Flanker· Intermediate

Goal

Identify the CENTER arrow's direction! Ignore the flanking arrows and focus on the middle.

Rules

  • Five arrows appear in a row — judge only the center arrow's direction.
  • Flanking arrows may point the same way (congruent), opposite (incongruent), or be dashes (neutral).
  • If you don't respond within the time limit, it counts as incorrect.

Keep your eyes fixed on the center. Consciously ignoring the surrounding arrows is the key skill.

The Eriksen Flanker task (1974) is a classic paradigm for measuring selective attention and interference suppression. It is included in the NIH Toolbox and widely used for assessing frontal executive function.

  • Eriksen & Eriksen (1974) - Visual processing in response competition
  • Zelazo et al. (2013) - NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery