Executive Function
Mouse-Tracking Choice Task
Also called: mouse-tracking paradigm, mouse cursor tracking, computer mouse tracking, response dynamics, atypical exemplar categorization, mouse trajectory task
Measure how strongly a competing answer pulls during a choice: participants move the mouse from Start to an animal's group in a top corner, and the path bends toward the other group for atypical animals.
5-7 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
- 131
- Evidence grade
- D
- Registered clinical studies
- 0
What it measures
Measures how strongly a competing answer pulls during a choice. Participants click Start, see an animal picture and move the mouse to its group in a top corner. The main score is how much more the path bends toward the other group for atypical animals, such as a whale between Mammal and Fish.
Constructs
- Response competition
- Categorization dynamics
- Decision conflict
Research uses
- Categorization and decision research
- Response conflict research
- Within-study group comparison
How the paradigm works
The Mouse-Tracking Choice Task measures how strongly a competing answer pulls while a choice is made, from the path the mouse takes on its way to the answer (Spivey, Grosjean and Knoblich, 2005; Dale, Kehoe and Spivey, 2007). Two animal groups, such as Mammal and Fish, sit in the top corners of the screen. The participant clicks Start at the bottom middle, a picture of an animal appears just above it, and the participant moves the mouse to the group the animal belongs to and clicks it. Atypical animals have the body or the way of moving of the other group shown: a whale, a dolphin or a seal between Mammal and Fish, a bat between Mammal and Bird, a penguin between Bird and Fish. Typical animals are shown beside a group they do not resemble. On the way to the right group, paths bend further toward the other group for atypical animals (Dale and colleagues, 2007; Kieslich and Henninger, 2017).
More about the paradigm
Each trial shows the two group names for 1,500 ms with Start inactive, then Start can be clicked. The picture appears on the next screen frame, and every pointer position is saved with its time until the answer click, up to 15 seconds. A round shows each of 16 Noto Emoji pictures twice, once with the right group in each corner: 5 atypical and 11 typical animals, with every group name the right answer for some pictures and the other answer for others. The standard 2 rounds make 64 trials in a seeded order with no picture twice in a row, after 4 practice pictures with feedback, about 5 to 7 minutes. Movement that starts more than 500 ms after the picture brings a reminder to start sooner. The pictures, corners and order are set before the session, and no answer changes a later trial. Desktop and laptop only, with a mouse or trackpad.
The main score is the difference in area under the curve between atypical and typical animals: the area between each path and the straight line from where it started to the answer click, in the units of the coordinate space of Freeman and Ambady (2010), in which the screen is 2 units wide and the top corners are 1.5 units above the start. Above 0 means the other group pulled the path more for atypical animals. The maximum absolute deviation, the changes of horizontal direction (x-flips), answer times, the time movement started and accuracy are also reported, from right answers. Paths depend on the mouse or trackpad, its speed setting and the screen, so compare groups tested on similar equipment. Scores support research and do not diagnose.
Scores
- Pull Toward the Other Group, Areascore
- Mean area between the path and the straight line to the answer for atypical animals minus typical ones, in square units of a space 2 units wide; right answers at or after 100 ms, at least 4 of each kind.
- Above 0 means atypical animals pulled the path more toward the other group; not better or worse
- Pull Toward the Other Group, Deviationscore
- Mean maximum absolute deviation from the straight line for atypical animals minus typical ones, in units of a space 2 units wide.
- Above 0 means atypical animals pulled the path more toward the other group; not better or worse
- Area, Atypical Animalsscore
- Mean area under the curve of right answers to atypical animals, in square units; area toward the other group counts positive.
- Informational
- Area, Typical Animalsscore
- Mean area under the curve of right answers to typical animals, in square units.
- Informational
- Maximum Deviation, Atypical Animalsscore
- Mean of each path's largest distance from the straight line, positive toward the other group, for right answers to atypical animals, in units.
- Informational
- Maximum Deviation, Typical Animalsscore
- The same for right answers to typical animals.
- Informational
- Direction Changes, Atypical Animalscount
- Mean changes of horizontal direction per path, for right answers to atypical animals.
- Informational
- Direction Changes, Typical Animalscount
- Mean changes of horizontal direction per path, for right answers to typical animals.
- Informational
- Answer Time, Atypical Animalsms
- Median time from the picture's onset to a right answer click, for atypical animals.
- Informational
- Answer Time, Typical Animalsms
- Median time from the picture's onset to a right answer click, for typical animals.
- Informational
- Answer Time Differencems
- Median answer time for atypical animals minus typical ones.
- Above 0 means atypical animals took longer
- Movement Startms
- Median time from the picture's onset to the first pointer movement of 2 px or more, for right answers.
- Informational; above 500 ms brings a reminder
- Accuracy, Atypical Animals%
- Share of answered atypical animals sorted into the right group.
- Higher is more accurate
- Accuracy, Typical Animals%
- Share of answered typical animals sorted into the right group.
- Higher is more accurate
- Accuracy%
- Share of answered pictures sorted into the right group.
- Higher is more accurate
- Late Starts%
- Share of answered pictures whose movement started more than 500 ms after the picture.
- At or above 0.5 is flagged for review
- Anticipationscount
- Answers under 100 ms from the picture's onset, which are not scored.
- Lower is better
- Unanswered Picturescount
- Pictures with no answer within 15 seconds.
- Lower is better
- Restarted Picturescount
- Pictures shown again because the pointer left the window, the tab was hidden or the window changed size before the answer.
- Lower supports interpretation
- Completed Trialstrials
- Pictures answered in the scored run.
- Fewer than planned is informational
- Planned Trialstrials
- Pictures the run set out to show.
- Informational
Use and evidence
131 papers from 2021 to 2025 name this task in their title or abstract, up 39% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 184 of 495 test families in our census. See the counts for every test.
Show the numbers
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 35 |
| 2024 | 27 |
| 2023 | 23 |
| 2022 | 20 |
| 2021 | 26 |
| 2020 | 17 |
| 2019 | 28 |
| 2018 | 20 |
| 2017 | 15 |
| 2016 | 14 |
| 2015 | 6 |
| 2014 | 9 |
| 2013 | 8 |
| 2012 | 1 |
| 2011 | 5 |
| 2010 | 3 |
| 2009 | 1 |
| 2008 | 2 |
| 2007 | 2 |
| 2006 | 2 |
| 2005 | 0 |
| 2004 | 0 |
| 2003 | 0 |
| 2002 | 0 |
| 2001 | 0 |
| 2000 | 0 |
Use grade C
100 to 299 papers from 2021 to 2025.
Evidence grade D
Little published measurement evidence found.
- Papers on test-retest reliability
- 1
- Papers on reliability or validity
- 24
- Registered clinical studies using it as an outcome
- 0
Note on the counts: a method applied to many tasks.
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.
- Display
- Two animal groups in boxes in the top corners of a stage 2 units wide and 1.64 high (a unit is half its width; at most 1,100 px wide), Start at the bottom middle, and the picture just above Start once it is clicked. The system pointer stays visible.
- Trial
- The group names alone for 1,500 ms with Start inactive; a click on Start; the picture on the next screen frame; then a move to a corner and a click, within 15 seconds.
- Pictures
- 16 Noto Emoji animals: 5 atypical, each shown with the group it resembles (whale, dolphin and seal with Mammal and Fish, bat with Mammal and Bird, penguin with Bird and Fish), and 11 typical, each shown with a group it does not resemble. Every group name is the right answer for some pictures and the other answer for others.
- Trials
- Each round shows every picture twice, with the right group once in each corner: 32 trials, 10 of them atypical. 2 rounds (standard; 1 to 3) make 64 trials, in a seeded order with no picture twice in a row and a rest between rounds.
- Practice
- 4 other animals with feedback for 900 ms.
- Path
- Every pointer position from the picture's onset to the answer click, at most one per 10 ms, with its time. Movement starts at the first position 2 px from where Start was clicked.
- Late starts
- Movement that starts more than 500 ms after the picture brings a reminder after the answer. Nothing else changes: the pictures, corners and order are fixed before the session.
- Score
- Area under the curve for atypical minus typical animals, from right answers at or after 100 ms, in square units; the maximum absolute deviation, x-flips, answer times, the movement start and accuracy are also reported.
The paths come from the participant's own mouse or trackpad at its own speed setting, and browsers report a trackpad as a mouse, so path sizes can differ between computers: compare groups tested on similar equipment. The test needs a mouse or trackpad on a desktop or laptop.
Quality checks
Each session is marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason, before you see its scores.
Scored rows: the scored run's test trials. Each picture has one right class, shown in a top corner balanced between left and right, so accuracy is judged against chance (one half) and one corner on nearly every trial is flagged. A picture not answered within its time limit is a missed response under the platform's timed-test rule. Movement that starts late on at least half the trials, or too few right answers of either kind to compare, is flagged.
Why these rules
Accuracy significantly below chance (one-sided exact test, p < .05) cannot come from guessing; it means the response mapping was reversed or the task was not followed (Slick, Sherman and Iverson 1999 treat below-chance forced-choice performance as definite response bias). Chance-level accuracy can be a real result in impaired participants, so it is only flagged. Missed responses and responses under 100 ms keep the platform's timed-test rule: more than max(3, 25%) missed responses or more than max(2, 20%) responses under 100 ms invalidate, and any is flagged. A response under 100 ms cannot be a reaction to the stimulus. The path shows a choice in progress only when movement starts with the picture; a path that starts after the choice is made bends less, so late starts on at least half the trials are flagged for review, as MouseTracker's initiation screening warns participants (Freeman and Ambady 2010).
No percentile. Scores and quality flags only.
Running this test
Settings you can change
| Setting | Standard | Allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Rounds | 2 | 1 to 3 |
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 Mouse-Tracking Choice Task in a web browser (ConductCognition task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0; Spivey, Grosjean and Knoblich, 2005; Dale, Kehoe and Spivey, 2007), with the standard settings (rounds: 2). The main score was pull toward the other Group, area (mean area between the path and the straight line to the answer for atypical animals minus typical ones, in square units of a space 2 units wide; right answers at or after 100 ms, at least 4 of each kind).
ConductCognition versions: task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0. Every export records the versions each session used, for a methods section.
- Dale, R., Kehoe, C., & Spivey, M. J. (2007). Graded motor responses in the time course of categorizing atypical exemplars. Memory & Cognition, 35(1), 15-28. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03195938The task: animal names and pictures clicked into one of two classes in the top corners; atypical animals bent the path toward the competing class, more with pictures than with words.
- Freeman, J. B., & Ambady, N. (2010). MouseTracker: Software for studying real-time mental processing using a computer mouse-tracking method. Behavior Research Methods, 42(1), 226-241. https://doi.org/10.3758/BRM.42.1.226The coordinate space, with the start at (0, 0) and the top corners at x = -1 and 1, y = 1.5, and the maximum deviation, area under the curve and x-flips.
- Kieslich, P. J., & Henninger, F. (2017). Mousetrap: An integrated, open-source mouse-tracking package. Behavior Research Methods, 49(5), 1652-1667. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-017-0900-zA replication of Dale and colleagues' first experiment with 60 participants: maximum absolute deviation 343.8 px for atypical and 172.2 px for typical animals.
- Grage, T., Schoemann, M., Kieslich, P. J., & Scherbaum, S. (2019). Lost to translation: How design factors of the mouse-tracking procedure impact the inference from action to cognition. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 81(7), 2538-2557. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-019-01889-zClicking to answer and a fast cursor gave larger effects than hovering and a slow cursor.
- Schoemann, M., O'Hora, D., Dale, R., & Scherbaum, S. (2021). Using mouse cursor tracking to investigate online cognition: Preserving methodological ingenuity while moving toward reproducible science. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 28(3), 766-787. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-020-01851-3A review of mouse-tracking designs: answer boxes in the top corners and a click to answer were the most common choices.
Source papers
- Dale R, Kehoe C, Spivey MJ (2007). Graded motor responses in the time course of categorizing atypical exemplars. Memory & Cognition, 35(1):15-28.Paradigm source, Adults
- Kieslich PJ, Henninger F (2017). Mousetrap: An integrated, open-source mouse-tracking package. Behavior Research Methods, 49(5):1652-1667.N 60, Students, mean age 22
Questions
How long does the Mouse-Tracking Choice Task take?
About 5 to 7 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?
Pull Toward the Other Group, Area, Pull Toward the Other Group, Deviation, Area, Atypical Animals, Area, Typical Animals, Maximum Deviation, Atypical Animals, Maximum Deviation, Typical Animals, Direction Changes, Atypical Animals, Direction Changes, Typical Animals, Answer Time, Atypical Animals, Answer Time, Typical Animals, Answer Time Difference, Movement Start, Accuracy, Atypical Animals, Accuracy, Typical Animals, Accuracy, Late Starts, Anticipations, Unanswered Pictures, Restarted Pictures, Completed Trials and Planned Trials. Each session is also marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason.
How widely is the Mouse-Tracking Choice Task used in research?
131 papers from 2021 to 2025 name it in their title or abstract, up 39% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 184 of 495 test families in the ConductCognition test census (use grade C). Source: ConductCognition test census 0.22.0, counted 3 November 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
How much reliability evidence does the Mouse-Tracking Choice Task have?
In the published research, 1 paper reports 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?
Rounds (1 to 3). 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.
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