Spatial Cognition
Route Directions Task
Also called: left-right orientation task, left-right discrimination on a map, map route turns task, egocentric left-right judgment
Measure left-right orientation on a map: participants follow a route on a street map seen from above and say at each turn whether a walker turns left or right, walking up, across or down the map.
4-6 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
- 5
- Evidence grade
- C
- Registered clinical studies
- 3
What it measures
Measures left-right orientation on a map. A route is drawn on a street map seen from above, and at each turn the participant says whether a walker on the route turns left or right. Walking down the map, the walker's left is on the screen's right, so those turns need the view turned around in the mind.
Constructs
- Left-right orientation
- Egocentric perspective transformation
- Spatial orientation
- Mental rotation
Research uses
- Left-right orientation in development and aging research
- Spatial orientation research after brain injury
- Navigation and map use research
- Within-study group comparison
Scores
- Correct Turnscount
- Turns answered with the walker's own left or right; 32 in the standard session.
- Higher is better
- Accuracy%
- Share of the test turns answered correctly.
- Higher is better
- Accuracy, Walking Up%
- Accuracy on turns made walking up the map, where the walker's left is the screen's left.
- Higher is better
- Accuracy, Walking Sideways%
- Accuracy on turns made walking across the map, a quarter turn from the screen's view.
- Higher is better
- Accuracy, Walking Down%
- Accuracy on turns made walking down the map, where the walker's left is the screen's right.
- Higher is better
- Rotation Cost in Accuracy%
- Accuracy walking up the map minus accuracy walking down.
- Informational; positive when the reversed view costs accuracy
- Median Correct Timems
- Median time from a turn being marked to a right answer. Answers under 100 ms are left out.
- Informational
- Median Correct Time, Walking Upms
- The same for turns made walking up the map.
- Informational
- Median Correct Time, Walking Sidewaysms
- The same for turns made walking across the map.
- Informational
- Median Correct Time, Walking Downms
- The same for turns made walking down the map.
- Informational
- Rotation Cost in Timems
- Median correct time walking down the map minus walking up; empty with fewer than 3 such times on either side.
- Informational; positive when the reversed view takes longer
- Turns Answeredcount
- Test turns answered.
- Informational
- Answers Under 100 mscount
- Answers given less than 100 ms after a turn was marked.
- Lower is better
- Practice Accuracy%
- Share of the 4 practice turns answered correctly.
- Informational
Use and evidence
5 papers from 2021 to 2025 name this task in their title or abstract. That ranks it 474 of 495 test families in our census. See the counts for every test.
Show the numbers
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 0 |
| 2024 | 1 |
| 2023 | 1 |
| 2022 | 2 |
| 2021 | 1 |
| 2020 | 0 |
| 2019 | 1 |
| 2018 | 1 |
| 2017 | 3 |
| 2016 | 1 |
| 2015 | 1 |
| 2014 | 1 |
| 2013 | 1 |
| 2012 | 1 |
| 2011 | 0 |
| 2010 | 0 |
| 2009 | 0 |
| 2008 | 0 |
| 2007 | 0 |
| 2006 | 0 |
| 2005 | 0 |
| 2004 | 0 |
| 2003 | 1 |
| 2002 | 0 |
| 2001 | 2 |
| 2000 | 0 |
Use grade E
Fewer than 30 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
- 2
- Papers on reliability or validity
- 2
- Registered clinical studies using it as an outcome
- 3
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.
- Map
- A town of 9 by 9 crossings seen from above, drawn by code, with the top of the screen as north. The map stays still, and participants are asked not to turn the screen or their head.
- Routes
- 4 (standard; 2 to 6), each on a new map with 8 turns. Over the session, a quarter of the turns are made walking up the map, half walking sideways and a quarter walking down, half to each side, with no more than 3 the same way in a row. Straight runs of 1 to 3 blocks, and no crossing passed twice. Generated for each session from a seed saved with the data.
- Each route
- Shown whole first, with its start and end; then its turns are marked one at a time with a ring, the route walked so far drawn solid and the rest dashed.
- Answer
- Left or Right as the walker would turn, with a button or the arrow keys. No time limit; the chosen button stays marked for 300 ms before the next turn.
- Practice
- One route of 4 turns, made walking up, sideways, down and sideways, each followed by 2,000 ms of feedback with the turn still marked.
- Main score
- Correct turns, 32 in the standard session. Accuracy and median correct time are also reported for turns made walking up, sideways and down, with the cost of the reversed view.
The maps, routes and scoring are this task's own; the paper test of Money and colleagues (1965) is cited for the method, and its norms do not apply. Turning the screen to line the map up with the route would remove the rotation that the turns walking down the map measure, so the task runs on computers and tablets with the screen kept still. The scores support research and do not diagnose.
Quality checks
Each session is marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason, before you see its scores.
Scored rows: route_directions_turn test rows from the scored run, each a turn answered Left or Right (chance 50%, half of each). Below chance invalidates and not above chance is flagged. One answer on 90% of turns invalidates when accuracy is not above chance. Answers under 200 ms on at least half of the turns invalidate.
Why these rules
Answering by the side of the screen instead of the walker's side gets the turns made walking up the map right and those walking down wrong, about half in all, so that pattern is flagged as not above chance and is not invalid. 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. One option on at least 90% of answered trials, when the correct options are balanced and accuracy is not above chance, means the answers did not depend on the items (the task counterpart of long-string responding in surveys; Curran 2016). An answer under 200 ms is faster than a simple visual reaction, so it cannot reflect the item. Following response-time effort screening for untimed tests (Wise and Kong 2005), the session is invalid only when at least half the answers are that fast.
Running this test
Settings you can change
| Setting | Standard | Allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Routes of 8 turns | 4 | 2 to 6 |
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 and tablets. Participant devices
- Languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (Simplified) and Japanese.
- Available on: Every plan, including the free plan.
- Recruiting online? See the setup guides for Prolific, Sona Systems, CloudResearch Connect and Qualtrics.
Cite and describe
Participants completed the Route Directions Task in a web browser (ConductCognition task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0; Money, Alexander and Walker, 1965; Shepard and Hurwitz, 1984; Vingerhoets, Lannoo and Bauwens, 1996), with the standard settings (routes of 8 turns: 4). The main score was correct turns (turns answered with the walker's own left or right; 32 in the standard session).
ConductCognition versions: task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0. Every export records the versions each session used, for a methods section.
- Money, J., Alexander, D., & Walker, H. T. (1965). A standardized road-map test of direction sense. Johns Hopkins Press. The method: left or right at each turn of a route on a map that is not turned.
- Shepard, R. N., & Hurwitz, S. (1984). Upward direction, mental rotation, and discrimination of left and right turns in maps. Cognition, 18(1-3), 161-193. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(84)90024-6Left and right turns judged on maps, in relation to the map's upward direction.
- Vingerhoets, G., Lannoo, E., & Bauwens, S. (1996). Analysis of the Money Road-Map Test performance in normal and brain-damaged subjects. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 11(1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1093/arclin/11.1.1Turns divided by the mental rotation they need; accuracy and speed fell as it grew.
- Uchiyama, H., Mitsuishi, K., & Ohno, H. (2009). Random Walker Test: A computerized alternative to the Road-Map Test. Behavior Research Methods, 41(4), 1242-1253. https://doi.org/10.3758/BRM.41.4.1242A computer version with views turned in steps of 90 degrees; left-right decisions were slowest and least accurate with the view turned 180 degrees.
- Morganti, F. (2018). Enacting space in virtual reality: A comparison between Money's Road Map Test and its virtual version. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 2410. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02410The paper test's 32 turns: 8 that need no rotation, 16 a quarter turn and 8 more than a quarter turn.
Source papers
- Vingerhoets G, Lannoo E, Bauwens S (1996). Analysis of the Money Road-Map Test performance in normal and brain-damaged subjects. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 11(1):1-9.Paradigm source, Adults
- Uchiyama H, Mitsuishi K, Ohno H (2009). Random Walker Test: a computerized alternative to the Road-Map Test. Behavior Research Methods, 41(4):1242-1253.Paradigm source, Young adults
- ConductCognition platform normsParadigm source, N/A
Questions
How long does the Route Directions Task take?
About 4 to 6 minutes, as listed in the test library.
What device does a participant need?
Untimed test: runs on desktops, laptops and tablets. The browser must be Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari.
What scores does it produce?
Correct Turns, Accuracy, Accuracy, Walking Up, Accuracy, Walking Sideways, Accuracy, Walking Down, Rotation Cost in Accuracy, Median Correct Time, Median Correct Time, Walking Up, Median Correct Time, Walking Sideways, Median Correct Time, Walking Down, Rotation Cost in Time, Turns Answered, Answers Under 100 ms and Practice Accuracy. Each session is also marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason.
How widely is the Route Directions Task used in research?
5 papers from 2021 to 2025 name it in their title or abstract. That ranks it 474 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 Route Directions Task have?
In the published research, 2 papers report its test-retest reliability and 3 registered clinical studies use it as an outcome (evidence grade C in the ConductCognition test census).
Which settings can a researcher change?
Routes of 8 turns (2 to 6). 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.
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