Processing Speed
Spontaneous Tempo Task
Also called: spontaneous motor tempo, SMT task, spontaneous tapping, preferred tapping tempo, preferred tapping rate, personal tempo, self-paced tapping
Measure the pace at which people tap when nothing sets it: participants tap the space bar at their most natural pace for 30 seconds, before and after a short part of tapping with tones.
4-6 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
- 62
- Evidence grade
- D
- Registered clinical studies
- 0
What it measures
Measures the pace at which people tap when nothing sets it, their spontaneous motor tempo. Participants tap the space bar at the pace that feels most natural for 30 seconds, before and after a short part in which they tap with tones. The main score is the median time between taps, averaged over the two runs.
Constructs
- Spontaneous motor tempo
- Preferred tempo
- Motor timing
Research uses
- Timing and rhythm research
- Developmental and aging research
- Music and movement research
How the paradigm works
Spontaneous motor tempo is the pace at which a person taps when nothing sets it, the pace that feels neither too fast nor too slow (Fraisse, 1982). McAuley and colleagues (2006) measured it in 305 people aged 4 to 95 as the median interval of 30 taps at the most comfortable, natural rate, taken four times in a session and averaged; it slowed with age in childhood and late adulthood and stayed about the same in between. Hammerschmidt, Frieler and Wöllner (2021) measured it online.
More about the paradigm
Set a comfortable volume and take the 6-trial headphone check (Woods, Siegel, Traer and McDermott, 2017). A failed check stops the task by default; researchers can continue with a quality flag. The task plays only tones made by the browser, and it needs headphones and normal hearing.
The participant taps the space bar, or the key drawn on the screen, at the pace that feels most comfortable and natural, as evenly as they can, for 30 seconds from the first tap (45 or 60 seconds as a setting). Nothing on the screen changes while they tap. A 10-second practice first, which says only how many taps were counted.
Between two such runs comes a paced part: 30 tones of 1 kHz at the tempo of the participant's first run, kept between 300 and 1,500 ms, or 600 ms when that run has fewer than 10 intervals, and the participant taps with each tone. The tempo is measured before and after tapping with a beat, as McAuley and colleagues measured it around their paced tasks; the first run comes before any beat.
Each tap is timed by its key or pointer event, in ms from the run's first tap. Intervals under 50 ms are finger bounces and are left out (McAuley and colleagues, 2006). A run's tempo is the median of its intervals, and the run counts with at least 10 intervals and no focus loss. The primary score averages the run tempos. Variability is the coefficient of variation of the intervals between 50% and 150% of the run's median, which leaves missed and extra taps out. Each run's tempo and variability and the change from the first run to the second accompany them.
Scores
- Spontaneous tempoms
- Median interval between taps in each run at the participant's own pace, averaged over the runs that count.
- Descriptive; no better direction
- Tempo variabilityscore
- Standard deviation of the intervals between 50% and 150% of a run's median, divided by their mean, averaged over the runs that count.
- Lower is steadier tapping; above 0.1 is flagged
- Tempo before the tonesms
- Median interval between taps in the first run, before the paced part.
- Descriptive; no better direction
- Tempo after the tonesms
- Median interval between taps in the second run, after the paced part.
- Descriptive; no better direction
- Variability before the tonesscore
- The tempo variability of the first run.
- Lower is steadier tapping
- Variability after the tonesscore
- The tempo variability of the second run.
- Lower is steadier tapping
- Tempo change%
- The second run's tempo minus the first run's, as a percent of the first; both runs must count.
- Under 0 means faster tapping after the tones
- Interval of the tonesms
- Interval between the tones of the paced part: the first run's tempo kept between 300 and 1,500 ms, or 600 ms when that run had fewer than 10 intervals.
- Informational
- Runs scoredcount
- Runs with at least 10 intervals between taps and no focus loss.
- Under the runs completed is flagged; 0 makes the session invalid
- Runscount
- Runs at the participant's own pace in the scored run.
- Informational
- Bouncescount
- Intervals between taps under 50 ms, left out as finger bounces.
- Informational
- Intervals out of rangecount
- Intervals outside 50% to 150% of their run's median, from missed or extra taps, left out of the variability.
- Informational
- Held key repeatscount
- Key repeats from holding the space bar down, never counted as taps.
- 10 or more is flagged for review
- Runs with focus losscount
- Runs during which the page lost focus, left out of the scores.
- Above 0 is flagged for review
- Headphone check passedflag
- 1 when the headphone check before the test passed, 0 when it did not and the study's setting ran the test anyway.
- 0 is flagged for review
Use and evidence
62 papers from 2021 to 2025 name this task in their title or abstract, up 210% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 391 of 670 test families in our census. See the counts for every test.
Show the numbers
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 11 |
| 2024 | 8 |
| 2023 | 15 |
| 2022 | 16 |
| 2021 | 12 |
| 2020 | 6 |
| 2019 | 4 |
| 2018 | 5 |
| 2017 | 2 |
| 2016 | 3 |
| 2015 | 3 |
| 2014 | 5 |
| 2013 | 3 |
| 2012 | 3 |
| 2011 | 2 |
| 2010 | 2 |
| 2009 | 1 |
| 2008 | 2 |
| 2007 | 1 |
| 2006 | 2 |
| 2005 | 2 |
| 2004 | 2 |
| 2003 | 1 |
| 2002 | 1 |
| 2001 | 0 |
| 2000 | 1 |
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
Measured on ConductCognition
Pooled across the studies that feed our platform norms, by device group. A figure needs 50 or more people.
No pooled figure yet.
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 0.48.0, counted 12 November 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
Task design
The trial sequence as the test runs in ConductCognition.
- Before the test
- A volume step on a steady 1 kHz tone, then the headphone check of Woods and colleagues (2017): 6 rounds of three 200 Hz tones, passed with at least 5 right. A failed check ends the test unless the study chooses to continue.
- Runs
- Two runs of tapping the space bar, or the key drawn on the screen, at the pace that feels most comfortable and natural, for 30 seconds from the first tap (standard; 45 or 60 seconds). The screen does not change while the participant taps. A run with no tap in 30 seconds ends.
- Paced part
- Between the runs, 30 tones of 1 kHz, 50 ms each, at the tempo of the participant's first run, kept between 300 and 1,500 ms, or 600 ms when that run has fewer than 10 intervals. The participant taps with each tone.
- Practice
- One 10-second run at the participant's own pace, which says only how many taps were counted.
- Timing
- Each tap is timed by its key or pointer event, in ms from the run's first tap. The paced part's tones play from one buffer on the audio clock.
- Scores
- Intervals under 50 ms are finger bounces and are left out. A run's tempo is the median of its intervals, and the run counts with at least 10 intervals and no focus loss. The main score averages the run tempos. Variability is the coefficient of variation of the intervals between 50% and 150% of the run's median. Each run's tempo and variability and the change from the first run to the second come with them.
The test plays tones in its paced part and needs headphones and normal hearing. A preferred tempo has no better or worse value, and this task has no published norm, so the scores describe tapping within this task, with no percentile. Keyboard delays differ between computers, but a delay that stays the same leaves the intervals between taps unchanged. 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: spontaneous_tempo_run from the scored run, the two runs of tapping at one's own pace. Tapping has no correct answer, so accuracy is not judged against chance. A run with no tap in 30 seconds is a missed response and is flagged. A run counts with at least 10 intervals between taps and no focus loss: no run that counts makes the session invalid, and a run left out is flagged. Intervals that vary more than 0.1 (coefficient of variation), 10 or more key repeats from holding the key down and a failed headphone check under the continue setting are flagged. A session the headphone check stopped has no results.
Why these rules
There is no correct option to compare with chance, so accuracy is not judged against chance. A tempo needs steady tapping: a median of fewer than 10 intervals is unstable, and Hammerschmidt, Frieler and Wöllner (2021) had a run repeated when its coefficient of variation passed 0.1. Taps are timed on the page, so a hidden tab or another window can lose taps, and a run during which the page lost focus is left out; a percentile is withheld after one. A key held down repeats instead of tapping. Woods, Siegel, Traer and McDermott (2017) let only listeners who passed the headphone check go on, because a listener on loudspeakers hears the sounds differently; a session that ran after a failed check keeps its scores but not its percentile.
No percentile. Scores and quality flags only.
Running this test
Settings you can change
| Setting | Standard | Allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Run length | 30 seconds (standard) | 30 seconds (standard), 45 seconds, 60 seconds |
| When the headphone check fails | Stop the test | Stop the test, Continue the test |
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. Needs headphones. 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 Spontaneous Tempo Task in a web browser (ConductCognition task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0; Fraisse, 1982; McAuley and colleagues, 2006), with the standard settings (run length: 30 seconds; when the headphone check fails: Stop the test). The main score was spontaneous tempo (median interval between taps in each run at the participant's own pace, averaged over the runs that count).
ConductCognition versions: task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0. Every export records the versions each session used, for a methods section.
- Fraisse, P. (1982). Rhythm and tempo. In D. Deutsch (Ed.), The psychology of music (pp. 149-180). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-213562-0.50010-3Spontaneous tempo: the pace people take up when nothing sets it.
- McAuley, J. D., Jones, M. R., Holub, S., Johnston, H. M., & Miller, N. S. (2006). The time of our lives: Life span development of timing and event tracking. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 135(3), 348-367. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.135.3.348Tapping at the most comfortable, natural rate, the median interval, finger bounces under 50 ms, and tempo measured around paced tapping.
- Hammerschmidt, D., Frieler, K., & Wöllner, C. (2021). Spontaneous motor tempo: Investigating psychological, chronobiological, and demographic factors in a large-scale online tapping experiment. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 677201. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.677201Spontaneous tempo measured online, and a run repeated when its variability passed 0.1.
- Desbernats, A., Martin, E., & Tallet, J. (2023). Which factors modulate spontaneous motor tempo? A systematic review of the literature. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1161052. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1161052The median, the instructions in full, and a measurement before any rhythmic task.
- Woods, K. J. P., Siegel, M. H., Traer, J., & McDermott, J. H. (2017). Headphone screening to facilitate web-based auditory experiments. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 79(7), 2064-2072. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-017-1361-2The shared headphone check.
Source papers
- McAuley, J. D., Jones, M. R., Holub, S., Johnston, H. M., & Miller, N. S. (2006). The time of our lives: Life span development of timing and event tracking. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 135(3), 348-367.Paradigm source, Adults
Questions
How long does the Spontaneous Tempo Task take?
About 4 to 6 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. Needs headphones. The browser must be Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari.
What scores does it produce?
Spontaneous tempo, Tempo variability, Tempo before the tones, Tempo after the tones, Variability before the tones, Variability after the tones, Tempo change, Interval of the tones, Runs scored, Runs, Bounces, Intervals out of range, Held key repeats, Runs with focus loss and Headphone check passed. Each session is also marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason.
How widely is the Spontaneous Tempo Task used in research?
62 papers from 2021 to 2025 name it in their title or abstract, up 210% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 391 of 670 test families in the ConductCognition test census (use grade D). Source: ConductCognition test census 0.48.0, counted 12 November 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
How much reliability evidence does the Spontaneous Tempo 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?
Run length (30 seconds (standard), 45 seconds, 60 seconds) and when the headphone check fails (Stop the test, Continue the test). 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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