Attention
Representational Momentum Task
Also called: representational momentum paradigm, implied motion task, forward displacement, memory displacement task
Measure how memory for a moving object's last position runs ahead: a bar turns in three views, then people judge whether a probe matches the last one.
7-8 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
- 77
- Evidence grade
- D
- Registered clinical studies
- 0
What it measures
A measure of how memory for a moving object's last position runs ahead along its path. A bar appears in three views, turned a little further each time as if rotating, then once more as a probe. Participants press one key if the probe is in the same position as the last view and another if it differs. The score is the forward shift of the remembered position, in degrees.
Constructs
- Spatial memory for motion
- Mental extrapolation of motion
- Representational momentum
Research uses
- Visual perception and motion research
- Sport expertise research
- Within-study group comparison
How the paradigm works
The Representational Momentum Task measures how memory for where a moving object stopped runs ahead along its path (Freyd and Finke, 1984). A bar appears in three views, each turned 17 degrees further the same way, as if it were rotating, and then once more as a probe. People call the probe the same as the last view more often when it is turned slightly ahead than when it is turned slightly back: the remembered position has moved forward. The shift grows with the implied speed and over the first quarter second after the last view (Freyd and Finke, 1985; Freyd and Johnson, 1987). It has been used to study sport expertise (Jin and colleagues, 2017) and its brain basis (Rao and colleagues, 2004), and it appears in tests run online (Merz, 2022).
More about the paradigm
On each trial a cross shows for 500 ms, then the three views for 250 ms each with 250 ms of blank after the first two, then 250 ms of blank and the probe, which stays until the participant presses F for the same position or J for a different one, with no time limit. The probe is the last view's orientation or turned 2, 4 or 6 degrees ahead or back, each 16 times (standard; 8 to 24), half turning each way, with 8 catch probes turned 25 degrees: 120 trials in a seeded order with a rest halfway, after 6 practice trials with feedback, about 7 to 8 minutes. The last view is at least 20 degrees from upright and from flat, and the bar turns about the center of the screen, so the eyes have no path to follow (Kerzel, 2006). Every display is set before the session: no answer changes a later trial, and there is no training mode. Desktop and laptop only.
The main score is the memory shift: the weighted mean of the seven probe offsets, each weighted by its share of "same" answers, in degrees, positive when the remembered position ran ahead (Hubbard, 2005). The shares at each offset, ahead and behind, and the center and width of a curve fitted to them are also reported. Scores support research and do not diagnose.
Scores
- Memory Shiftdegrees
- The weighted mean of the seven probe offsets, each weighted by its share of "same" answers; positive when the remembered position ran ahead along the turn.
- Positive values mean memory ran ahead, the usual finding
- Same Answers by Offset%
- Share of "same" answers at each probe offset, keyed by its signed degrees, positive ahead.
- Peaks near 0; a peak ahead of 0 shows the shift
- Same Answers Ahead%
- Share of "same" answers on probes turned 2, 4 or 6 degrees ahead of the last view.
- Compare with the probes behind
- Same Answers Behind%
- Share of "same" answers on probes turned 2, 4 or 6 degrees back.
- Lower than ahead when memory runs forward
- Same Answers at the Last View%
- Share of "same" answers when the probe matched the last view.
- Informational
- Fitted Shiftdegrees
- Center of a Gaussian curve fitted to the shares of "same" answers across offsets; null when the curve lies outside the offsets shown.
- Positive values mean memory ran ahead
- Fitted Widthdegrees
- Full width at half maximum of the fitted curve.
- Narrower means finer memory for the bar's position
- Same Answers on Catch Probes%
- Share of "same" answers on the catch probes, turned 25 degrees, when at least 4 were answered.
- Above 0.5 is invalid and above 0.25 is flagged for review
- Same Answerscount
- "Same" answers on the seven test offsets.
- At least 5 are needed for the memory shift
- Median Answer Timems
- Median time from the probe to the answer.
- Informational; the answer has no time limit
- Anticipationscount
- Answers under 100 ms from the probe, which are not scored.
- Lower is better
- Early Key Pressescount
- F or J pressed before the probe appeared, which are not taken as answers.
- Informational
- Frame Intervalms
- Median time between screen frames during the trials.
- About 16.7 on a 60 Hz screen
- Completed Trialstrials
- Trials answered in the scored run.
- Fewer than planned is flagged for review
- Planned Trialstrials
- Trials the run set out to show.
- Informational
Use and evidence
77 papers from 2021 to 2025 name this task in their title or abstract, up 93% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 212 of 395 test families in our census. See the counts for every test.
Show the numbers
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 28 |
| 2024 | 14 |
| 2023 | 15 |
| 2022 | 9 |
| 2021 | 11 |
| 2020 | 4 |
| 2019 | 10 |
| 2018 | 13 |
| 2017 | 6 |
| 2016 | 7 |
| 2015 | 12 |
| 2014 | 12 |
| 2013 | 8 |
| 2012 | 5 |
| 2011 | 12 |
| 2010 | 29 |
| 2009 | 11 |
| 2008 | 11 |
| 2007 | 9 |
| 2006 | 10 |
| 2005 | 13 |
| 2004 | 15 |
| 2003 | 9 |
| 2002 | 20 |
| 2001 | 10 |
| 2000 | 7 |
Use grade D
30 to 99 papers from 2021 to 2025.
Evidence grade D
Little published measurement evidence found.
- Papers on test-retest reliability
- 0
- Papers on reliability or validity
- 6
- 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 0.14.0, 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 cross for 500 ms, then a bar of 224 by 56 px in three views, each for 250 ms with 250 ms of blank after the first two, turned 17 degrees further each time about the panel's center, then 250 ms of blank and the probe.
- Probes
- The last view's orientation, or turned 2, 4 or 6 degrees ahead or back along the turn, the bar turning each way equally often; 8 catch probes turned 25 degrees ahead or back.
- Answer
- Press F if the probe is in the same position as the last view or J if it differs, with no time limit. Keys pressed before the probe are counted and not taken as answers.
- Trials
- 16 at each of the 7 probe offsets (standard; 8 to 24) and 8 catch trials: 120 trials in a seeded order, with a rest halfway.
- Practice
- 6 trials, the probe the same twice and turned 25 degrees four times, with feedback for 1,000 ms.
- Fixed displays
- Every view, probe and display time is set before the session, and no answer changes a later trial: there is no staircase and no training mode.
- Score
- The weighted mean of the probe offsets, each weighted by its share of "same" answers, in degrees; positive when memory ran ahead along the turn. Answers under 100 ms leave the score.
The views follow Freyd and Finke's rotating rectangle, drawn in screen pixels with no calibration; the angles do not depend on the screen. The last view is always at least 20 degrees from upright and from flat.
Quality checks
Each session is marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason, before you see its scores.
Scored rows: representational_momentum_test from the scored run, F for the same position as the last view or J for a different one, with no time limit. Most probes are slightly off the last view by design, so no answer is right or wrong for chance and accuracy is not judged. Answer times run from the probe; responses under 100 ms follow the timed-test rule. More than half the catch probes (25 degrees away, at least 4 answered) called the same invalidates, and more than a quarter is flagged. No memory shift (an offset with fewer than 3 usable answers, or fewer than 5 "same" answers on the test probes) or a run short of its planned trials is flagged for review.
Why these rules
There is no correct option to compare with chance, so accuracy is not judged against chance. An answer under 100 ms from the probe was pressed before the probe could be compared. The catch probes are turned 25 degrees, far beyond the memory shift and halfway between the earlier views, so calling them the same means the answers did not follow the probe; Reed and Vinson (1996) included large displacements for the same check. The display times carry the shift, so a hidden tab withholds the percentile.
No percentile. Scores and quality flags only.
Running this test
Settings you can change
| Setting | Standard | Allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Trials at each probe position | 16 | 8 to 24 |
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 Representational Momentum Task in a web browser (ConductCognition task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0; Freyd and Finke, 1984; Hubbard, 2005), with the standard settings (trials at each probe position: 16). The main score was memory shift (the weighted mean of the seven probe offsets, each weighted by its share of "same" answers; positive when the remembered position ran ahead along the turn).
ConductCognition versions: task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0. Every export records the versions each session used, for a methods section.
- Freyd, J. J., & Finke, R. A. (1984). Representational momentum. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 10(1), 126-132. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.10.1.126The paradigm: a rectangle in three views along a path of rotation, then a probe judged the same as the last view or different.
- Freyd, J. J., & Johnson, J. Q. (1987). Probing the time course of representational momentum. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 13(2), 259-268. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.13.2.259The shift grows over short delays and then falls, so the probe follows 250 ms after the last view.
- Hubbard, T. L. (2005). Representational momentum and related displacements in spatial memory: A review of the findings. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 12(5), 822-851. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196775
- Kerzel, D. (2006). Why eye movements and perceptual factors have to be controlled in studies on "representational momentum". Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 13(1), 166-173. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193829Implied motion judged against a probe gives a forward error without eye movements.
- Jin, H., Wang, P., Fang, Z., Di, X., Ye, Z., Xu, G., Lin, H., Cheng, Y., Li, Y., Xu, Y., & Rao, H. (2017). Effects of badminton expertise on representational momentum: A combination of cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 1526. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01526Three rectangles for 250 ms each with 250 ms between them, probes 3 and 6 degrees either side, and the weighted mean of the shift.
- Reed, C. L., & Vinson, N. G. (1996). Conceptual effects on representational momentum. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 22(4), 839-850. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.22.4.839Large displacements included as controls, which participants who follow the task call different.
Source papers
- Freyd JJ, Finke RA (1984). Representational momentum. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 10(1):126-132.Paradigm source, Adults
- Hubbard TL (2005). Representational momentum and related displacements in spatial memory: A review of the findings. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 12(5):822-851.Paradigm source, Adults
Questions
How long does the Representational Momentum Task take?
About 7 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?
Memory Shift, Same Answers by Offset, Same Answers Ahead, Same Answers Behind, Same Answers at the Last View, Fitted Shift, Fitted Width, Same Answers on Catch Probes, Same Answers, Median Answer Time, Anticipations, Early Key Presses, Frame Interval, Completed Trials and Planned Trials. Each session is also marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason.
How widely is the Representational Momentum Task used in research?
77 papers from 2021 to 2025 name it in their title or abstract, up 93% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 212 of 395 test families in the ConductCognition test census (use grade D). Source: ConductCognition test census 0.14.0, counted 2 November 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
How much reliability evidence does the Representational Momentum 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?
Trials at each probe position (8 to 24). 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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