Task switching
A banner tells you how to sort each card. Follow the current rule and notice when it changes.
Example
Example
An example to explore. No score or practice round is recorded.
One rule for all 40 cards. The rule is drawn at the start and named on the banner.
Press 1, 2 or 3, or use the three buttons. The left, down and right arrow keys do the same.
Play the fixed block first. Its median is your baseline.
- Cards done
- 0 / 40
- Active time
- 0:00
Sort the card by the rule on the banner
Press 1, 2 or 3, or use the three buttons. The left, down and right arrow keys do the same.
- Right
- 0
- Median after a change
- 0
- Median on the other cards
- 0
- Switch cost
- 0
- Median on the block
- 0
Round details
Explore the method
Say the rule before the card, and say the new one again the moment the banner changes.
On by default unless you turn it off. Saved choices are kept. Shares starts, completions, replays and error categories. For ChatGPT visits, starts and completions may include the first QuickenBrain page and country. No answers, drawings or names.
How this data is usedHelp
A card shows one shape, in one color, in one count. The banner above it names the rule in force: color, shape or how many. You press the key for the value the rule asks for.
No card answers the same way under two rules. The color, the shape and the count always point to three different keys, so the banner is the only thing that says which key is right.
Each shape carries the first letter of its color, so the card reads without color.
The fixed block holds one rule for all 40 cards. The switching block changes the rule every four to eight cards, without warning.
The switch cost is the median time on the first card after a change of rule, minus the median on the other cards. Both medians count only the cards you got right. The first card of the block is in neither, because nothing came before it.
The number is a switch cost in milliseconds. It is not a diagnosis.
Some places call this a set shifting test, a cognitive flexibility test or a switch cost test. The work is the same. Read the rule, then sort the card.
This is practice, not a clinical test. In some card sorting tests the rule has to be worked out from feedback alone. Here the banner tells you the rule outright.
About this practice
How to play
Press 1, 2 or 3. The left arrow is the first answer, the down arrow the second and the right arrow the third. Escape or End ends the round.
Read the banner, then press the key for the value it asks for. The three buttons carry the three values of the rule in force, so their labels change when the rule changes.
1, 2 and 3 answer, and so do the left, down and right arrow keys. Escape or End ends the round.
A card is timed from the moment it is drawn until you press. The clock pauses while the tab is in the background.
There is a short gap after each answer. A press in that gap belongs to no card, so it is not counted. The results say how many there were.
No answer is thrown away for being fast or slow. A press the instant a card appears still counts, so the numbers are only as honest as the play.
Finish all 40 cards to save one round in this browser. A block you end early is not saved.
The statistics page compares rounds in the same block. It shows your switch cost across the rounds you saved on the switching block. The fixed block has no rule changes, so it has no cost there.
Your screen, your keyboard and how tired you are all move these numbers. A browser time is not comparable with a laboratory one. The fixed block draws its rule each round, and some rules take longer than others, so your baseline moves a little between rounds.
Learn a method
Hold the ruleA banner tells you how to sort each card. Follow the current rule and notice when it changes.
Report a problem
On by default unless you turn it off. Saved choices are kept. Shares starts, completions, replays and error categories. For ChatGPT visits, starts and completions may include the first QuickenBrain page and country. No answers, drawings or names.
How this data is used