Language
Transposed Words Task
Also called: transposed-word effect, grammatical decision task, word position coding
Measure sensitivity to word order with brief English sequences. Compare grammar errors and response times for swapped words and matched controls.
4-5 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
- 46
- Evidence grade
- D
- Registered clinical studies
- 0
What it measures
Measure sensitivity to word order in English. Five words appear briefly and are masked. Participants judge whether they form a correct sentence. Compare errors and response times for swapped-word sequences, other ungrammatical sequences and correct sentences.
Constructs
- Word order processing
- Sentence reading
- Grammatical decisions
Research uses
- Psycholinguistic research
- Visual word recognition research
How the paradigm works
The Transposed Words Task measures sensitivity to word order during sentence reading. Five English words appear together briefly, then a mask replaces them. Participants press F if the words form a correct sentence and J if there is a grammar error. Some errors swap two adjacent words from a correct sentence. Matched controls also exchange the final word with another sentence, so reversing the swap does not repair the grammar.
More about the paradigm
The standard run presents 32 correct sentences, 16 transposed sequences and 16 controls after four practice trials. A seeded two-list design rotates each critical pair across the two error conditions. Each base appears once per session. A 500 ms fixation precedes the 300 ms word display. The response window lasts 2500 ms from word onset, retaining the first response while preserving the full display and mask. Display time can be set from 200 to 800 ms before the session.
Scores
- Transposition Error Effect%
- Error rate for transposed sequences minus matched control sequences, with at least three usable judgments per type.
- Positive values mean swapped-word sequences were harder to reject
- Transposition Time Effectms
- Median correct response time for transposed minus control sequences, with at least three correct judgments per type.
- Positive values mean slower rejection of transposed sequences
- Error Rates by Sequence Type%
- Incorrect judgments divided by usable answered trials, for grammatical, transposed and control sequences.
- Omissions and anticipations are reported separately
- Correct Response Times by Typems
- Median correct time from word-display onset for each type.
- Compare sequence types within the same display setting
- Accuracy%
- Correct responses at 100 to 2500 ms divided by all trials with on-time displays, including omissions.
- Read with the error and timing contrasts
- Correct Response Timems
- Median correct response time across on-time displays.
- Time from word onset, including responses after the mask
- Early Responsescount
- Responses below 100 ms.
- Excluded from condition scores
- Missing Responsescount
- Trials without an F or J response.
- No response within 2500 ms
- Keys before the Wordscount
- F or J presses during fixation.
- Ignored as answers
- Displays on Time%
- Share of word displays within one measured frame of plan, with a frame interval at most 50 ms.
- Fewer than 90% is flagged for review
- Sequences Presentedcount
- Test rows in the selected run.
- Includes omissions
- Sequences Plannedcount
- Test sequences planned before the session.
- Compare with presented sequences
Use and evidence
46 papers from 2021 to 2025 name this task in their title or abstract, up 254% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 372 of 582 test families in our census. See the counts for every test.
Show the numbers
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 19 |
| 2024 | 8 |
| 2023 | 4 |
| 2022 | 9 |
| 2021 | 6 |
| 2020 | 4 |
| 2019 | 5 |
| 2018 | 1 |
| 2017 | 2 |
| 2016 | 1 |
| 2015 | 1 |
| 2014 | 1 |
| 2013 | 0 |
| 2012 | 0 |
| 2011 | 1 |
| 2010 | 1 |
| 2009 | 1 |
| 2008 | 1 |
| 2007 | 0 |
| 2006 | 0 |
| 2005 | 0 |
| 2004 | 0 |
| 2003 | 0 |
| 2002 | 0 |
| 2001 | 0 |
| 2000 | 0 |
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
- 3
- 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 0.39.0, counted 8 November 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
Task design
The trial sequence as the test runs in ConductCognition.
- Sequences
- 64 test trials by default: 32 grammatical, 16 transposed and 16 ungrammatical controls. Critical pairs exchange the final word for controls, then swap words 3 and 4 in both conditions. No base repeats within a session.
- Presentation
- 500 ms fixation, five words shown together for 300 ms, then a mask. F means correct English; J means grammar error. The first answer within 2500 ms of word onset counts. The display and mask finish even after an answer.
- Settings
- 16 to 32 ungrammatical sequences, rounded down to a multiple of four, plus an equal number of grammatical sentences. Word display ranges from 200 to 800 ms and stays fixed during a session. Two seeded lists rotate the critical pairs across error conditions.
- Practice
- Four separate sequences with feedback, followed by the test trials without feedback.
- Scores
- Transposition error effect is transposed minus control error rate. Transposition time effect is median correct transposed minus control response time. Error rates and correct times are also reported for grammatical sequences.
- Timing
- Response times start when the words appear. Word exposure and frame interval are measured. Displays outside one frame of plan, frame intervals above 50 ms, and answers below 100 ms leave condition scores. Each condition needs three usable responses; fewer than 90% of displays on time is flagged.
- Interpretation
- Compare conditions across groups. Participants need to read English, and small individual differences are not an ability rank. Percentiles are off.
Adapted from Mirault, Snell and Grainger with original English items and brief masked displays. Their French sentences stayed visible until the response; this version shows the words for 300 ms by default. The response window, shorter run and quality limits are ConductScience choices.
Quality checks
Each session is marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason, before you see its scores.
Scores sequences from the run with the most trials, ties going to the latest run. Chance is 1 in 2. Contrasts need three usable responses per condition. Short runs, missing contrasts and fewer than 90% of displays on time are flagged. A session run in another language is flagged. Omissions and responses under 100 ms follow the timed-test rule.
Why these rules
The transposed-word contrast compares matched error sequences. Displays more than one frame from plan leave condition scores, as do responses under 100 ms. Correct responses determine the response-time contrast. The fixed display and three-response minimum are ConductScience quality rules. The word lists are English. A session run in another language shows English words to a participant who may not read English fluently, so it is flagged for review.
No percentile. Scores and quality flags only.
Running this test
Settings you can change
| Setting | Standard | Allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Ungrammatical sequences | 32 | 16 to 32 |
| Word display (ms) | 300 | 200 to 800 |
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
- Instructions and screens: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (Simplified) and Japanese. Words and sentences: English.
- 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 Transposed Words Task in a web browser (ConductCognition task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0; Mirault, Snell and Grainger, 2018), with the standard settings (ungrammatical sequences: 32; word display (ms): 300). The main score was transposition error effect (error rate for transposed sequences minus matched control sequences, with at least three usable judgments per type).
ConductCognition versions: task version 1.0.0, scoring version 1.0.0. Every export records the versions each session used, for a methods section.
- Mirault, J., Snell, J., & Grainger, J. (2018). You That Read Wrong Again! A Transposed-Word Effect in Grammaticality Judgments. Psychological Science, 29(12), 1922-1929. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797618806296Compare grammatical decisions for adjacent transpositions and matched ungrammatical controls.
Source papers
Questions
How long does the Transposed Words Task take?
About 4 to 5 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?
Transposition Error Effect, Transposition Time Effect, Error Rates by Sequence Type, Correct Response Times by Type, Accuracy, Correct Response Time, Early Responses, Missing Responses, Keys before the Words, Displays on Time, Sequences Presented and Sequences Planned. Each session is also marked valid, needs review or invalid, with the reason.
How widely is the Transposed Words Task used in research?
46 papers from 2021 to 2025 name it in their title or abstract, up 254% compared with 2016 to 2020. That ranks it 372 of 582 test families in the ConductCognition test census (use grade D). Source: ConductCognition test census 0.39.0, counted 8 November 2026 from OpenAlex and ClinicalTrials.gov.
How much reliability evidence does the Transposed Words 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?
Ungrammatical sequences (16 to 32) and word display (ms) (200 to 800). Settings can be changed on yearly plans; free and pay-as-you-go studies use the standard settings.
Which languages can participants use?
The instructions and screens are in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Chinese (Simplified) and Japanese. The words and sentences stay in English, so sessions in other languages are flagged for review. 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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