Attention
Breath Cycle Counting Task
Also called: breath counting task, breath-counting accuracy
Measure attention to breathing as participants count natural breaths in cycles of nine.
16-18 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
- 18
- Evidence grade
- C
- Registered clinical studies
- 8
Breathe naturally
↓ Breaths 1–8Then start again at 1
→ Breath 9Lost count?
Space to start againWhat it measures
Measures attention to breathing by counting natural breaths in cycles of nine. Key presses record completed counts and moments when the participant loses count.
Constructs
- Sustained attention
- Attention to breathing
- Self-caught mind wandering
Research uses
- Attention research
- Mindfulness research
- Mind-wandering research
How the paradigm works
Counting breaths tests sustained attention to a quiet, repeating activity. Participants breathe naturally and count each complete breath in and out, pressing the down arrow after breaths 1 to 8 and the right arrow after breath 9. They then begin again at 1. If they lose count, they press the space bar and count the next breath as 1.
More about the paradigm
The standard session lasts 15 minutes after guided practice, following the no-probe version in Study 2 of Levinson and colleagues (2014). Researchers can set 3 to 30 minutes. Practice teaches one complete cycle and the reset key with prompts and feedback. During the test the page stays the same, with no count, timer or thought probes. Participants keep their eyes on the screen to see the end. One-minute records preserve the continuous sequence; minute boundaries never reset the count.
Cycle accuracy is correct cycles divided by all completed cycles plus lost-count resets. A cycle is correct when exactly eight down-arrow presses precede the right-arrow press. Every space-bar reset counts as an unsuccessful cycle. An unfinished final count is saved separately and excluded from accuracy. Timing, extra presses, focus losses and late timers are also reported. The task records keyboard behavior, without a breathing sensor, and cannot confirm whether each key press matched a breath. Norms are off for this implementation.
Scores
- Cycle Accuracy%
- Correct cycles divided by all ninth-key presses plus lost-count resets. A correct cycle has exactly eight regular presses before its ninth press.
- Higher means more completed counts were correct
- Correct Cyclescount
- Ninth-key presses preceded by exactly eight regular presses since the previous ninth press or reset.
- Correct completed sequences
- Incorrect Cyclescount
- Ninth-key presses preceded by any number other than eight regular presses.
- Counting sequence errors
- Lost-count Resetscount
- Space-bar presses, each counted as an unsuccessful cycle, including a reset before any regular press.
- Self-caught losses of count
- Completed Cyclescount
- All ninth-key presses, correct or incorrect.
- Does not include reset events
- Unfinished Countcount
- Regular presses after the final ninth press or reset.
- Retained but excluded from cycle accuracy
- Key Pressescount
- Recorded regular, ninth and reset presses; held repeats are excluded.
- Behavioral responses, not measured breaths
- Time Between Pressesms
- Median time between consecutive recorded presses, including reset presses and minute boundaries.
- Key-press timing, not a physiological breathing rate
- Rapid Pressescount
- Consecutive presses less than 200 ms apart.
- Flagged for possible extra key presses
- Minutes Recordedcount
- Consecutive one-minute records saved from the start of the test.
- Compare with planned minutes
- Planned Minutescount
- Session duration selected before counting starts.
- Standard setting is 15 minutes
- Focus Lossescount
- Window blur or document-hidden events during counting.
- Review interrupted sessions
- Held-key Repeatscount
- Repeated key-down events while a counting key is held.
- Excluded from counting sequences
- Malformed Recordscount
- Invalid event or minute records; scoring stops at a missing minute.
- Review incomplete data
- Late Minute Endingscount
- Minute boundaries completed more than one second after their deadline.
- Review timer interruptions
Use and evidence
18 papers from 2021 to 2025 name this task in their title or abstract, up 29% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 486 of 582 test families in our census. See the counts for every test.
Show the numbers
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 8 |
| 2024 | 4 |
| 2023 | 3 |
| 2022 | 2 |
| 2021 | 1 |
| 2020 | 5 |
| 2019 | 4 |
| 2018 | 3 |
| 2017 | 1 |
| 2016 | 1 |
| 2015 | 0 |
| 2014 | 1 |
| 2013 | 0 |
| 2012 | 0 |
| 2011 | 0 |
| 2010 | 1 |
| 2009 | 0 |
| 2008 | 0 |
| 2007 | 0 |
| 2006 | 0 |
| 2005 | 0 |
| 2004 | 0 |
| 2003 | 0 |
| 2002 | 0 |
| 2001 | 0 |
| 2000 | 0 |
Use grade E
Fewer than 30 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
- 4
- Papers on reliability or validity
- 11
- Registered clinical studies using it as an outcome
- 8
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.
Note on the counts: Keyboard counting only; no breathing sensor or health inference. Standard 15-minute no-probe session, with original guided practice. Norms off..
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.
- Session
- 15 minutes of uninterrupted counting (3 to 30 minutes). The screen stays the same; no count, timer or thought probes.
- Practice
- 1 guided cycle of nine, followed by the reset key and feedback.
- Answers
- Press the down arrow after breaths 1 to 8, the right arrow after breath 9 and the space bar if count is lost. Keep eyes on the screen.
- Accuracy
- Correct cycles divided by all ninth-key presses plus resets. Correct means exactly eight regular presses before the ninth press.
- Unfinished count
- The final unfinished count is retained separately and excluded from accuracy. Minute boundaries never reset the count.
- Data
- Key-press kinds and times, focus losses and timer delays. No breathing sensor.
Adapts the 15-minute no-probe method in Study 2. These are behavioral counting measures; no breathing rate or health score is inferred.
Quality checks
Each session is marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason, before you see its scores.
Breath counting has no chance baseline. No key presses invalidate the session. Incomplete sessions, focus losses, rapid presses and malformed data are flagged.
Why these rules
There is no correct option to compare with chance, so accuracy is not judged against chance. Sequence errors and lost-count resets are the outcome. Press intervals are not reaction times. Intervals below 200 ms are flagged as possible extra presses, without classifying breathing or health.
No percentile. Scores and quality flags only.
Running this test
Settings you can change
| Setting | Standard | Allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Session length (minutes) | 15 | 3 to 30 |
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 Breath Cycle Counting Task in a web browser (ConductCognition task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0; Levinson et al., 2014), with the standard settings (session length (minutes): 15). The main score was cycle accuracy (correct cycles divided by all ninth-key presses plus lost-count resets).
ConductCognition versions: task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0. Every export records the versions each session used, for a methods section.
- Levinson, D. B., Stoll, E. L., Kindy, S. D., Merry, H. L., & Davidson, R. J. (2014). A mind you can count on: validating breath counting as a behavioral measure of mindfulness. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 1202. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01202Natural breath counting, ninth-press and reset scoring, and the 15-minute session without probes.
Source papers
- Levinson, D. B., Stoll, E. L., Kindy, S. D., Merry, H. L., & Davidson, R. J. (2014). A mind you can count on: validating breath counting as a behavioral measure of mindfulness. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 1202.Paradigm source, Adults
Questions
How long does the Breath Cycle Counting Task take?
About 16 to 18 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?
Cycle Accuracy, Correct Cycles, Incorrect Cycles, Lost-count Resets, Completed Cycles, Unfinished Count, Key Presses, Time Between Presses, Rapid Presses, Minutes Recorded, Planned Minutes, Focus Losses, Held-key Repeats, Malformed Records and Late Minute Endings. Each session is also marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason.
How widely is the Breath Cycle Counting Task used in research?
18 papers from 2021 to 2025 name it in their title or abstract, up 29% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 486 of 582 test families in the ConductCognition test census (use grade E). Source: ConductCognition test census 0.39.0, counted 8 November 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
How much reliability evidence does the Breath Cycle Counting Task have?
In the published research, 4 papers report its test-retest reliability and 8 registered clinical studies use it as an outcome (evidence grade C in the ConductCognition test census).
Does it report a percentile?
No. Scores and quality flags only.
Which settings can a researcher change?
Session length (minutes) (3 to 30). 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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