Executive Function
Headline Truth Task
Also called: truth discernment task, news veracity discernment task, headline accuracy task
Measure how well people distinguish true from invented headlines, and their tendency to answer true or false.
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
- 204
- Evidence grade
- C
- Registered clinical studies
- 3
What it measures
Measures how well people distinguish true from invented headlines. Participants judge short headlines about science, nature, sport, culture and everyday life. Scores separate discernment from the tendency to answer true.
Constructs
- Truth discernment
- Response bias
- Knowledge-based judgment
Research uses
- Misinformation research
- Reasoning research
- Within-study comparisons
How the paradigm works
The Headline Truth Task measures truth discernment: how well people distinguish true from invented headlines. Participants read 20 original headlines, or 10 in the short form, about science, nature, sport, culture and everyday life. Each topic contains equal numbers of true and false headlines. They choose True or False without a time limit, using their own knowledge. Two practice examples with feedback come first. The session seed selects and orders the items, with no more than three of either truth value in a row.
More about the paradigm
The primary score is signal-detection d-prime. It separates the ability to distinguish the two kinds of headline from response bias, the tendency to choose true or false. Each contingency-table cell receives 0.5 before the rates are converted to z scores, so extreme responses remain finite. True headlines accepted, false headlines accepted and accuracy are also reported. The final screens identify each invented headline and give its correction.
Scores
- Discernmentscore
- Signal-detection d-prime, with 0.5 added to each cell before converting rates to z scores.
- Higher means better separation of true and false headlines
- Response biasscore
- Signal-detection criterion c: minus half the sum of the corrected hit and false-alarm z scores.
- Positive means a tendency to answer false; negative means a tendency to answer true
- True headlines accepted%
- Share of true headlines judged true.
- Compare with false headlines accepted
- False headlines accepted%
- Share of invented headlines judged true.
- Lower means fewer invented headlines accepted
- Accuracy%
- Share of answered headlines judged correctly.
- Higher means more correct judgments
- Items answeredcount
- Valid judgments in the selected run.
- At least 90% of planned items are needed
- Items plannedcount
- Number of headlines planned for the run.
- 10 or 20
- Median response timems
- Median response time, excluding responses under 100 ms.
- Descriptive
- Responses under 100 mscount
- Very fast judgments, retained in the scores.
- Expected to be 0
- Earlier sessionscount
- Earlier sessions for this participant when known.
- Repeat sessions are flagged because the debrief gives the answers
Use and evidence
204 papers from 2021 to 2025 name this task in their title or abstract, up 1100% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 150 of 582 test families in our census. See the counts for every test.
Show the numbers
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 90 |
| 2024 | 50 |
| 2023 | 31 |
| 2022 | 20 |
| 2021 | 13 |
| 2020 | 8 |
| 2019 | 3 |
| 2018 | 2 |
| 2017 | 3 |
| 2016 | 1 |
| 2015 | 1 |
| 2014 | 0 |
| 2013 | 1 |
| 2012 | 1 |
| 2011 | 0 |
| 2010 | 0 |
| 2009 | 0 |
| 2008 | 0 |
| 2007 | 0 |
| 2006 | 1 |
| 2005 | 0 |
| 2004 | 0 |
| 2003 | 1 |
| 2002 | 0 |
| 2001 | 0 |
| 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
- 0
- Papers on reliability or validity
- 34
- Registered clinical studies using it as an outcome
- 3
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: includes survey studies of misinformation.
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.
- Headlines
- 20 original headlines, 10 true and 10 false, across science, nature, sport, culture and everyday life. The shorter setting uses 10 headlines. Each topic has equal true and false counts. Items follow the session language.
- Practice
- 2 examples outside the item bank, each with feedback.
- Trial
- A short headline and True or False buttons, with no time limit and a 300 ms gap between answers. A 500 ms blank begins the scored trials.
- Order
- Seeded selection without replacement, with no more than 3 true or false headlines in a row.
- Score
- Discernment (d-prime) and response bias (criterion c), using a 0.5 correction in each cell. Acceptance rates and accuracy are reported too.
- Debrief
- Every invented headline is listed with its correction, two per page. Each person takes the task once.
All headlines and translations were written for this task. True headlines have recorded factual sources. Scores describe judgments on these items. Norms and percentiles are off.
Quality checks
Each session is marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason, before you see its scores.
Scored rows: headline_truth_test from the run with most rows, ties going to the last run. Judgments are untimed. Below 90% of planned items answered invalidates. One rating on at least 90% of 12 or more answers is flagged. Answers under 200 ms on at least half of 4 or more items invalidate. An earlier session is flagged because the debrief reveals the invented items. A hidden tab withholds the percentile.
Why these rules
Discernment and response bias are the outcomes of interest, so an inaccurate or uniform judgment is not itself grounds to exclude a participant. The 90% completion rule is a ConductScience choice to retain the planned mixture. Very fast answers may not reflect reading. Prior exposure to the answers changes what a repeat session measures.
No percentile. Scores and quality flags only.
Running this test
Settings you can change
| Setting | Standard | Allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Headlines | 20 headlines (standard) | 10 headlines, 20 headlines (standard) |
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 Headline Truth Task in a web browser (ConductCognition task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0; Ludwig & Sommer, 2024; Hautus, 1995), with the standard settings (headlines: 20 headlines). The main score was discernment (signal-detection d-prime, with 0.5 added to each cell before converting rates to z scores).
ConductCognition versions: task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0. Every export records the versions each session used, for a methods section.
- Ludwig, J., & Sommer, J. (2024). Mindsets and politically motivated reasoning about fake news. Motivation and Emotion, 48(3), 249-263. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-024-10067-0True/false headline classification and separate signal-detection measures of discernment and response bias.
- Hautus, M. J. (1995). Corrections for extreme proportions and their biasing effects on estimated values of d′. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 27(1), 46-51. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03203619The loglinear correction for extreme response proportions.
Source papers
- Ludwig, J., & Sommer, J. (2024). Mindsets and politically motivated reasoning about fake news. Motivation and Emotion, 48(3), 249-263.Paradigm source, Adults
Questions
How long does the Headline Truth 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?
Discernment, Response bias, True headlines accepted, False headlines accepted, Accuracy, Items answered, Items planned, Median response time, Responses under 100 ms and Earlier sessions. Each session is also marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason.
How widely is the Headline Truth Task used in research?
204 papers from 2021 to 2025 name it in their title or abstract, up 1100% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 150 of 582 test families in the ConductCognition test census (use grade C). Source: ConductCognition test census 0.39.0, counted 8 November 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
How much reliability evidence does the Headline Truth Task have?
In the published research, 0 papers report its test-retest reliability and 3 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?
Headlines (10 headlines, 20 headlines (standard)). 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, with its words in the same language. 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.
Run this test in your next study
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