Task Switchin Test: Colour or Shape?

A blue or orange circle or square, and a cue that says COLOUR or SHAPE. Answer whit the cue asks, as fast as ye can, while it keeps changin. Aboot 4 meenits, free, nae sign-up.

Bi the Helibrain teamChecked bi Robert(Inglis), PhD candidate in biophysicsPit oot Last checked

Hoo tae read yer result

Yer switchin score is the nummer o richt answers per meenit o answerin time in the mixed roond, whaur the cue changes wi nae warnin. Faster answers raise it and mistaks lowe it, sae it rewards speed and accuracy thegither. We shaw ye yer switch cost an aa: hoo muckle slower ye were richt efter the cue changed. That cost is real in amaist ilkaebody, but it jumps aboot frae ae run tae the neist [1][4].

  • Switchin score: richt answers per meenit in the mixed roond (a "rate correct score", a wey o combining speed and accuracy in ae nummer [5]).
  • Richt in the mixed roond: the share o shapes in the mixed roond ye answered richt within 3 seconds.
  • Switch cost: yer average time on trials whaur the task changed, minus trials whaur it stayed the same (richt answers efter a richt answer alane).
  • Single-task score: richt answers per meenit in the roonds wi juist ae task. The gap atween this and yer switchin score shows hoo muckle mixin the tasks costs ye.

Quick facts

  • Whit it measures: task switchin, cried shiftin an aa: movin yer attention atween twa sets o rules. It is ane o the three core executive functions in a classic study o 137 students, alangside updatin workin memory and haudin back responses [3].
  • Ilkaebody pays a switch cost: fowk are slower and mak mair mistaks richt efter a switch, even whan they ken a switch is comin and hae time tae prepare [1][2].
  • Difference scores are noisy: scores made frae the difference atween twa conditions, like the switch cost, are muckle less reliable frae day tae day than plain speed and accuracy [4]. That's why the switchin score, no the switch cost, is the main nummer here.

Hoo the gemme warks

  1. Ilka button stands for ae colour and ae shape: left = blue and circle, richt = orange and square (keys F and J, or the arrow keys).
  2. A cue appears first, COLOUR or SHAPE, and 0.6 seconds later the shape. Answer the feature the cue names. Ye hae 3 seconds for ilk shape.
  3. Three roonds: colour alane, shape alane, then mixed, 72 shapes aw thegither, 48 o thaim in the mixed roond, whaur aboot 50% o shapes switch task. Short practice roonds wi feedback come first; ye can skip thaim.

Answers faster than 150 ms count as wrang (ower fast tae hae seen the shape). A wrang answer shows a short reid flash. The gemme is timed, sae leavin the page ends the run.

Whit affects yer score

  • The device. Tappin a phone screen and pressin keys tak different times; compare runs on the same device and input.
  • Practice. Fowk get faster ower the first few runs as the button mappin becomes automatic. Compare wi yer ain runs ance yer score settles.
  • Tiredness, sleep and distraction slow ilkaebody doon.
  • Strategy. Rushing raises speed but costs mistaks; the switchin score counts baith.

Whit this gemme can and cannae tell ye

The gemme shows hoo quickly and accurately ye switched atween twa simple rules the day, compared wi yer ain ither runs. It isnae a diagnosis o onythin, says naethin aboot attention disorders, and disnae measure "multitaskin" in ilka-day life, whaur switchin atween real tasks depends on muckle mair than this. The switch cost in pairt is ower noisy for ae run tae say muckle aboot ye [4].

Aften speired questions

Whit is a task switchin test?

In a task switchin test, fowk dae twa simple tasks, here judgin colour or judgin shape, and a cue tells thaim whit yin tae dae. Researchers compare trials whaur the task changes wi trials whaur it repeats; the extra time on changes is the switch cost [1][2]. The Helibrain task switchin test is a short version o this classic colour–shape design.

Whit is a guid switchin score?

The Helibrain task switchin test reports richt answers per meenit in the mixed roond. There are nae published norms for this exact version, sae the best comparison is yer ain score on the same device ower several runs. Faster and mair accurate answers baith raise it.

Why am I slower richt efter the cue changes?

Switchin tae the ither rule taks a moment o reconfigurin, and pairt o that cost stays even whan ye ken a switch is comin and hae time tae prepare [1][2]. Amaist ilkaebody shows it.

Is this a multitaskin test?

No really. True multitaskin means daein twa things at ance; this gemme measures switchin back and forrit atween twa rules. It is the lab task researchers uise tae study that switchin [2].

Is the Helibrain task switchin test free?

Aye. The gemme and yer hale result are free: nae sign-up, nae email, nae payment. Helibrain maks siller frae its app, that has a free plan and paid plans; ye dinnae need the app for this gemme.

Related tests

See aw 43 free brain tests

Want tae wark on this ilka day? The Helibrain app (in Inglis for noo) has a free plan an paid plans.

Cite this page: Task Switchin Test: Colour or Shape?. Helibrain. 2026. https://helibrain.com/sco/task-switching-test. CC BY 4.0.

Common questions

How this test works

This game measures how smoothly you switch between two simple rules. A blue or orange circle or square appears under a cue. If the cue says COLOR, answer its colour; if it says SHAPE, answer its shape. Each of two buttons stands for one colour and one shape. You play a colour round, a shape round and then a mixed round where the cue keeps changing. Your main score is correct answers per minute in the mixed round. Task switching has been studied since the 1920s.

Version 1 · Cite this test:

Helibrain (2026). Task switching test, v1. https://helibrain.com/task-switching-test/methods

Full method →

Sources

  1. Rogers RD, Monsell S (1995). Costs of a predictable switch between simple cognitive tasks. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 124(2):207–231. doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.124.2.207
  2. Monsell S (2003). Task switching. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 7(3):134–140. doi.org/10.1016/S1364-6613(03)00028-7
  3. Miyake A, Friedman NP, Emerson MJ, Witzki AH, Howerter A, Wager TD (2000). The unity and diversity of executive functions and their contributions to complex "frontal lobe" tasks: a latent variable analysis. Cognitive Psychology 41(1):49–100. doi.org/10.1006/cogp.1999.0734
  4. Hedge C, Powell G, Sumner P (2018). The reliability paradox: why robust cognitive tasks do not produce reliable individual differences. Behavior Research Methods 50(3):1166–1186. doi.org/10.3758/s13428-017-0935-1
  5. Woltz DJ, Was CA (2006). Availability of related long-term memory during and after attention focus in working memory. Memory & Cognition 34(3):668–684. doi.org/10.3758/BF03193587

How we made this page: scrieved bi the Helibrain team fae the studies listed abuin, an checked bi Robert(Inglis) (PhD candidate in biophysics) on 11/4/2026. We update it when the soorces chynges.