Attention
Inhibition of Return Task
Also called: inhibition of return paradigm, IOR task, cue-target detection task, exogenous cueing with long intervals
Measure the slowing to detect a dot where attention was just drawn: a box flashes, and half a second or more later participants press for a dot in that box or the other one.
6-8 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. Preview any test free after you sign up.
- Papers, 2021 to 2025
- 156
- Evidence grade
- C
- Registered clinical studies
- 1
What it measures
Measures the slowing to detect a target at a place attention was drawn to half a second or more before. A side box flashes, then the middle box, and a dot appears in the box that flashed or in the other box; participants press the space bar as soon as they see it. The flash does not predict where the dot appears.
Constructs
- Spatial attention
- Reorienting of attention
- Inhibition of attended locations
Research uses
- Spatial attention research
- Aging and attention research
- Within-study group comparison
How the paradigm works
The inhibition of return task measures the slowing to detect something at a place attention has just left. Posner and Cohen (1984) found that a flash at one location first speeds detection there and then, from about 300 ms after the flash, slows it. Posner and colleagues (1985) named this inhibition of return, and it is read as a bias that moves attention on to new places (Klein, 2000).
More about the paradigm
Three outlined boxes sit in a row, with a cross in the middle box. On each trial one side box flashes for 100 ms, and 200 ms after that flash began the middle box flashes for 100 ms, which draws attention back to the center. 500 or 1,000 ms after the first flash, a white dot appears in the box that flashed (a cued trial) or in the other side box (an uncued trial), and participants press the space bar as soon as they see it. The flash predicts nothing: the dot is as likely in either box. One trial in nine has no dot, a catch trial, and a press then is an error. A 1,000 ms cross starts each trial, and the dot stays until a press or 1,500 ms. The displays switch on screen frames, and their measured durations are saved. The standard session is 128 trials with a dot and 16 catch trials in a seeded random order, with the flashed side and the interval balanced, after 12 practice trials with feedback.
This test differs from the Posner cueing test in design and in what it measures. In Posner cueing the flash predicts the target's side, the target follows 100 to 300 ms later, participants press a key for its side, and the score is the benefit of a valid cue. Here the flash predicts nothing, the dot comes after that early benefit has passed, a second flash calls attention back to the center, one key detects the dot, and the score is the slowing at the flashed box.
The main score is the inhibition of return effect: mean detection time on cued trials minus uncued trials, over both intervals. Positive values mean slower detection at the box that flashed. The effect is also given at each interval, from medians and as a percent of the uncued mean, with the share of dots detected, presses on catch trials and presses before the dot. Detection times count presses at or after 100 ms from the dot's onset with no press before it. In the detection experiments Chica and colleagues (2014) summarized, the effect was about 27 ms without a cue back to the center and 29 ms with one, so it is best used for group comparisons.
Scores
- Inhibition of Return Effectms
- Mean detection time when the dot was in the box that flashed minus when it was in the other box, over both intervals.
- Positive values mean slower detection at the box that flashed
- Inhibition of Return Effect, 500 msms
- The effect on trials where the dot came 500 ms after the flash.
- Positive values mean slower detection at the box that flashed
- Inhibition of Return Effect, 1,000 msms
- The effect on trials where the dot came 1,000 ms after the flash.
- Positive values mean slower detection at the box that flashed
- Detection Time, Cuedms
- Mean detection time when the dot was in the box that flashed.
- Lower is faster
- Detection Time, Uncuedms
- Mean detection time when the dot was in the other side box.
- Lower is faster
- Inhibition of Return Effect, Mediansms
- Median detection time, cued minus uncued.
- Positive values mean slower detection at the box that flashed
- Inhibition of Return Effect, Percent%
- The effect as a percent of the uncued mean.
- Positive values mean slower detection at the box that flashed
- Dots Detected%
- Share of trials with a dot answered with a press at or after 100 ms from the dot, with no press before it.
- Higher is better
- Presses Without a Dot%
- Share of catch trials with a press.
- Lower is better; over a quarter is flagged
- Mean Detection Timems
- Mean detection time over all trials with a dot.
- Lower is faster
- Cued Detections Usedtrials
- Detections in the box that flashed, the trials the effect uses.
- Fewer than 20 is flagged
- Uncued Detections Usedtrials
- Detections in the other side box, the trials the effect uses.
- Fewer than 20 is flagged
- Missed Dotscount
- Trials with a dot and no press within 1,500 ms.
- Lower is better
- Presses Before the Dotcount
- Trials with a press before the dot appeared, or before the moment it would have appeared on a catch trial.
- Lower is better
- Anticipationscount
- Presses under 100 ms from the dot's onset.
- Lower is better
- Trials With a Dottrials
- Trials with a dot in the scored run.
- Informational
- Catch Trialstrials
- Trials with no dot in the scored run.
- Informational
- Total Trialstrials
- Trials in the scored run.
- Informational
Use and evidence
156 papers from 2021 to 2025 name this task in their title or abstract, down 28% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 147 of 395 test families in our census. See the counts for every test.
Show the numbers
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 34 |
| 2024 | 28 |
| 2023 | 30 |
| 2022 | 27 |
| 2021 | 37 |
| 2020 | 31 |
| 2019 | 41 |
| 2018 | 48 |
| 2017 | 40 |
| 2016 | 57 |
| 2015 | 58 |
| 2014 | 57 |
| 2013 | 64 |
| 2012 | 78 |
| 2011 | 77 |
| 2010 | 91 |
| 2009 | 54 |
| 2008 | 47 |
| 2007 | 43 |
| 2006 | 67 |
| 2005 | 49 |
| 2004 | 51 |
| 2003 | 32 |
| 2002 | 37 |
| 2001 | 37 |
| 2000 | 33 |
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
- 1
- Papers on reliability or validity
- 71
- Registered clinical studies using it as an outcome
- 1
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 0.14.0, counted 31 October 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
Task design
The trial sequence as the test runs in ConductCognition.
- Display
- Three outlined boxes in a row, 220 px apart, with a cross in the middle box.
- Fixation
- 1,000 ms.
- Flash
- One side box brightens for 100 ms; the middle box brightens for 100 ms from 200 ms after the side flash began, to call attention back to the center.
- Flash to dot
- 500 or 1,000 ms from the side flash.
- Dot
- A white dot in the box that flashed (cued) or in the other side box (uncued), until a press or 1,500 ms.
- Key
- The space bar for every dot. A press before the dot, or under 100 ms after it, is not a detection.
- Trial mix
- 128 trials with a dot (standard; 96 to 192), half cued and half uncued, plus one catch trial with no dot for every eight: 144 trials in all.
- Order
- A seeded random order with the flashed side and the interval balanced, saved with the trial data. The displays switch on screen frames, and their measured durations are saved.
- Practice
- 12 trials, 2 of them with no dot, with feedback for 800 ms. No feedback in the test.
- Score
- Mean detection time in the box that flashed minus in the other box.
Posner and Cohen (1984) varied the time from flash to target to trace an early benefit and a later slowing. This version measures the slowing only, at 500 and 1,000 ms, and adds a flash of the middle box between flash and dot, which makes the effect larger when the dot stays until a press (Chica and colleagues, 2014). The Posner Cueing Task measures the early benefit, with a flash that predicts the target's side.
Quality checks
Each session is marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason, before you see its scores.
Scored rows: inhibition_of_return_test from the scored run, press the space bar for a dot (8 of every 9 trials at the standard setting) and withhold on catch trials with no dot, within 1,500 ms. Responding mainly on catch trials invalidates; not separating dots from catch trials is flagged. Missing more than max(3, 25%) dots invalidates; any miss is flagged. Presses on over half the catch trials invalidate and on over a quarter are flagged. Presses before the dot follow the limit for responses under 100 ms: more than max(2, 20%) invalidate and any is flagged. Fewer than 20 detections at either box is flagged and withholds the percentile.
Why these rules
Responses concentrated on trials that needed none (one-sided Fisher exact test, p < .05) mean the instructions were reversed and invalidate; responses that do not separate the two trial types are flagged. Responding is the common, prepotent response here, so missing more than max(3, 25%) of response trials signals non-engagement (the platform's timed-test rule); any miss is flagged. Responses under 100 ms follow the timed-test rule. Catch trials show whether presses followed the dots, as Chica and colleagues (2014) recommend for detection tasks; a press before the dot cannot be a detection, so it is held to the limit for responses under 100 ms. The catch-trial limits and the minimum of 20 detections are ConductScience choices.
No percentile. Scores and quality flags only.
Running this test
Settings you can change
| Setting | Standard | Allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Trials with a dot | 128 | 96 to 192 |
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 Inhibition of Return Task in a web browser (ConductCognition task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0; Posner and Cohen, 1984; Posner, Rafal, Choate and Vaughan, 1985), with the standard settings (trials with a dot: 128). The main score was inhibition of return effect (mean detection time when the dot was in the box that flashed minus when it was in the other box, over both intervals).
ConductCognition versions: task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0. Every export records the versions each session used, for a methods section.
- Posner, M. I., & Cohen, Y. (1984). Components of visual orienting. In H. Bouma & D. G. Bouwhuis (Eds.), Attention and Performance X (pp. 531-556). Erlbaum. The first report: a flash that does not predict the target speeds detection there, then slows it.
- Posner, M. I., Rafal, R. D., Choate, L. S., & Vaughan, J. (1985). Inhibition of return: Neural basis and function. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 2(3), 211-228. https://doi.org/10.1080/02643298508252866The name of the effect.
- Klein, R. M. (2000). Inhibition of return. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 4(4), 138-147. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1364-6613(00)01452-2
- Samuel, A. G., & Kat, D. (2003). Inhibition of return: A graphical meta-analysis of its time course and an empirical test of its temporal and spatial properties. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 10(4), 897-906. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196550How long the slowing lasts.
- Lupiáñez, J., Klein, R. M., & Bartolomeo, P. (2006). Inhibition of return: Twenty years after. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 23(7), 1003-1014. https://doi.org/10.1080/02643290600588095
- Chica, A. B., Martín-Arévalo, E., Botta, F., & Lupiáñez, J. (2014). The Spatial Orienting paradigm: How to design and interpret spatial attention experiments. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 40, 35-51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.01.002Detection with catch trials, long intervals and the cue back to the center.
Source papers
- Klein RM (2000). Inhibition of return. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 4(4):138-147.Paradigm source, Adults
Questions
How long does the Inhibition of Return Task take?
About 6 to 8 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?
Inhibition of Return Effect, Inhibition of Return Effect, 500 ms, Inhibition of Return Effect, 1,000 ms, Detection Time, Cued, Detection Time, Uncued, Inhibition of Return Effect, Medians, Inhibition of Return Effect, Percent, Dots Detected, Presses Without a Dot, Mean Detection Time, Cued Detections Used, Uncued Detections Used, Missed Dots, Presses Before the Dot, Anticipations, Trials With a Dot, Catch Trials and Total Trials. Each session is also marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason.
How widely is the Inhibition of Return Task used in research?
156 papers from 2021 to 2025 name it in their title or abstract, down 28% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 147 of 395 test families in the ConductCognition test census (use grade C). Source: ConductCognition test census 0.14.0, counted 31 October 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
How much reliability evidence does the Inhibition of Return Task have?
In the published research, 1 paper reports its test-retest reliability and 1 registered clinical study uses 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?
Trials with a dot (96 to 192). 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.
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