Follow the middle arrow while ignoring its neighbours. See how distractions affect your responses.
48 trials
1 min
Free, no sign-up
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About this test
The flanker task shows a row of arrows and asks for the direction of the middle one. When the outer arrows point the other way most people slow down; the difference in response time is the flanker effect, a measure of how well you filter out surrounding information. This page reports both conditions and the gap. For reference, in one published online flanker study (Crump and colleagues, 2013) adults answered in 612 ms on average when the surrounding letters matched the middle one and 682 ms when they conflicted, a flanker effect of 70 ms. That study used letters, not arrows, so compare the size of the gap rather than the raw times.
What this test reports
congruent accuracy
incongruent accuracy
congruent median
incongruent median
flanker effect
How the task works
Five arrows appear; only the middle one counts.
Press the left or right arrow key, or tap Left or Right.
Half the time the outer arrows point the other way.
Forty-eight trials; each waits up to three seconds, and the run takes about a minute.
Below 80% correct in either condition the flanker effect is not printed: it is a difference between two medians taken over correct trials only.
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For context
The flanker effect in a published online study
Published research figures for adults, not targets and not a ranking. Each study used its own equipment and method, so set your own figure beside your earlier runs first.
From Crump, McDonnell and Gureckis (2013): 52 online participants named a middle letter flanked by matching or conflicting letters, using two keys.
Condition
Mean time
Errors
Neighbours match the middle
612 ms
1.6%
Neighbours conflict
682 ms
3.3%
Difference (the flanker effect)
70 ms
1.7 points
In a three-week test and retest study (Hedge and colleagues, 2018), each condition's time was more consistent than the gap between them, so read a single flanker figure as a rough one and compare several runs.
Results show accuracy, response time and the flanker effect for each condition. The effect appears only when accuracy is at least 80% in both conditions.
A small next step
Try a second run focusing your gaze on the centre before each trial appears and compare the flanker effect.
Questions people ask
What is the flanker task measuring?
How well you can hold attention on one thing while something very similar sits right beside it pointing the other way. The extra time the clashing rows cost you is the part that matters, not how fast you are overall.
Is a phone a fair device for this one?
Yes, and it is the fairest of these tasks on a phone, because the flanker effect is a difference between two conditions measured seconds apart on the same screen, so whatever your device adds it adds to both sides.
What should I do with the figure, and why was mine not printed?
Run it a second time with your gaze settled on the centre before each row appears, and compare the two effects: your own two runs are the comparison this page can stand behind. If no figure appeared, accuracy fell under 80% in one condition, where a difference between two medians over correct trials would be noise.
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