Attention
Driving Workload Task
Also called: detection response task, DRT, peripheral detection task
Measure how much attention steering takes, from how much slower people answer a small lamp while they steer a car than while it steers itself.
8-10 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
- 65
- Evidence grade
- C
- Registered clinical studies
- 0
What it measures
Measures how much attention steering a car takes. Participants press the space bar whenever a small lamp lights up, while they keep a car in its lane and while the car steers itself. The main score is how much slower the responses are while steering.
Constructs
- Divided attention
- Mental workload
- Detection speed
Research uses
- Human factors research
- Driving simulation studies
- Within-study group comparison
How the paradigm works
The Driving Workload Task measures how much attention steering a car takes, with the detection response method of driving research. A small lamp at the top left of the road picture lights up red every 3 to 5 seconds at random, and participants press the space bar as soon as they see it. In some parts they steer a car at 95 km/h with the arrow keys, on a straight road with gentle gusts of side wind or on a winding road with stronger gusts; in the others the car steers itself and they only watch for the lamp. The main score is how much slower the responses are while steering, the measure of load this method was built for (Harms and Patten, 2003; Patten and colleagues, 2004; reviewed by Stojmenova and Sodnik, 2018).
More about the paradigm
The standard session has a 45-second practice, then two rounds of three one-minute parts: the car steering itself, steering on the straight road and steering on the winding road. Each round after the first runs in reverse order, and studies can set one to three rounds. As a setting, a tracking display replaces the road: the same steering and pushes move a marker that participants keep in a middle zone. The lamps, the roads and the gusts are drawn from the session's seed. A part pauses and blanks if the window loses focus. Desktop or laptop with a keyboard.
Scores
- Slowing While Steeringms
- Median hit time in the steered parts less the median in the parts where the car steers itself.
- Higher means steering took more attention
- Hit Time, Not Steeringms
- Median time from a lamp lighting to the press, over hits in the parts where the car steers itself.
- Lower is faster
- Hit Time, Straight Roadms
- Median hit time in the parts on the straight road with gentle gusts.
- Lower is faster
- Hit Time, Winding Roadms
- Median hit time in the parts on the winding road with stronger gusts.
- Lower is faster
- Hit Rate, Not Steering%
- Share of lamps answered 100 to 2,500 ms after they lit, in the parts where the car steers itself.
- Higher means fewer lamps missed
- Hit Rate, Straight Road%
- Share of lamps answered in time in the parts on the straight road.
- Higher means fewer lamps missed
- Hit Rate, Winding Road%
- Share of lamps answered in time in the parts on the winding road.
- Higher means fewer lamps missed
- Hit Rate Drop While Steering%
- Hit rate in the parts where the car steers itself less the hit rate in the steered parts.
- Higher means more lamps missed while steering
- Winding Road Costms
- Median hit time on the winding road less the median on the straight road.
- Higher means the harder road took more attention
- Missed Lampscount
- Lamps with no press within 2,500 ms of lighting.
- Lower means fewer misses
- Anticipationscount
- Lamps whose first press came less than 100 ms after they lit.
- Lower supports interpretation
- Extra Pressescount
- Presses of the space bar that answered no lamp.
- Lower supports interpretation
- Weaving While Steering (SDLP)cm
- Mean over the steered parts of the standard deviation of the car's lateral position, from positions saved every 200 ms.
- Lower means steadier lane keeping
- Pausescount
- Part interruptions after focus loss, hiding the tab or resizing.
- Lower supports interpretation
- Long Frames%
- Share of animation frames longer than 50 ms.
- Above 0.05 is flagged
- Completed Partscount
- Parts of the scored run that reached their end.
- Informational
- Planned Partscount
- Parts the session planned.
- Informational
Use and evidence
65 papers from 2021 to 2025 name this task in their title or abstract, down 27% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 373 of 670 test families in our census. See the counts for every test.
Show the numbers
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 12 |
| 2024 | 7 |
| 2023 | 13 |
| 2022 | 16 |
| 2021 | 17 |
| 2020 | 17 |
| 2019 | 20 |
| 2018 | 20 |
| 2017 | 18 |
| 2016 | 14 |
| 2015 | 15 |
| 2014 | 12 |
| 2013 | 9 |
| 2012 | 9 |
| 2011 | 3 |
| 2010 | 6 |
| 2009 | 4 |
| 2008 | 4 |
| 2007 | 5 |
| 2006 | 5 |
| 2005 | 6 |
| 2004 | 4 |
| 2003 | 5 |
| 2002 | 2 |
| 2001 | 2 |
| 2000 | 1 |
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
- 2
- Papers on reliability or validity
- 27
- Registered clinical studies using it as an outcome
- 0
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.
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 0.48.0, counted 12 November 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
Task design
The trial sequence as the test runs in ConductCognition.
- Lamp
- A small red lamp at the top left of the road picture lights every 3 to 5 seconds at random and stays lit for one second or until the press. A press from 100 to 2,500 ms after it lights is a hit.
- Parts
- Two rounds as standard, with one to three available, each of three one-minute parts: the car steering itself, steering on a straight road with gentle gusts, and steering on a winding road with stronger gusts. Each round after the first runs in reverse order. A 45-second practice with feedback comes first.
- Steering
- The left and right arrow keys steer a car at 95 km/h on the Lane Keeping Task's road and wind. The space bar answers the lamp.
- Main task
- Driving as standard, with the road ahead of the car. As a setting, tracking: a marker to keep in a middle zone, moved by the same steering and pushes, without the road.
- Recording
- Each lamp's onset from the frame that first drew it lit, every press, and in the steered parts the car's lateral position every 200 ms, with the roads, the gusts and frame timing.
- Scores
- The slowing while steering, hit times and hit rates for each kind of part, the cost of the winding road, misses, anticipations, extra presses and the weaving of the car.
A detection response task in its simulator form, with steering as the task whose load is measured. Scores describe attention in this task and do not measure fitness to drive. Compare only sessions with the same main task. No percentile output.
Quality checks
Each session is marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason, before you see its scores.
Scored rows: the completed parts of the scored run. Each lamp is a response, and missed lamps measure the load rather than invalidate. Incomplete runs, frequent extra presses, pauses and long frames are flagged; responses under 100 ms follow the timed-test rule.
Why these rules
Missed targets are what this test measures, so missed responses never invalidate on their own. A session with no responses is invalid. An unbroken run of misses covering at least half the response trials (minimum 8) may mean the participant stopped, so the session is flagged and its percentile withheld. A press under 100 ms after a lamp lights cannot be a reaction to it, so the timed-test rule applies to those presses.
No percentile. Scores and quality flags only.
Running this test
Settings you can change
| Setting | Standard | Allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Rounds | 2 | 1 to 3 |
| Main task | Driving (standard) | Driving (standard), Tracking |
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 Driving Workload Task in a web browser (ConductCognition task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0; Harms and Patten, 2003), with the standard settings (rounds: 2; main task: Driving). The main score was slowing while steering (median hit time in the steered parts less the median in the parts where the car steers itself).
ConductCognition versions: task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0. Every export records the versions each session used, for a methods section.
- Harms, L., & Patten, C. (2003). Peripheral detection as a measure of driver distraction. A study of memory-based versus system-based navigation in a built-up area. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 6(1), 23-36. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1369-8478(02)00044-XDetection of small lights in the periphery as a measure of driver distraction.
- Patten, C. J. D., Kircher, A., Östlund, J., & Nilsson, L. (2004). Using mobile telephones: cognitive workload and attention resource allocation. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 36(3), 341-350. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0001-4575(03)00014-9Detection responses that slowed while drivers held phone conversations.
- Stojmenova, K., & Sodnik, J. (2018). Detection-Response Task: Uses and Limitations. Sensors, 18(2), 594. https://doi.org/10.3390/s18020594The method: a stimulus every 3 to 5 seconds, hits from 100 to 2,500 ms, and the measure taken with and without the task.
Source papers
- Harms, L., & Patten, C. (2003). Peripheral detection as a measure of driver distraction. A study of memory-based versus system-based navigation in a built-up area. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 6(1), 23-36.Paradigm source, Adults
Questions
How long does the Driving Workload Task take?
About 8 to 10 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?
Slowing While Steering, Hit Time, Not Steering, Hit Time, Straight Road, Hit Time, Winding Road, Hit Rate, Not Steering, Hit Rate, Straight Road, Hit Rate, Winding Road, Hit Rate Drop While Steering, Winding Road Cost, Missed Lamps, Anticipations, Extra Presses, Weaving While Steering (SDLP), Pauses, Long Frames, Completed Parts and Planned Parts. Each session is also marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason.
How widely is the Driving Workload Task used in research?
65 papers from 2021 to 2025 name it in their title or abstract, down 27% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 373 of 670 test families in the ConductCognition test census (use grade D). Source: ConductCognition test census 0.48.0, counted 12 November 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
How much reliability evidence does the Driving Workload Task have?
In the published research, 2 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?
Rounds (1 to 3) and main task (Driving (standard), Tracking). 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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