Sustained and focused attention
Continuous performance task
Targets appear among non-targets and have to be responded to quickly while the distractors are ignored. Built on the Go/No-Go and Continuous Performance paradigms.
Open the task →Cognitive assessment
Measure your attention, component by component
Attention is at least six different abilities, and a single score tells you almost nothing. Start with a free two-minute task, then separate the components with a validated assessment.
2 minFree 2-min test
6attention components
3.1M+assessments in the norms
Cognitive profile
Report structureAttention
Focused · divided · inhibition · shifting · updating
Memory
Short-term · working · visual · contextual · recognition
Reasoning
Planning · estimation · processing speed
Perception
Visual · auditory · spatial · visual scanning
Coordination
Hand-eye coordination · response time
Illustration of the report structure. Bar lengths are decorative and do not represent anyone's results.
What is measured
Nobody has bad attention. They have a weak component
"I can't concentrate" can mean six different things, and each has a different consequence and a different remedy. Someone who loses focus after fifteen minutes needs something quite different from someone who cannot stop reacting to interruptions. The assessment tells you which of the two you are.
-
Focused attention
Locking on to one stimulus and staying with it, from a single line of text to a single voice in a noisy room.
-
Sustained attention
Holding that focus over time. Most people can concentrate for a minute; the interesting question is what happens at minute twenty.
-
Divided attention
Running two demands at once, such as following directions while driving or listening while taking notes.
-
Inhibition
Stopping the automatic response. Not sending the reply you drafted while annoyed is inhibition doing its job.
-
Shifting
Moving between tasks without leaving half your attention behind on the previous one.
-
Updating
Monitoring your own performance as you go and correcting course before the error compounds.
Free test
Put your abilities to the test, free, in two minutes
You do not have to commit to a full assessment to find out where you stand. This short task measures processing speed and visual attention with a symbol-digit paradigm, and gives you a result straight away.
Two minutes, no cost. The full assessment battery is there afterwards if you want the complete profile.
How it works
Three steps, one sitting
1
Complete the tasks
Short interactive tasks, each derived from a published attention paradigm. Difficulty adapts to your performance so the demand stays where it measures something.
2
Read your profile
Results are converted against a normative sample matched for your age and reported on a 0 to 800 scale, component by component rather than as one number.
3
Train the weak link
The profile drives a training programme that prioritises your weaker components and adjusts as they improve.
The tasks
The attention tasks, and the paradigms behind them
Every task in the battery is built on a published paradigm rather than invented for the platform. Open any of them and see it running before you decide to be assessed.
Inhibition, processing speed
Stroop interference
You respond only when the colour name matches the ink it is printed in, and hold back when it does not. The 1935 Stroop paradigm.
Open the task →Inhibition, processing speed
Number and size congruency
Pick the larger circle regardless of the number inside it, then the higher number regardless of the circle size. A numerical variant of Stroop interference.
Open the task →Divided attention, shifting
Dual-task tracking
Track a moving ball with the cursor while completing a Stroop variant at the same time. Two demands running in parallel.
Open the task →Visual scanning, focused attention
Visual exploration
Locate target stimuli among irrelevant ones as quickly as possible. The paradigm behind cancellation tests such as the d2.
Open the task →Updating, shifting
Predictable tracking
Follow a ball along a fixed path as precisely as possible. Accuracy comes from the distance between the cursor and the centre of the target.
Open the task →Shifting, hand-eye coordination
Unpredictable tracking
The same tracking demand with an undetermined trajectory, so the response has to be continuously re-planned. Inspired by the Trail Making Test.
Open the task →Response time, motor output
Speed tapping
Click as rapidly as possible inside a defined area for ten seconds. Based on the fingertip tapping task from the NEPSY battery.
Open the task →Reading the output
The four numbers a performance test produces
Every continuous performance test reports roughly the same set, and each one points at something different. Knowing which is which is the difference between a result and a number.
Targets you missed
Omissions
Read as inattention: the target was there and no response came. Lapses cluster late in the task, when sustained attention fades.
Responses to non-targets
Commissions
Read as impulsivity: the response fired before the stimulus was fully evaluated. High commissions with low omissions is a different profile from the reverse.
Average speed of correct responses
Reaction time
Useful, but the least discriminating of the four on its own. A fast average can hide an inconsistent pattern.
How much that speed wobbles
Reaction time variability
Often the most informative figure. Inconsistency across a long, dull task is much harder to mask than average speed.
Reference
Attention instruments, and their digital equivalent
If you arrived looking for a specific instrument, this is where it sits. Fourteen of the scales and tests used in clinical, educational and research practice, split by type, with the CogniFit task that measures the same ability.
| Instrument | Full name | Type | What it measures | Ages | Comparable CogniFit task |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conners CPT 3 | Continuous Performance Test, third edition | Performance test | Sustained attention, impulsivity, vigilance | 8+ | Resolution Test REST-SPER |
| T.O.V.A. | Test of Variables of Attention | Performance test | Sustained attention, response time variability | 4–80 | Resolution Test REST-SPER |
| d2-R | d2 Test of Attention | Performance test | Selective and sustained attention under time pressure | 9–60 | Exploration Test SCAVI-REST |
| Stroop | Stroop Colour and Word Test | Performance test | Inhibition and interference control | 5–89 | Equivalencies Test INH-REST |
| TMT A and B | Trail Making Test | Performance test | Visual scanning, processing speed, set shifting | 8–89 | Coordination Test HECOOR |
| PASAT | Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test | Performance test | Divided attention and working memory under pace | 16+ | Simultaneity Test DIAT-SHIF |
| Go / No-Go | Go / No-Go paradigm | Performance test | Response inhibition and commission errors | 6–89 | Processing Test REST-INH |
| Cancellation | Cancellation and vigilance tasks | Performance test | Target detection and lapses of attention | 6–89 | Exploration Test SCAVI-REST |
| ASRS v1.1 | Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale | Rating scale | Adult self-report screening across 18 items | 18+ | Resolution Test REST-SPER |
| Conners 4 | Conners rating scales, fourth edition | Rating scale | Parent, teacher and self ratings | 6–18 | Resolution Test REST-SPER |
| Vanderbilt | NICHQ Vanderbilt Assessment Scale | Rating scale | Parent and teacher ratings, free to use | 6–12 | Resolution Test REST-SPER |
| SNAP-IV | Swanson, Nolan and Pelham rating scale | Rating scale | Symptom ratings mapped to diagnostic criteria | 6–18 | Resolution Test REST-SPER |
| BRIEF-2 | Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function | Rating scale | Everyday executive and attentional behaviour | 5–18 | Synchronization Test UPDA-SHIF |
| TEA / TEA-Ch | Test of Everyday Attention | Performance test | Selective, sustained and divided attention | 6–80 | Simultaneity Test DIAT-SHIF |
Rating scales and performance tests measure different things. A rating scale captures behaviour across weeks, as seen by someone who knows the person. A performance test captures behaviour in a quiet room for twenty minutes. Neither replaces the other, and a disagreement between them usually means the difficulty is situational. Any instrument on this page is one strand of evidence, never a diagnosis.
Training
Attention exercises you can try right now
8 of the exercises that make up the concentration training programme. Standardised tests measure; these practise. Each one adapts its difficulty to your performance, which is what keeps the demand meaningful.
Credibility
Why these numbers mean something
A score is only as good as the group it is compared against and the reliability of the task that produced it.
3,188,798
Completed assessments in the normative database, which is what allows a result to be read against age-matched peers rather than in the abstract.
Class II SaMD
The professional battery, CAB PRO, is an FDA-registered device for use by qualified health professionals. Registration number 3017544020.
Published paradigms
Tasks derive from Stroop, the Continuous Performance Test, the Test of Variables of Attention, Trail Making and the Vienna Test System, among others.
What this is and is not. CogniFit assessments measure performance on cognitive tasks and support the understanding of cognitive wellbeing. They do not provide a medical diagnosis, and a score is not a clinical finding. In a clinical setting, results interpreted by a qualified professional can help decide whether further neuropsychological evaluation is warranted. Training programmes are designed to encourage general cognitive health and are not a treatment for any condition. If you or your child are struggling with concentration in a way that affects daily life, speak to a health professional.
Questions
Before you start
How can I measure my attention online?
Complete a standardised cognitive assessment that includes attention tasks and reports each component against a normative sample matched for your age. CogniFit measures focused and divided attention, inhibition, shifting and updating alongside memory, reasoning, perception and coordination. There is also a free two-minute task if you want a first indication before committing.
Is there a free attention test?
Yes. The free two-minute task on this page uses a symbol-digit paradigm to measure processing speed and visual attention, and returns a result immediately. It is a starting point; the full battery separates the six attention components and takes 30 to 40 minutes.
What is the difference between a rating scale and a performance test?
A rating scale asks a person, a parent or a teacher how attention usually looks across weeks of ordinary life. A performance test measures what someone actually does during a controlled task on the day. They answer different questions and often disagree, which is informative rather than a fault in either one.
Which attention test is used in ADHD assessment?
There is no single test. Assessment normally combines standardised rating scales from more than one informant, a clinical interview, developmental history and sometimes a performance test. No instrument on its own confirms or rules out a diagnosis, and CogniFit assessments are not diagnostic tools.
What does reaction time variability mean?
It is how much your response speed fluctuates across a long task. High variability, rather than a slow average, is one of the more consistent findings in the attention literature, because staying consistent through a dull task is harder to fake than being fast once.
Why do parent and teacher reports disagree?
Because attention is context-dependent. Each informant sees a different set of demands, so a discrepancy usually points to a situational difficulty rather than measurement noise. That pattern is useful information in itself.
Can attention be trained?
Practice reliably improves performance on the trained task and on closely related tasks. Transfer to unrelated abilities or to everyday function is weaker and still debated in the research literature, so CogniFit presents its programmes as cognitive stimulation rather than as treatment.
Who can be assessed?
The general battery is designed for children from seven years old through to older adults. Children under 16 use CogniFit through a family or professional account.
Find out which part of your attention is the weak link
Two minutes free to get started, or one full session for six attention components compared against your own age group and tracked from then on.