Attention control tests: flanker, Stroop, and switching

Some attention tests are not a dull square. Something next to the target tries to steal the click. An arrow row. A colour word in the wrong ink. A rule that changes after you have got used to the old one. The work is following the instruction you were given, not the habit that feels faster.

People call these flanker, Stroop, or task-switch. The names do not matter. The pull does.

What they are actually measuring

• Flanker: a row of arrows. Count to the numbered one. The neighbours jump first on purpose.
• Stroop: a colour word in a coloured box. Click the colour, the word, or the box, as the rule says. They will disagree.
• Task-switch: the rule starts simple, then a second rule is added. Drop the last instruction. Take the new one without lag.

Rushing is the usual miss. So is answering the last rule because it is still in your hands. Both look like speed. Both are wrong.

How to practise them

Read the rule twice. Then go. Do not invent a system that only works when the ink and the word agree. The useful trials are the ones that fight each other.

• On flanker, count. Do not click the arrow that moved in your peripheral vision.
• On Stroop, say the rule in your head before each click: colour, word, or box.
• On a switch, the first item after the change is the real test. Slow down for that one.

These are not the same as vigilance. You will not sit still for twenty minutes. You will sit still for one trial, then the next, without letting the last answer leak. That is trainable. It is also easy to walk into cold.