Attention & Inhibition

Flanker Task

Assess your ability to suppress distracting stimuli in the Eriksen Flanker task.

Estimated duration: 4–6 minutes

About This Experiment

The Eriksen Flanker Task measures selective attention and response inhibition by surrounding a central target with distracting 'flanker' stimuli. You must respond to the direction of the central arrow while ignoring flanking arrows that may point in the same (congruent) or opposite (incongruent) direction. The difference in performance between congruent and incongruent conditions reveals how effectively your brain filters out irrelevant information.

How It Works

  1. A row of arrows or symbols appears on screen (e.g., > > > > > or > > < > >).
  2. Your task is to identify the direction of the center arrow only.
  3. Flanker arrows may be congruent (same direction) or incongruent (opposite direction).
  4. You respond as quickly and accurately as possible via key press.

Key Metrics

Flanker Effect

Difference in reaction time between incongruent and congruent trials

Accuracy

Percentage of correct responses across conditions

Conflict Adaptation

How performance changes after incongruent trials

Error Rate

Proportion of incorrect responses, especially on incongruent trials

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