Processing Speed
Time Estimation Task
Also called: time reproduction task, interval production task, duration reproduction, temporal reproduction task
Measure the sense of time as participants copy intervals of 1 to 8 seconds and hold a key for a named number of seconds, without feedback.
6-8 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
- 152
- Evidence grade
- C
- Registered clinical studies
- 17
What it measures
Measures the sense of time over 1 to 8 seconds. Participants copy how long a circle stayed on the screen and hold a key for a named number of seconds. The main score is the mean error as a percent of the interval.
Constructs
- Time perception
- Interval timing
- Duration reproduction
- Duration production
Research uses
- Time perception research
- ADHD research
- Aging research
- Within-study group comparison
How the paradigm works
The time estimation task measures the sense of time over intervals of 1 to 8 seconds, with two classic methods (Grondin, 2010). In reproduction, a circle fills in for an interval and then empties, and the participant holds down the space bar for as long as the circle was filled in, then lets go. In production, the participant sees a number of seconds and holds the space bar for that long. Holding the key down for the whole interval gave the least variable reproductions of the three methods that Mioni and colleagues (2014) compared. Participants are asked not to count, which Rattat and Droit-Volet (2012) found to be the simplest effective way to prevent counting, and are never told how close they were.
More about the paradigm
The standard settings run reproduction and then production, each after a short practice, with 16 trials per part: 1, 2, 4 and 8 seconds four times each, in runs that hold every interval once, in an order drawn from the session's seed. A study can run one part only and 2 to 6 trials per interval. Each trial starts with an empty circle for 1 second; in reproduction the cue to hold comes 0.5 seconds after the circle empties. A hold under 100 ms, no press within 10 seconds of the cue, a hold stopped at 30 seconds and a trial during which the page lost focus are left out of the scores.
The main score is the mean error as a percent of the interval. The ratio of the hold to the interval shows over- and underestimation: in reproduction, short intervals tend to be overestimated and long ones underestimated (Vierordt's law; Lejeune and Wearden, 2009). The coefficient of variation shows precision, which the scalar property predicts to be about the same at every interval (Wearden and Lejeune, 2008). Duration reproduction is among the timing functions most consistently impaired in ADHD (Noreika, Falter and Rubia, 2013). Scores support research and do not diagnose.
Scores
- Timing Error%
- Mean over counted trials of the distance between the hold and the interval, as a percent of the interval, both parts together.
- Lower is more accurate
- Reproduction Error%
- The timing error over reproduction trials.
- Lower is more accurate
- Production Error%
- The timing error over production trials.
- Lower is more accurate
- Reproduction Ratioscore
- Mean of the hold divided by the interval, over reproduction trials.
- Above 1 means holds longer than the interval; below 1, shorter
- Production Ratioscore
- Mean of the hold divided by the named number of seconds, over production trials.
- Above 1 means holds longer than the time named; below 1, shorter
- Reproduction Variabilityscore
- For each interval with two or more counted reproductions, their SD divided by their mean, averaged over the intervals.
- Lower means more consistent holds
- Production Variabilityscore
- For each interval with two or more counted productions, their SD divided by their mean, averaged over the intervals.
- Lower means more consistent holds
- Counted Trialscount
- Test trials with a hold of at least 100 ms, let go before 30 seconds, with no focus loss.
- Informational
- Tapscount
- Holds let go before 100 ms, left out of the scores.
- More than max(2, 20%) of trials makes the session invalid
- Missed Trialscount
- Trials with no press within 10 seconds of the cue.
- More than max(3, 25%) of trials makes the session invalid
- Holds Stopped at 30 Secondscount
- Holds that reached 30 seconds and were stopped, left out of the scores.
- Above 0 is flagged for review
- Trials with Focus Losscount
- Trials during which the page lost focus, left out of the scores.
- Above 0 is flagged for review
- Test Trialscount
- Test trials in the scored run.
- Informational
Use and evidence
152 papers from 2021 to 2025 name this task in their title or abstract, up 6% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 149 of 395 test families in our census. See the counts for every test.
Show the numbers
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 41 |
| 2024 | 22 |
| 2023 | 30 |
| 2022 | 31 |
| 2021 | 28 |
| 2020 | 30 |
| 2019 | 34 |
| 2018 | 36 |
| 2017 | 19 |
| 2016 | 25 |
| 2015 | 29 |
| 2014 | 39 |
| 2013 | 28 |
| 2012 | 32 |
| 2011 | 34 |
| 2010 | 18 |
| 2009 | 16 |
| 2008 | 24 |
| 2007 | 16 |
| 2006 | 13 |
| 2005 | 16 |
| 2004 | 13 |
| 2003 | 11 |
| 2002 | 7 |
| 2001 | 7 |
| 2000 | 9 |
Use grade C
100 to 299 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
- 5
- Papers on reliability or validity
- 34
- Registered clinical studies using it as an outcome
- 17
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 31 October 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
Task design
The trial sequence as the test runs in ConductCognition.
- Reproduction
- An empty circle for 1,000 ms, the circle filled in for the interval, the empty circle for 500 ms, then a cue: hold the space bar for as long as the circle was filled in, and let go.
- Production
- After 1,000 ms, a number of seconds: hold the space bar for that long, and let go.
- Intervals
- 1, 2, 4 and 8 seconds, 4 times each per part (standard, 2 to 6), in runs that hold every interval once, in an order drawn from the session's seed.
- Parts
- Reproduction, then production (standard), or one of them alone.
- Practice
- Reproduction of 3 and 1.5 seconds and production of 3 seconds, before their parts. Practice says only whether a hold was recorded.
- Rules
- Participants are asked not to count and are never told how close they were. A hold under 100 ms, no press within 10 seconds of the cue, a hold stopped at 30 seconds and a trial during which the page lost focus are left out of the scores.
- Data
- Per trial: the interval, the hold, the time from the cue to the press, the circle's measured time on screen and presses before the cue.
Results depend on the intervals, the method and the instructions, so compare them within studies that use the same settings. The space bar is timed on the page, so the test runs on a desktop or laptop with a physical keyboard. 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: time_estimation_trial from the scored run, one per test trial. A hold has no correct answer, so accuracy is not judged against chance. A trial with no press within 10 seconds is a missed response: more than max(3, 25%) such trials invalidate and any is flagged. Holds let go before 100 ms (taps): more than max(2, 20%) invalidate and any is flagged. A hold stopped at 30 seconds, or a trial during which the page lost focus, is flagged.
Why these rules
There is no correct option to compare with chance, so accuracy is not judged against chance. Missed trials keep the platform's timed-test rule. A hold under 100 ms is a tap, not an estimate of 1 to 8 seconds, so taps follow the platform's anticipation rule. No interval is longer than 8 seconds, so a hold that reaches 30 seconds means a stuck key or a participant away from the task. The press and the release are timed on the page, so a hidden tab or another window can lose the release; a percentile is withheld after one.
Running this test
Settings you can change
| Setting | Standard | Allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Parts | Reproduction, then production (standard) | Reproduction, then production (standard), Reproduction only, Production only |
| Trials per interval | 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
- 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.
- Recruiting online? See the setup guides for Prolific, Sona Systems, CloudResearch Connect and Qualtrics.
Cite and describe
Participants completed the Time Estimation Task in a web browser (ConductCognition task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0; Vierordt, 1868; Grondin, 2010), with the standard settings (parts: Reproduction, then production; trials per interval: 4). The main score was timing error (mean over counted trials of the distance between the hold and the interval, as a percent of the interval, both parts together).
ConductCognition versions: task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0. Every export records the versions each session used, for a methods section.
- Grondin, S. (2010). Timing and time perception: A review of recent behavioral and neuroscience findings and theoretical directions. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 72(3), 561-582. https://doi.org/10.3758/APP.72.3.561
- Mioni, G., Stablum, F., McClintock, S. M., & Grondin, S. (2014). Different methods for reproducing time, different results. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 76(3), 675-681. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-014-0625-3Holding the key gives the least variable reproductions.
- Rattat, A.-C., & Droit-Volet, S. (2012). What is the best and easiest method of preventing counting in different temporal tasks? Behavior Research Methods, 44(1), 67-80. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-011-0135-3Asking participants not to count.
- Lejeune, H., & Wearden, J. H. (2009). Vierordt's The Experimental Study of the Time Sense (1868) and its legacy. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 21(6), 941-960. https://doi.org/10.1080/09541440802453006Short intervals overestimated and long ones underestimated.
- Wearden, J. H., & Lejeune, H. (2008). Scalar properties in human timing: Conformity and violations. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 61(4), 569-587. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470210701282576Variability that grows with the interval.
- Noreika, V., Falter, C. M., & Rubia, K. (2013). Timing deficits in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): Evidence from neurocognitive and neuroimaging studies. Neuropsychologia, 51(2), 235-266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.09.036Timing in ADHD.
Source papers
- Grondin (2010): the reproduction and production methods. Mioni, Stablum, McClintock and Grondin (2014): holding the key gives the least variable reproductions. Rattat and Droit-Volet (2012): asking participants not to count.Paradigm source, Adults
Questions
How long does the Time Estimation Task take?
About 6 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?
Timing Error, Reproduction Error, Production Error, Reproduction Ratio, Production Ratio, Reproduction Variability, Production Variability, Counted Trials, Taps, Missed Trials, Holds Stopped at 30 Seconds, Trials with Focus Loss and Test Trials. Each session is also marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason.
How widely is the Time Estimation Task used in research?
152 papers from 2021 to 2025 name it in their title or abstract, up 6% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 149 of 395 test families in the ConductCognition test census (use grade C). Source: ConductCognition test census 0.14.0, counted 31 October 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
How much reliability evidence does the Time Estimation Task have?
In the published research, 5 papers report its test-retest reliability and 17 registered clinical studies use it as an outcome (evidence grade C in the ConductCognition test census).
Which settings can a researcher change?
Parts (Reproduction, then production (standard), Reproduction only, Production only) and trials per interval (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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