Attention
Crossmodal Correspondence Task
Also called: cross-modal correspondence task, audiovisual correspondence, pitch-elevation correspondence, pitch-size correspondence, synesthetic correspondence
Measure how a tone's pitch speeds or slows judgments of what people see: a disc above or below a cross, with a high or low tone that fits or clashes.
5-7 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
- 298
- Evidence grade
- C
- Registered clinical studies
- 0
What it measures
A measure of how a sound's pitch is linked with what people see. A white disc flashes above or below a cross while a high or a low tone plays, or no tone, and participants press F or J for the disc's place as fast as they can. A high tone fits a high disc and a low tone a low one; a setting asks about the disc's size instead. The score is the congruency effect: how much slower correct answers are when the tone clashes with the disc than when it fits.
Constructs
- Crossmodal correspondence
- Multisensory integration
- Selective attention
Research uses
- Multisensory perception research
- Attention research
- Within-study group comparison
How the paradigm works
The crossmodal correspondence task measures how the pitch of a sound is linked with what people see: high tones go with high places and small things, low tones with low places and large things (Evans and Treisman, 2010; review: Spence, 2011). On each trial a cross shows for 500 ms, then a white disc flashes for 120 ms above or below it (or, as a setting, small or large on it), and the participant presses F or J for the disc as quickly and accurately as possible. With most discs a short tone plays, starting with the disc and lasting as long: high (1,500 Hz) or low (1,000 Hz), so it fits the disc or clashes with it. One third of the trials have no tone, as in Evans and Treisman's direct tasks. The tone does not tell the answer, and participants are asked to ignore it.
More about the paradigm
The test starts with the sound setup: the participant turns the device's volume until a steady tone is comfortable. There is no headphone check, because the link rests on the tone's pitch, not on where the sound comes from, and Evans and Treisman played their tones through loudspeakers. Speakers or wired headphones work; wireless headphones play sound late by an amount the browser may not report. The tone is put on the audio clock to be heard when the disc reaches the screen, allowing for the output delay the browser reports, and every trial saves the gap between the two by the browser's clocks.
Rounds of six trials hold each disc with the high tone, the low tone and no tone, in an order drawn from the session's seed: 24 rounds, 144 trials, at the standard setting, after 12 practice trials with feedback. The key for each disc is drawn for each session, because pitch is also linked with the place of a response key (Rusconi and colleagues, 2006). The main score is the congruency effect: the mean correct response time with a clashing tone less that with a fitting tone. Evans and Treisman's direct visual judgments gave about 19 ms for place and 14 ms for size; one person's effect is noisy at this length, so the score is best read for groups. The trials with no tone split the effect into the speed-up from a fitting tone and the slow-down from a clashing one.
Scores
- Congruency Effectms
- Mean correct response time with a clashing tone less that with a fitting tone.
- Positive means a clashing tone slowed answers; not a better or worse score
- Response Time, Fitting Tonems
- Mean correct response time when the tone fit the disc.
- Informational
- Response Time, Clashing Tonems
- Mean correct response time when the tone clashed with the disc.
- Informational
- Response Time, No Tonems
- Mean correct response time with no tone.
- Informational
- Speed-Up From a Fitting Tonems
- Mean correct response time with no tone less that with a fitting tone.
- Positive means a fitting tone sped answers
- Slow-Down From a Clashing Tonems
- Mean correct response time with a clashing tone less that with no tone.
- Positive means a clashing tone slowed answers
- Accuracy%
- Share of usable answers with the right key.
- Higher is better; guessing gives 0.5
- Accuracy, Fitting Tone%
- Share right when the tone fit the disc.
- Informational
- Accuracy, Clashing Tone%
- Share right when the tone clashed with the disc.
- Informational
- Accuracy, No Tone%
- Share right with no tone.
- Informational
- Accuracy Congruency Effect%
- Accuracy with a fitting tone less accuracy with a clashing tone.
- Positive means more errors with a clashing tone
- Anticipationscount
- Answers within 100 ms of the disc, which leave the scores.
- Fewer is better
- Missed Responsescount
- Trials with no key within 1,500 ms of the disc.
- Fewer is better
- Displays on Time%
- Share of answered trials whose disc showed for its planned frames with none dropped.
- Below 0.9 is flagged for review
- Tone to Disc Gapms
- Median time from the disc reaching the screen to the tone being heard, by the browser's clocks; 0 is planned.
- Near 0 is on time; beyond 25 ms either way is flagged
- Reported Output Delayms
- Delay of the sound output that the browser reported, null when it reported none.
- Informational
- Completed Trialstrials
- Trials answered in the scored run.
- Fewer than planned is flagged for review
- Planned Trialstrials
- Trials the run set out to show.
- Informational
Use and evidence
298 papers from 2021 to 2025 name this task in their title or abstract, up 12% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 91 of 495 test families in our census. See the counts for every test.
Show the numbers
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 75 |
| 2024 | 66 |
| 2023 | 62 |
| 2022 | 51 |
| 2021 | 44 |
| 2020 | 48 |
| 2019 | 63 |
| 2018 | 63 |
| 2017 | 51 |
| 2016 | 41 |
| 2015 | 60 |
| 2014 | 36 |
| 2013 | 28 |
| 2012 | 41 |
| 2011 | 17 |
| 2010 | 6 |
| 2009 | 4 |
| 2008 | 0 |
| 2007 | 2 |
| 2006 | 2 |
| 2005 | 1 |
| 2004 | 3 |
| 2003 | 1 |
| 2002 | 0 |
| 2001 | 1 |
| 2000 | 0 |
Use grade C
100 to 299 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
- 33
- Registered clinical studies using it as an outcome
- 0
Note on the counts: includes taste and smell studies.
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 3 November 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
Task design
The trial sequence as the test runs in ConductCognition.
- Sound setup
- The participant turns the device's volume until a steady 1 kHz tone is comfortable. There is no headphone check: the link rests on the tone's pitch, and speakers or wired headphones both work.
- Trial
- A cross for 500 ms, then a white disc for 120 ms, 150 px above or below the cross, with a tone that starts with it and lasts as long: 1,500 Hz (high) or 1,000 Hz (low), or no tone. Press F or J for the disc within 1,500 ms.
- Size setting
- A disc 100 or 200 px wide on the cross, in place of above or below.
- Conditions
- A high tone fits the high or the small disc and a low tone the low or the large one; the other pairing clashes. One third of the trials have no tone.
- Trials
- 24 rounds (standard, 12 to 40) of 6 trials, each disc with the high tone, the low tone and no tone, in an order drawn from the session's seed: 144 trials, with a message only after a wrong, slow or early answer.
- Practice
- 12 trials with feedback for 800 ms.
- Keys
- The key for each disc is drawn for each session and shown under every trial.
- Timing
- The disc shows for whole frames at the measured refresh rate. The tone is put on the audio clock to be heard when the disc reaches the screen, allowing for the output delay the browser reports, and each trial saves the gap between the two.
- Score
- The congruency effect: the mean correct response time with a clashing tone less that with a fitting tone. Only trials whose disc showed on time count, and answers under 100 ms leave the scores.
This version shows a white disc where Evans and Treisman (2010) showed a grating, at their places and sizes scaled to CSS pixels with no calibration of viewing distance. One person's congruency effect is noisy at this length, so compare groups. Wireless headphones play sound late by an amount the browser may not report, so the screens ask for speakers or wired headphones. 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: crossmodal_correspondence_test from the scored run, F or J for the disc within 1,500 ms of its first frame (chance 50%; each disc equally often), graded from the saved key and the recorded mapping. Below chance invalidates and not above chance is flagged. One key on 90% of answers invalidates when accuracy is not above chance. Missed responses and responses under 100 ms follow the timed-test rule. A run short of its planned trials, no congruency effect, fewer than 90% of trials with the disc on time, or a median gap of more than 25 ms between the tone heard and the disc shown is flagged for review.
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). Missed responses and responses under 100 ms keep the platform's timed-test rule: more than max(3, 25%) missed responses or more than max(2, 20%) responses under 100 ms invalidate, and any is flagged. A response under 100 ms cannot be a reaction to the stimulus. The congruency effect is a difference of about 15 to 20 ms in the source (Evans and Treisman, 2010), so it means little when the disc did not show as planned or the tone was not heard with it.
No percentile. Scores and quality flags only.
Running this test
Settings you can change
| Setting | Standard | Allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Disc feature | Position (above or below) | Position (above or below), Size (small or large) |
| Rounds | 24 | 12 to 40 |
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 Crossmodal Correspondence Task in a web browser (ConductCognition task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0; Evans and Treisman, 2010), with the standard settings (disc feature: Position (above or below); rounds: 24). The main score was congruency effect (mean correct response time with a clashing tone less that with a fitting tone).
ConductCognition versions: task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0. Every export records the versions each session used, for a methods section.
- Evans, K. K., & Treisman, A. (2010). Natural cross-modal mappings between visual and auditory features. Journal of Vision, 10(1), 6. https://doi.org/10.1167/10.1.6The direct tasks: a visual feature judged while a 1,500 or 1,000 Hz tone plays with it for 120 ms, a third of the trials with no tone, and the congruency effect.
- Gallace, A., & Spence, C. (2006). Multisensory synesthetic interactions in the speeded classification of visual size. Perception & Psychophysics, 68(7), 1191-1203. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193720Disks judged by size with a task-irrelevant tone: faster when the tone's frequency fit the size.
- Spence, C. (2011). Crossmodal correspondences: A tutorial review. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 73(4), 971-995. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-010-0073-7Review of crossmodal correspondences, among them pitch with place and size.
- Rusconi, E., Kwan, B., Giordano, B. L., Umiltà, C., & Butterworth, B. (2006). Spatial representation of pitch height: The SMARC effect. Cognition, 99(2), 113-129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2005.01.004Pitch is mapped onto the place of a response key, the reason each session draws its keys.
Source papers
- Evans KK, Treisman A (2010). Natural cross-modal mappings between visual and auditory features. Journal of Vision, 10(1):6.N 85, Adults (18 to 30 years)
Questions
How long does the Crossmodal Correspondence Task take?
About 5 to 7 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?
Congruency Effect, Response Time, Fitting Tone, Response Time, Clashing Tone, Response Time, No Tone, Speed-Up From a Fitting Tone, Slow-Down From a Clashing Tone, Accuracy, Accuracy, Fitting Tone, Accuracy, Clashing Tone, Accuracy, No Tone, Accuracy Congruency Effect, Anticipations, Missed Responses, Displays on Time, Tone to Disc Gap, Reported Output Delay, Completed Trials and Planned Trials. Each session is also marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason.
How widely is the Crossmodal Correspondence Task used in research?
298 papers from 2021 to 2025 name it in their title or abstract, up 12% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 91 of 495 test families in the ConductCognition test census (use grade C). Source: ConductCognition test census 0.22.0, counted 3 November 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
How much reliability evidence does the Crossmodal Correspondence Task have?
In the published research, 4 papers report its test-retest reliability and 0 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?
Disc feature (Position (above or below), Size (small or large)) and rounds (12 to 40). 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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