Working Memory
Clock Reading Task
Also called: analog clock reading, telling the time, time telling task, reading an analog clock
Measure how well people read the time on an analog clock: each clock comes with four written times, its own and three that follow common misreadings, scored by the share of clocks read right.
3-5 minUntimed
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
- 15
- Evidence grade
- D
- Registered clinical studies
- 2
What it measures
Measures how well people read the time on an analog clock. Each screen shows a clock drawn by the task's code and four written times: the clock's time, the time read with the hands swapped, the time a mirror image would show and the time an hour later. Participants choose the time the clock shows. The main score is the share of clocks read right, with the time to a right answer as a secondary measure.
Constructs
- Telling the time from an analog clock
- Visuospatial processing
- Knowledge of the clock face
Research uses
- Development of time telling in children
- Aging and dementia research, as a research measure
- Visuospatial processing research
- Within-study group comparison
How the paradigm works
The Clock Reading Task measures how well people read the time from an analog clock. Each screen shows a clock drawn by the task's own code, with a short hour hand, a long minute hand, 60 minute marks and the numbers 1 to 12, and four written times below it. Participants choose the time the clock shows with one click or tap; there is no time limit. Two practice clocks show the right answer afterwards, and the test clocks show none.
More about the paradigm
Every clock shows a five-minute time, and its three wrong times follow ways of misreading a clock that Burny, Valcke and Desoete (2012) describe in children: the hands read the other way round, the long hand as the hour and the short hand as the minutes; the time a mirror image of the clock would show, which is 12:00 minus the time; and one hour later, the number the short hand moves toward. Each set of 12 clocks shows every hour once and every five-minute time once, its hands at least 30 degrees apart, and the right time stands in each of the four places three times. The standard session has two sets, 24 clocks, in about 4 minutes; a setting gives one or three sets, and another shows faces with marks but no numbers. Times are written the way the session's language writes them, such as 3:45, 3 h 45 or 3時45分, with the hour from 1 to 12 as the dial shows it.
Clock reading is studied in children learning to tell the time and in adults, including dementia research, where several groups have built clock reading tests of their own (Schmidtke and Olbrich 2007; Koreki and colleagues 2021). This task's clocks, times and scoring are its own.
The main score is the share of clocks read right. The task also reports the share right for times on the hour, quarter hour and half hour and for the other five-minute times, how often each kind of wrong time was chosen, and the median time to a right answer. The scores are research measures, not a screening result, and do not diagnose.
Scores
- Clocks Read Right%
- Share of the test clocks whose own time was chosen.
- Higher is better
- Right Readingscount
- Test clocks whose own time was chosen.
- Higher is better
- Hour and Quarter Hours%
- Share right for times on the hour, quarter past, half past and quarter to.
- Higher is better
- Other Five-Minute Times%
- Share right for the other five-minute times, such as 3:25.
- Higher is better
- Hands Swappedcount
- Wrong answers that read the long hand as the hour and the short hand as the minutes.
- Informational
- Mirror Timescount
- Wrong answers that give the time a mirror image of the clock would show.
- Informational
- Hour Latercount
- Wrong answers one hour later than the clock's time.
- Informational
- Time to a Right Answerms
- Median time from the clock appearing to a right answer, over answers at or after 100 ms.
- Lower is faster
- Answers Under 100 mscount
- Answers given within 100 ms of the clock appearing.
- Lower is better
Use and evidence
15 papers from 2021 to 2025 name this task in their title or abstract, about the same as from 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 427 of 495 test families in our census. See the counts for every test.
Show the numbers
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 2 |
| 2024 | 1 |
| 2023 | 4 |
| 2022 | 5 |
| 2021 | 3 |
| 2020 | 2 |
| 2019 | 6 |
| 2018 | 4 |
| 2017 | 0 |
| 2016 | 3 |
| 2015 | 2 |
| 2014 | 2 |
| 2013 | 3 |
| 2012 | 6 |
| 2011 | 3 |
| 2010 | 5 |
| 2009 | 7 |
| 2008 | 0 |
| 2007 | 1 |
| 2006 | 3 |
| 2005 | 2 |
| 2004 | 3 |
| 2003 | 1 |
| 2002 | 2 |
| 2001 | 1 |
| 2000 | 1 |
Use grade E
Fewer than 30 papers from 2021 to 2025.
Evidence grade D
Little published measurement evidence found.
- Papers on test-retest reliability
- 0
- Papers on reliability or validity
- 8
- Registered clinical studies using it as an outcome
- 2
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 0.22.0, counted 2 November 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
Task design
The trial sequence as the test runs in ConductCognition.
- Clocks
- Drawn by the task's code: a white face with 60 minute marks, a short hour hand and a long minute hand. Every clock shows a five-minute time, with its hands at least 30 degrees apart.
- Answers
- Four written times under each clock: its own, the hands swapped (the long hand read as the hour), the mirror time (12:00 minus the time) and one hour later. One click or tap answers, with no time limit.
- Sets
- Two sets of 12 clocks (standard; one to three). Each set shows every hour once and every five-minute time once, and the right time stands in each of the four places three times.
- Face
- The numbers 1 to 12 (standard), or marks only.
- Practice
- 2 clocks, each followed by the right answer.
- Language
- Times are written the way the session's language writes them: 3:45 in English, Italian and Spanish, 3:45 Uhr in German, 3 h 45 in French, 3h45 in Portuguese, 3点45分 in Chinese and 3時45分 in Japanese, with the hour from 1 to 12 as the dial shows it.
- Scoring
- The share of clocks read right, then the share for each kind of time, the wrong times chosen by kind and the median time to a right answer. An answer under 100 ms is an anticipation.
Clock reading is used in research on children learning to tell the time and in aging and dementia research. The clocks, times and scoring are this task's own, so norms and cutoffs published for other clock reading tests do not apply, and a score is a research measure, not a screening result. No percentile: most adults read nearly every clock right. 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: clock_reading_item test rows from the scored run, one per clock, each with four written times. Accuracy at or below chance (one in four) is flagged for review and never invalidates. The same place on at least 90% of clocks, when accuracy is not above chance, invalidates. Answers under 200 ms on at least half the clocks invalidate, and a run short of its planned clocks is flagged.
Why these rules
Each wrong time follows a way of misreading a clock (the hands read the other way round, the clock read as in a mirror, the hour beside the short hand), so a person who misreads clocks the same way each time can score below chance: that is what the test measures, not a sign the task was not followed. The right time stands in each place equally often, so choosing one place gets a quarter right. 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). An answer under 200 ms is faster than a simple visual reaction, so it cannot reflect the item. Following response-time effort screening for untimed tests (Wise and Kong 2005), the session is invalid only when at least half the answers are that fast.
No percentile. Scores and quality flags only.
Running this test
Settings you can change
| Setting | Standard | Allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Clocks | 24 clocks (standard) | 12 clocks, 24 clocks (standard), 36 clocks |
| Clock face | Numbers 1 to 12 (standard) | Numbers 1 to 12 (standard), Marks only, no numbers |
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. 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 Clock Reading Task in a web browser (ConductCognition task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0; Burny E, Valcke M, Desoete A, 2012; Schmidtke K, Olbrich S, 2007), with the standard settings (clocks: 24 clocks; clock face: Numbers 1 to 12). The main score was clocks read right (share of the test clocks whose own time was chosen).
ConductCognition versions: task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0. Every export records the versions each session used, for a methods section.
- Burny, E., Valcke, M., & Desoete, A. (2012). Clock reading: An underestimated topic in children with mathematics difficulties. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 45(4), 351-360. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022219411407773Kinds of clock reading error, among them switching the function of the hands and misreading the hour.
- Schmidtke, K., & Olbrich, S. (2007). The Clock Reading Test: Validation of an instrument for the diagnosis of dementia and disorders of visuo-spatial cognition. International Psychogeriatrics, 19(2), 307-321. https://doi.org/10.1017/S104161020600456XClock reading as a research measure beside clock drawing; its items and scoring are not used here.
- Leyhe, T., Milian, M., Müller, S., Eschweiler, G. W., & Saur, R. (2009). The minute hand phenomenon in the Clock Test of patients with early Alzheimer disease. Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology, 22(2), 119-129. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891988709332941Clock drawing, setting and reading studied together, with errors analyzed hand by hand.
- Koreki, A., Kusudo, K., Suzuki, H., Nozaki, S., Onaya, M., Bowes, A., & Sado, M. (2021). Are analogue or digital clocks friendlier for people living with dementia? Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders Extra, 11(3), 207-212. https://doi.org/10.1159/000518350Analog clocks were harder to read than digital ones in a memory clinic's own clock reading test.
Source papers
- Burny E, Valcke M, Desoete A (2012). Clock reading: an underestimated topic in children with mathematics difficulties. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 45(4):351-360.N 725, Children in grades 1 to 6
- Schmidtke K, Olbrich S (2007). The Clock Reading Test: validation of an instrument for the diagnosis of dementia and disorders of visuo-spatial cognition. International Psychogeriatrics, 19(2):307-321.N 389, Older adults
- Koreki A, Kusudo K, Suzuki H, Nozaki S, Onaya M, Bowes A, Sado M (2021). Are analogue or digital clocks friendlier for people living with dementia? Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders Extra, 11(3):207-212.N 55, Older adults in a memory clinic
Questions
How long does the Clock Reading Task take?
About 3 to 5 minutes, as listed in the test library.
What device does a participant need?
Untimed test: runs on desktops, laptops, tablets and phones. The browser must be Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari.
What scores does it produce?
Clocks Read Right, Right Readings, Hour and Quarter Hours, Other Five-Minute Times, Hands Swapped, Mirror Times, Hour Later, Time to a Right Answer and Answers Under 100 ms. Each session is also marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason.
How widely is the Clock Reading Task used in research?
15 papers from 2021 to 2025 name it in their title or abstract, about the same as from 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 427 of 495 test families in the ConductCognition test census (use grade E). Source: ConductCognition test census 0.22.0, counted 2 November 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
How much reliability evidence does the Clock Reading Task have?
In the published research, 0 papers report its test-retest reliability and 2 registered clinical studies use 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?
Clocks (12 clocks, 24 clocks (standard), 36 clocks) and clock face (Numbers 1 to 12 (standard), Marks only, no numbers). 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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