Processing Speed
Go Before You Know Task
Also called: go-before-you-know paradigm, target uncertainty reaching, intermediate reaching, motor averaging paradigm
Measure how movement begins before its goal is certain. Participants move the mouse toward possible targets, then steer to the one revealed during the reach.
4-6 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
- 6
- Evidence grade
- D
- Registered clinical studies
- 0
Start moving, then follow the filled target.
What it measures
Measures how people begin a movement when its goal is uncertain. Move the mouse toward one or two possible targets; with two targets, the correct one fills only after movement starts. Scores compare the initial direction of the mouse and movement time.
Constructs
- Movement preparation
- Goal uncertainty
- Visuomotor control
Research uses
- Motor planning research
- Decision and action research
- Within-study comparisons
How the paradigm works
The Go Before You Know Task measures how movement begins while the final goal is uncertain. One or two circular targets appear above a Start button. After clicking Start, the participant waits for GO, then moves the mouse promptly. With two targets, the goal fills in only after the pointer has traveled 25% of the target distance. The participant steers to the filled target and clicks it.
More about the paradigm
The standard session has 8 practice trials and four blocks of 16 test trials. One-target and two-target trials, left and right goals, and target angles of 20 and 35 degrees from the upward midline occur equally often. A seeded delay of 500 to 900 ms precedes GO. Each reach has a 3,000 ms response limit. Studies can set two to six blocks; no performance changes the later trials.
The main score compares absolute initial direction at 20% of the reach distance, before the goal is revealed: one-target direction minus two-target direction, averaged equally over target angles. A positive value means the pointer initially stayed closer to the middle with two possible targets. Aiming toward the middle can be a useful strategy; it does not by itself establish parallel motor plans. Movement duration, initiation and target accuracy accompany the direction measure.
Scores
- Midline Direction Effectdegrees
- Mean absolute initial heading with one target minus two targets, averaged equally over both target angles. At least 4 usable paths per target-count and angle cell.
- Positive means the initial movement stayed closer to the middle with two possible targets.
- Initial Direction, One Targetdegrees
- Mean absolute heading 20% of the reach distance from Start, on usable one-target trials.
- 0 is straight up the midline.
- Initial Direction, Two Targetsdegrees
- Mean absolute heading before the target reveal, on usable two-target trials.
- 0 is straight between the two targets.
- Movement Time Differencems
- Mean movement duration with two targets minus one target.
- Positive means movement took longer with two possible targets.
- Movement Time, One Targetms
- Mean movement-onset-to-click duration for usable one-target paths.
- Informational
- Movement Time, Two Targetsms
- Mean movement-onset-to-click duration for usable two-target paths.
- Informational
- Movement Startms
- Mean time from GO to movement onset for usable paths.
- Informational
- Target Accuracy%
- Correct target clicks over non-interrupted trials without anticipatory starts; missed clicks count as wrong.
- Higher means more target hits.
- Late Starts%
- Movement starts later than 500 ms as a share of all recorded movement starts.
- Late paths are excluded from direction measures.
- Anticipationscount
- Movement starts or answer clicks under 100 ms.
- Excluded from path measures.
- Missed Clickscount
- Trials without a target click.
- Informational
- Interrupted Trialscount
- Trials ended by a hidden tab, window blur, resize or window exit.
- Excluded from path measures.
- Usable Pathscount
- Correct, uninterrupted paths starting between 100 and 500 ms, with a recorded reveal and a pre-reveal heading sampled within 100 ms.
- Informational
- Recorded Trialscount
- Test trials in the selected run.
- Informational
- Planned Trialscount
- Number of scheduled test trials.
- Informational
Use and evidence
6 papers from 2021 to 2025 name this task in their title or abstract. That ranks it 469 of 495 test families in our census. See the counts for every test.
Show the numbers
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1 |
| 2024 | 0 |
| 2023 | 0 |
| 2022 | 2 |
| 2021 | 3 |
| 2020 | 1 |
| 2019 | 0 |
| 2018 | 0 |
| 2017 | 0 |
| 2016 | 0 |
| 2015 | 0 |
| 2014 | 0 |
| 2013 | 0 |
| 2012 | 0 |
| 2011 | 0 |
| 2010 | 0 |
| 2009 | 0 |
| 2008 | 1 |
| 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 D
Little published measurement evidence found.
- Papers on test-retest reliability
- 0
- Papers on reliability or validity
- 0
- Registered clinical studies using it as an outcome
- 0
Note on the counts: Seated mouse adaptation of arm reaching; goal revealed after a movement gate; device-dependent trajectories; no published norms..
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.
- Targets
- One or two original circles, 44 px across, at 20 or 35 degrees on either side of the upward midline. The distance scales with the available window.
- Trial
- Click Start, wait 500 to 900 ms for GO, then move and click within 3,000 ms. Start moving within 500 ms.
- Goal reveal
- With two targets, the final goal fills on the first screen frame after the pointer crosses 25% of the target distance. Direction is measured at 20%, before the reveal; both reveal request and display times are saved.
- Trials
- 4 blocks of 16 trials by default, with 2 to 6 blocks allowed. Each block balances target count, target side and both target angles.
- Practice
- 8 trials with 800 ms feedback. Test trials have a 250 ms pause and movement reminders; rest between blocks.
- Path
- Pointer positions and their times, at most one per 10 ms plus the heading crossing and endpoint. A compact trace and display geometry are saved; paths interrupted by focus loss, window exit or resize are excluded.
- Score
- One-target minus two-target absolute initial direction, averaged equally across target angles. At least 4 usable paths per target-count and angle cell. Correct paths must start from 100 to 500 ms and have a heading sampling gap no longer than 100 ms.
A mouse adaptation of an arm-reaching paradigm, using a visual GO cue and no imposed arm-speed ranges. Use a desktop or laptop mouse and keep input settings similar across the study; trackpads are reported as mouse input by the browser. Direction and movement-time effects have no percentile norms.
Quality checks
Each session is marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason, before you see its scores.
The scored run's mouse reaches. Paths enter the direction contrast only after a correct target click, initiation from 100 to 500 ms, a recorded goal reveal, no interruption and a sampled pre-reveal direction. Each target-count and angle cell needs 4 paths. Movement initiation is the response time for validity. Missed responses and responses under 100 ms follow the timed-test rule.
Why these rules
The target-count comparison describes movement before the final target is known. Late starts, interruptions and sparse pointer samples can change that comparison. The four-path cell minimum and 100 ms maximum sampling gap are ConductScience precision rules. A single-target trial has no chance-choice comparison, so this task uses path and completion checks instead.
No percentile. Scores and quality flags only.
Running this test
Settings you can change
| Setting | Standard | Allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Blocks | 4 | 2 to 6 |
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 Go Before You Know Task in a web browser (ConductCognition task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0; Wong and Haith, 2017), with the standard settings (blocks: 4). The main score was midline direction effect (mean absolute initial heading with one target minus two targets, averaged equally over both target angles).
ConductCognition versions: task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0. Every export records the versions each session used, for a methods section.
- Wong, A. L., & Haith, A. M. (2017). Motor planning flexibly optimizes performance under uncertainty about task goals. Nature Communications, 8, 14624. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms14624One-target and two-target reaches, with the final goal revealed after movement starts; intermediate directions depend on task constraints.
Source papers
Questions
How long does the Go Before You Know Task take?
About 4 to 6 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?
Midline Direction Effect, Initial Direction, One Target, Initial Direction, Two Targets, Movement Time Difference, Movement Time, One Target, Movement Time, Two Targets, Movement Start, Target Accuracy, Late Starts, Anticipations, Missed Clicks, Interrupted Trials, Usable Paths, Recorded Trials and Planned Trials. Each session is also marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason.
How widely is the Go Before You Know Task used in research?
6 papers from 2021 to 2025 name it in their title or abstract. That ranks it 469 of 495 test families in the ConductCognition test census (use grade E). Source: ConductCognition test census 0.22.0, counted 3 November 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
How much reliability evidence does the Go Before You Know Task have?
In the published research, 0 papers report its test-retest reliability and 0 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?
Blocks (2 to 6). 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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