscore
- Standard deviation of the intervals between taps after the tones stopped, divided by their mean, averaged over rounds.
- Lower is steadier timing without the beat
- Continuation Variability, Faster Temposcore
- The continuation variability over rounds at the shorter interval.
- Lower is steadier timing without the beat
- Continuation Variability, Slower Temposcore
- The continuation variability over rounds at the longer interval.
- Lower is steadier timing without the beat
- Continuation Temposcore
- Mean interval between taps after the tones stopped, divided by the interval between the tones, averaged over rounds.
- Under 1 means the tapping sped up
- Lag-One Autocorrelationscore
- Correlation of each interval between taps after the tones stopped with the interval before it, averaged over rounds.
- Wing and Kristofferson's model predicts 0 to -0.5
- Timekeeper Variabilityms
- Wing and Kristofferson's timekeeper standard deviation, from the continuation intervals at each tempo, averaged over the tempos where the model holds.
- Lower is steadier timing
- Motor Variabilityms
- Wing and Kristofferson's motor delay standard deviation, from the same intervals.
- Lower is steadier movement
- Tones with a Tap%
- Share of the scored tones with a tap within half an interval.
- Under 0.8 is flagged; under 0.5 makes the session invalid
- Extra Tapscount
- Taps beyond the one nearest a tone within half an interval of it.
- Informational
- Anticipationscount
- Presses less than 100 ms after the press before them, left out of the scores.
- More than max(2, 20%) of presses makes the session invalid
- Rounds with Focus Losscount
- Rounds during which the page lost focus, left out of the scores.
- Above 0 is flagged for review
- Output Delayms
- Median delay between the browser playing a tone and the device reporting it heard.
- Set by the device; wireless headphones can add delay the device does not report
- Rounds Scored with the Tonescount
- Rounds with a tap on at least half their scored tones and no focus loss.
- Informational
- Rounds Scored after the Tonescount
- Rounds with at least half their planned intervals after the tones stopped and no focus loss.
- Informational
- Roundscount
- Rounds in the scored run.
- Informational
- Headphone Check Passedflag
- 1 when the headphone check before the test passed, 0 when it did not and the study's setting ran the test anyway.
- 0 is flagged for review
Use and evidence
236 papers from 2021 to 2025 name this task in their title or abstract, up 27% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 106 of 395 test families in our census. See the counts for every test.
Show the numbers
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 70 |
| 2024 | 51 |
| 2023 | 42 |
| 2022 | 32 |
| 2021 | 41 |
| 2020 | 32 |
| 2019 | 43 |
| 2018 | 46 |
| 2017 | 40 |
| 2016 | 25 |
| 2015 | 40 |
| 2014 | 32 |
| 2013 | 24 |
| 2012 | 35 |
| 2011 | 27 |
| 2010 | 28 |
| 2009 | 34 |
| 2008 | 18 |
| 2007 | 18 |
| 2006 | 16 |
| 2005 | 11 |
| 2004 | 24 |
| 2003 | 20 |
| 2002 | 18 |
| 2001 | 11 |
| 2000 | 11 |
Use grade C
100 to 299 papers from 2021 to 2025.
Evidence grade B
At least 8 test-retest papers, and either 5 registered clinical studies or 150 reliability or validity papers.
- Papers on test-retest reliability
- 8
- Papers on reliability or validity
- 33
- Registered clinical studies using it as an outcome
- 7
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 31 October 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
Task design
The trial sequence as the test runs in ConductCognition.
- Before the test
- A volume step on a steady 1 kHz tone, then the headphone check of Woods and colleagues (2017): 6 rounds of three 200 Hz tones, passed with at least 5 right. A failed check ends the test unless the study chooses to continue.
- Round
- 20 tones of 1 kHz, 50 ms each, at one tempo, then 20 intervals of tapping on without them until a 400 Hz stop tone. The participant taps the space bar; the screen does not change while they tap.
- Tempos
- Intervals between tones of 500 and 800 ms (standard), 400 and 600 ms, or 600 and 1,000 ms.
- Rounds
- 4 per tempo (standard, 2 to 8), in runs that hold each tempo once, in an order drawn from the session's seed: 8 rounds. First, a practice round of 10 tones and 10 intervals at 600 ms, given once more when fewer than half the taps were made.
- Timing
- All tones of a round play from one buffer on the audio clock. Each tap is timed by its key event and each tone by when the device reports it heard; the output delay the device reports is saved.
- Score
- Asynchrony is a tap minus its tone, matching the tap nearest each tone within half an interval; the first 4 tones are not scored, and a press under 100 ms after the one before is left out. The main score is the asynchrony standard deviation within a round, averaged over rounds.
The test plays tones and needs headphones and normal hearing. Wired headphones are best: wireless headphones play sound late. Times include keyboard and audio delays that differ between computers, so compare mean asynchronies within one device setup. 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 responses: every press of the space bar in the rounds (synchronization_trial) of the scored run. Tapping has no correct answer, so accuracy is not judged against chance. A press less than 100 ms after the press before it is an anticipation: more than max(2, 20%) of presses invalidate and any is flagged. A matched tap on fewer than 50% of the scored tones invalidates and fewer than 80% is flagged. Asynchronies spread more than 20% of the interval, no round scored after the tones stopped, a round during which the page lost focus and a failed headphone check under the continue setting are flagged. A session the headphone check stopped has no results.
Why these rules
There is no correct option to compare with chance, so accuracy is not judged against chance. Rounds are paced by the tones, so there is no missed response, but a person who taps with few tones is not synchronizing, and the asynchronies of a person who taps at random against the beat spread about 29% of the interval. A second press within 100 ms cannot be a tap to a beat at least 400 ms apart, so presses that fast follow the platform's anticipation rule. Taps are timed on the page, so a hidden tab or another window can lose presses; a percentile is withheld after one. A failed headphone check means the sound may have come from loudspeakers, where the participant may not hear the tones as played (Woods et al. 2017).
Running this test
Settings you can change
| Setting | Standard | Allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Tempos | 500 and 800 ms (standard) | 500 and 800 ms (standard), 400 and 600 ms, 600 and 1,000 ms |
| Rounds per tempo | 4 | 2 to 8 |
| When the headphone check fails | Stop the test | Stop the test, Continue the test |
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. 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 Tapping Task in a web browser (ConductCognition task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0; Wing and Kristofferson, 1973; Repp, 2005), with the standard settings (tempos: 500 and 800 ms; rounds per tempo: 4; when the headphone check fails: Stop the test). The main score was asynchrony variability (standard deviation of tap minus tone within a round, over the scored tones with a tap, averaged over rounds).
ConductCognition versions: task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0. Every export records the versions each session used, for a methods section.
- Wing, A. M., & Kristofferson, A. B. (1973). Response delays and the timing of discrete motor responses. Perception & Psychophysics, 14(1), 5-12. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03198607Tapping with tones, then on without them, and the timekeeper and motor model.
- Repp, B. H. (2005). Sensorimotor synchronization: A review of the tapping literature. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 12(6), 969-992. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03206433The task: tapping in time with a beat.
- Repp, B. H., & Su, Y.-H. (2013). Sensorimotor synchronization: A review of recent research (2006-2012). Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 20(3), 403-452. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-012-0371-2Asynchronies, their variability and the effect of tempo.
- Aschersleben, G. (2002). Temporal control of movements in sensorimotor synchronization. Brain and Cognition, 48(1), 66-79. https://doi.org/10.1006/brcg.2001.1304Taps that lead the tones: the negative mean asynchrony.
- Dalla Bella, S., Farrugia, N., Benoit, C.-E., Bégel, V., Verga, L., Harding, E., & Kotz, S. A. (2017). BAASTA: Battery for the Assessment of Auditory Sensorimotor and Timing Abilities. Behavior Research Methods, 49(3), 1128-1145. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-016-0773-6Tempos and round lengths in a short battery.
- Anglada-Tort, M., Harrison, P. M. C., & Jacoby, N. (2022). REPP: A robust cross-platform solution for online sensorimotor synchronization experiments. Behavior Research Methods, 54(5), 2271-2285. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-021-01722-2Keyboard and audio delays in online tapping.
- 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.
Source papers
- Wing and Kristofferson (1973): the synchronization-continuation paradigm and the timekeeper and motor model. Repp and Su (2013): asynchronies, their variability and the effect of tempo. Dalla Bella and colleagues (2017): tempos and trial lengths in a short battery.Paradigm source, Adults
Questions
How long does the Beat Tapping Task take?
About 7 to 9 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. Needs headphones. The browser must be Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari.
What scores does it produce?
Asynchrony Variability, Asynchrony Variability as a Percent of the Interval, Mean Asynchrony, Mean Asynchrony Before the Output Delay, Asynchrony Variability, Faster Tempo, Asynchrony Variability, Slower Tempo, Mean Asynchrony, Faster Tempo, Mean Asynchrony, Slower Tempo, Continuation Variability, Continuation Variability, Faster Tempo, Continuation Variability, Slower Tempo, Continuation Tempo, Lag-One Autocorrelation, Timekeeper Variability, Motor Variability, Tones with a Tap, Extra Taps, Anticipations, Rounds with Focus Loss, Output Delay, Rounds Scored with the Tones, Rounds Scored after the Tones, Rounds and Headphone Check Passed. Each session is also marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason.
How widely is the Beat Tapping Task used in research?
236 papers from 2021 to 2025 name it in their title or abstract, up 27% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 106 of 395 test families in the ConductCognition test census (use grade C). Source: ConductCognition test census 0.14.0, counted 31 October 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
How much reliability evidence does the Beat Tapping Task have?
In the published research, 8 papers report its test-retest reliability and 7 registered clinical studies use it as an outcome (evidence grade B in the ConductCognition test census).
Which settings can a researcher change?
Tempos (500 and 800 ms (standard), 400 and 600 ms, 600 and 1,000 ms), rounds per tempo (2 to 8) and when the headphone check fails (Stop the test, Continue the test). 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.