Attention
Motion-Induced Blindness Task
Also called: MIB, motion induced blindness, perceptual disappearance task, rotating grid illusion
Measure how steady dots seem to vanish behind a moving pattern: three yellow dots stay still while blue crosses turn, and people hold a key while any dot is gone.
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
- 17
- Evidence grade
- D
- Registered clinical studies
- 0
What it measures
A measure of how steady dots seem to vanish when a pattern moves behind them. Three yellow dots stay still while a grid of blue crosses turns, and participants hold the space bar whenever any dot has vanished from view. The score is the share of viewing time with a dot reported gone. In each viewing one dot really fades out once, so the reports can be checked. More reported time is not a better score.
Constructs
- Visual awareness
- Perceptual fading
- Attention to moving patterns
Research uses
- Visual awareness and perception research
- Individual differences in perception
- Within-study group comparison
How the paradigm works
The Motion-Induced Blindness Task measures how steady, clearly visible dots seem to vanish from view when a pattern moves behind them (Bonneh, Cooperman and Sagi, 2001). Three yellow dots sit still around a fixation dot while a grid of blue crosses turns behind them; now and then one or more dots disappear for a few seconds and come back, although they never leave the screen. The effect has been used to study visual awareness and attention, how it relates to other kinds of perceptual fading, and how people differ (Bonneh and colleagues, 2014; Soni, Planchet and Sparrow, 2025).
More about the paradigm
In each viewing the participant keeps looking at the white dot and holds the space bar down while any yellow dot has vanished, letting go when all three are back. The grid of 11 by 11 crosses turns at 0.37 turns a second (Bonneh and colleagues, 2014), the other way in each viewing. There are 5 viewings of 60 seconds (standard; 4 to 8 viewings of 30 to 90 seconds), after a 30 second practice in which the grid stays still and each dot really fades out once, and a 30 second practice with the grid turning: about 8 to 10 minutes in all. In every test viewing one dot really fades out over 1.5 seconds, stays gone for 1 to 4 seconds and fades back, at a seeded time at least 10 seconds from either end, as Thomas and colleagues (2017) did; participants report it like any other disappearance, so the reports can be checked. Every display is set before the session: no report changes the display, and there is no training mode. Desktop and laptop only.
The main score is the share of viewing time with a dot reported gone, in percent. The number of disappearances per minute, the mean length of the reported disappearances and of the times between them, the time to the first disappearance and the share of the real fades reported are also reported. The real fades are left out of every measure but their own. Reports of dots that were on screen are the effect, never errors. Scores support research and do not diagnose.
Scores
- Time Reported Gone%
- Share of the viewing time with the space bar held, that is, with one or more dots reported gone, with the real fades left out.
- Informational; more is not better or worse
- Disappearances per Minutedisappearances/min
- Presses of the space bar per minute of viewing, outside the real fades.
- Informational
- Disappearancescount
- Presses of the space bar outside the real fades, in all test viewings.
- None is flagged for review; some people rarely see the effect
- Mean Time Goneseconds
- Mean length of a press that began and ended outside the real fades, with at least 3.
- Informational
- Mean Time Seenseconds
- Mean time from a release to the next press, outside the real fades, with at least 3.
- Informational
- Time to First Disappearanceseconds
- Median over viewings of the time from the start of the viewing to the first press.
- Informational
- Viewings Without a Disappearancecount
- Test viewings with no press outside the real fade.
- Informational
- Real Fades Reported%
- Share of the real fades, one dot fading out once a viewing, during which the space bar went down, of those that could be checked.
- Below 0.5 is invalid and below 0.75 is flagged for review, with at least 3 checked
- Real Fades Checkedcount
- Real fades during which the space bar was not held the whole time from the start of the fade until the dot came back.
- Fewer than 3 is flagged for review
- Time to Report a Real Fadems
- Median time from the start of a real fade to the press that reported it.
- Informational
- Frame Intervalms
- Median time between screen frames during the viewings.
- About 16.7 on a 60 Hz screen
- Dropped Frames%
- Share of the frames the browser skipped while the grid turned.
- Above 0.05 is flagged for review
- Viewing Time Countedseconds
- Viewing time in the test viewings, with the real fades left out.
- Informational
- Completed Viewingscount
- Test viewings in the scored run.
- Fewer than planned is flagged for review
- Planned Viewingscount
- Test viewings the run set out to show.
- Informational
Use and evidence
17 papers from 2021 to 2025 name this task in their title or abstract, down 45% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 415 of 495 test families in our census. See the counts for every test.
Show the numbers
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 5 |
| 2024 | 5 |
| 2023 | 3 |
| 2022 | 1 |
| 2021 | 3 |
| 2020 | 2 |
| 2019 | 0 |
| 2018 | 4 |
| 2017 | 15 |
| 2016 | 10 |
| 2015 | 8 |
| 2014 | 18 |
| 2013 | 11 |
| 2012 | 15 |
| 2011 | 21 |
| 2010 | 30 |
| 2009 | 13 |
| 2008 | 14 |
| 2007 | 8 |
| 2006 | 8 |
| 2005 | 5 |
| 2004 | 10 |
| 2003 | 6 |
| 2002 | 4 |
| 2001 | 4 |
| 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
- 4
- Registered clinical studies using it as an outcome
- 0
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 2 November 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
Task design
The trial sequence as the test runs in ConductCognition.
- Display
- On a dark panel: a white fixation dot and three yellow dots of 12 px, 100 px from it at the upper left, upper right and below, each in a small clear zone; behind them a grid of 11 by 11 blue crosses of 22 px, seen through a round window, turning about the fixation dot at 0.37 turns a second, the other way in each viewing.
- Report
- Hold the space bar down while any yellow dot has vanished and let go when all three are back. Every press and release is saved with its time from the viewing's first frame.
- Viewings
- 5 of 60 seconds (standard; 4 to 8 of 30 to 90 seconds), each after a still display for 1,000 ms.
- Real fades
- In each viewing one dot really fades out over 1,500 ms, stays gone for 1,000 to 4,000 ms and fades back over 1,500 ms, at a seeded time at least 10 seconds from either end; the dots take turns. Participants are asked to report every disappearance and are not told that some in the test are real.
- Practice
- 30 seconds with the grid still while each dot fades out once, then a summary of the fades reported; then 30 seconds with the grid turning.
- Fixed displays
- Every viewing, turn and fade is set before the session, and nothing a participant presses changes the display: there is no staircase and no training mode.
- Score
- The share of the viewing time with the space bar held, in percent, with each real fade's window, from its start to 1,000 ms after the dot starts back, left out.
The display follows Bonneh, Cooperman and Sagi's yellow dots over a moving blue pattern, in the turning grid of crosses most studies use, drawn in screen pixels with no calibration. Reports of dots that were on screen are the effect and are never scored as errors; the real fades check that the space bar follows the display.
Quality checks
Each session is marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason, before you see its scores.
Scored rows: motion_induced_blindness_test from the scored run, one per viewing, the space bar held while any yellow dot had vanished. A report says what the participant saw, so it is never right or wrong: accuracy is not judged against chance, a viewing with no press is not a missed response, and pressing while the dots were on screen is the effect, never an error. The check is one dot that really fades out in each viewing: with at least 3 that can be checked, reporting under half of them invalidates and under three quarters is flagged. Fewer than 3 that can be checked, no disappearance reported, the key held for more than 90% of the viewing time, a run short of its planned viewings, or more than 5% of the grid's frames dropped is flagged for review.
Why these rules
There is no correct option to compare with chance, so accuracy is not judged against chance. Motion-induced blindness is the report of a dot that is still on screen, so such reports are the measure, and some people rarely see it (Bonneh, Cooperman and Sagi, 2001), so few or no reports are flagged, not invalid. When a dot really fades out, a participant who follows the task reports it as any other disappearance (Thomas and colleagues, 2017; Soni, Planchet and Sparrow, 2025), so missing most of them means the key did not follow the display. The grid's motion causes the effect, so a display that dropped frames changed what was shown, and a hidden tab withholds the percentile.
No percentile. Scores and quality flags only.
Running this test
Settings you can change
| Setting | Standard | Allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Viewing length (seconds) | 60 | 30 to 90 |
| Viewings | 5 | 4 to 8 |
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 Motion-Induced Blindness Task in a web browser (ConductCognition task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0; Bonneh, Cooperman and Sagi, 2001), with the standard settings (viewing length (seconds): 60; viewings: 5). The main score was time reported gone (share of the viewing time with the space bar held, that is, with one or more dots reported gone, with the real fades left out).
ConductCognition versions: task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0. Every export records the versions each session used, for a methods section.
- Bonneh, Y. S., Cooperman, A., & Sagi, D. (2001). Motion-induced blindness in normal observers. Nature, 411(6839), 798-801. https://doi.org/10.1038/35081073The paradigm: high-contrast yellow targets over a moving blue pattern, reported by holding a button while a target was gone; the dots were gone about 30% of the time, in episodes of up to 10 seconds.
- Bonneh, Y. S., Donner, T. H., Cooperman, A., Heeger, D. J., & Sagi, D. (2014). Motion-induced blindness and Troxler fading: Common and different mechanisms. PLoS ONE, 9(3), e92894. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0092894An 11 by 11 grid of crosses turning at 0.37 turns a second, one-minute trials, and the measures: time invisible, mean invisible and visible periods and the rate of disappearance.
- Thomas, V., Davidson, M., Zakavi, P., Tsuchiya, N., & van Boxtel, J. (2017). Simulated forward and backward self motion, based on realistic parameters, causes motion induced blindness. Scientific Reports, 7(1), 9767. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-09424-6One catch in each one-minute trial: the target faded out over 1.5 seconds, stayed gone 1 to 4 seconds and faded back, and was left out of the measures.
- Kramer, P., Massaccesi, S., Semenzato, L., Cecchetto, S., & Bressan, P. (2013). Motion-induced blindness measured objectively. Behavior Research Methods, 45(1), 267-271. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-012-0246-5A target physically removed as an objective check: removals went unnoticed more often the longer the display had run.
- Bonneh, Y. S., Donner, T. H., Sagi, D., Fried, M., Cooperman, A., Heeger, D. J., & Arieli, A. (2010). Motion-induced blindness and microsaccades: Cause and effect. Journal of Vision, 10(14), 22. https://doi.org/10.1167/10.14.22A replay that erased the target on the observer's own time course: reports followed real disappearances by about 0.4 to 0.5 seconds.
- Soni, V. Y., Planchet, J., & Sparrow, J. E. (2025). A compendium of considerations for methods in motion-induced blindness research. Behavior Research Methods, 57(9), 259. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-025-02789-xHolding a button while a target is gone is the most common report, the turning grid of crosses the most used mask, and catch disappearances a common check.
Source papers
- Bonneh YS, Cooperman A, Sagi D (2001). Motion-induced blindness in normal observers. Nature, 411(6839):798-801.Paradigm source, Adults
- Bonneh YS, Donner TH, Cooperman A, Heeger DJ, Sagi D (2014). Motion-induced blindness and Troxler fading: Common and different mechanisms. PLoS ONE, 9(3):e92894.Paradigm source, Adults
Questions
How long does the Motion-Induced Blindness 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?
Time Reported Gone, Disappearances per Minute, Disappearances, Mean Time Gone, Mean Time Seen, Time to First Disappearance, Viewings Without a Disappearance, Real Fades Reported, Real Fades Checked, Time to Report a Real Fade, Frame Interval, Dropped Frames, Viewing Time Counted, Completed Viewings and Planned Viewings. Each session is also marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason.
How widely is the Motion-Induced Blindness Task used in research?
17 papers from 2021 to 2025 name it in their title or abstract, down 45% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 415 of 495 test families in the ConductCognition test census (use grade E). Source: ConductCognition test census 0.22.0, counted 2 November 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
How much reliability evidence does the Motion-Induced Blindness 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?
Viewing length (seconds) (30 to 90) and viewings (4 to 8). 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.
Run this test in your next study
Start free with 10 free participants on any test, then use participant credits or a yearly plan.