Interactive Psychology Experiments: Explore Classic Research Through Hands-On Demonstrations
Delve into foundational psychological theories and see how psychological research is designed, by trying interactive experiments in your browser.
Experiment Category Navigation
Attention and Consciousness
Attention experiments study how humans selectively process information and how consciousness influences our cognitive processes.
Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART)
Evaluates sustained attention and response inhibition by requiring responses to frequent stimuli and withholding to rare targets.
Dot Probe Task
Investigates attentional bias towards emotional stimuli.
Posner Cueing Task
Studies how spatial cues guide visual attention and affect reaction times.
Inhibition of Return (IOR)
Measures how attention is inhibited from returning to a previously attended location.
Anti-Saccade Task
Requires looking away from a visual cue to measure inhibitory control.
Attention Network Test (ANT)
Evaluates alerting, orienting, and executive control components of attention in a unified paradigm.
Multiple Object Tracking (MOT)
Tests sustained attention by tracking multiple moving targets among distractors.
Attentional Blink
Reflects processing limitations when two targets appear in close succession in a rapid serial visual presentation.
Rapid Visual Information Processing (RVIP)
Measures sustained attention by detecting target sequences in a rapid stream of digits.
Attentional Capture
Examines how salient stimuli automatically capture attention and divert it from task-relevant goals.
Inattentional Blindness Experiment
Take part in a classic 1999 selective-attention study. Follow the on-screen task — the rest is part of the experience.
Subitizing Enumeration
A brief flash of items appears and you report how many you saw. Very small quantities can be grasped at a glance — subitizing — while larger sets shift to effortful counting.
Memory and Learning
Memory experiments explore how humans encode, store, and retrieve information, as well as the cognitive mechanisms involved in learning.
Digit Span Test (DST)
Measures short-term verbal memory by recalling digit sequences in forward and backward order.
N-Back Working Memory Task
Evaluates working memory capacity by recalling sequences presented N steps back.
Levels of Processing
Discover how deep processing leads to better memory than shallow processing.
Corsi Block Task (Forward & Backward)
Evaluates short-term visuospatial memory by recalling block sequences in forward or backward order.
Memory Interference Experiment (Proactive & Retroactive)
Learn word lists and discover how old memories disrupt new learning (proactive interference) and how new learning disrupts old memories (retroactive interference).
Sensory Memory Experiment (Iconic Memory)
Experience the iconic memory effect with a flash-and-recall task inspired by Sperling's classic partial report paradigm. Compare whole-report and partial-report accuracy.
Automated Operation Span (AOSPAN)
Measures working memory capacity under cognitive load by combining math operations with letter recall.
Shape Matching
Decide whether a green target shape and a white probe shape are the same, while ignoring a red distractor that competes for attention.
Recent Probes Task
Memorise six-letter sets and judge probe letters, including items carried over from the previous set that create proactive interference.
Brown-Peterson Task
Examines short-term memory decay under interference conditions.
Flashbulb Memory Experiment
Recall where you were, who was with you, and what you were doing — and compare your snapshot memories with Brown & Kulik's classic research.
Implicit vs Explicit Memory Experiment
Learn 12 words, then test your memory twice — by conscious recall and by word completion. Which one reveals the memory you didn't know you had?
Eidetic Memory Test
Study a pattern for a few seconds, then recreate it from memory — inspired by Haber's classic research on eidetic imagery.
Color Wheel Working Memory
Measures the precision of visual working memory using continuous color reporting.
Change Detection
Tests visual working memory capacity by detecting changes in an array across a short delay.
False Memory Experiment (DRM)
Experience the DRM effect - discover how your brain can create vivid memories of things that never happened.
Serial Position Effect
Discover why we remember the first and last items in a list better than those in the middle.
Skinner Box
Explore operant conditioning and reinforcement schedules.
Pavlovian Conditioning
Experience classical conditioning - learn how associations are formed.
Adaptive N-Back
Letters appear one at a time: respond when the current letter matches the one N positions back. The level N adapts to your accuracy, so the working-memory load rises and falls across blocks.
Directed Forgetting Task
Memorise six letters, then a cue tells you which half to remember and which to forget. Probes at the end show how intentional forgetting changes what stays in working memory.
Keep Track Task
Words from several categories appear one at a time. Keep track of the most recent word in each target category shown on screen, then report them at the end of the trial.
Letter Memory Task
Letters stream by one at a time. At the end of the sequence, recall the last several letters in order — a running-span look at continuously updating working memory.
Reaction Time and Conflict Control
These experiments study how humans process conflicting information and how reaction time is affected by various factors.
Stroop Effect Experiment
Examines cognitive control by testing interference between naming colors and reading words.
Go/No-Go Task
Measures response inhibition by requiring responses to some stimuli and withholding to others.
Hick's Law Experiment
Investigates how the number of choices affects decision-making time, a classic study in cognitive psychology.
Flanker Task
Tests selective attention and cognitive control by assessing response interference.
Negative Priming Experiment
Explores how ignored stimuli affect subsequent responses, revealing attentional suppression mechanisms.
AX-CPT Task
Evaluates cognitive control and working memory through context processing and response inhibition.
Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT)
Evaluates sustained attention and alertness. Includes a 3-minute brief mode and a standard 40-trial mode. Supports touch and keyboard input.
Numerical Stroop Task
Evaluates cognitive control by testing interference between numerical value and physical size.
Deary-Liewald Reaction Time Task
Measures information processing speed using simple and choice reaction tasks.
Stop Signal Task
Measures the ability to inhibit a prepotent response after a stop signal.
Emotional Go/No-Go
Assesses response inhibition when stimuli have emotional valence.
Psychological Refractory Period (PRP)
Measures the limits of dual-task processing when two stimuli require rapid successive responses.
Task Switching
Evaluates executive control costs when alternating between different task sets.
Stop-Change Task
Evaluates action sequence control by stopping and changing an ongoing response.
Dimensional Set Shifting (ID/ED)
Two patterns sit in two of four boxes; press the arrow key for the box holding the correct pattern. Stages shift between intradimensional and extradimensional rules, separating rule reversals from attentional set-shifting.
Dot Pattern Expectancy (DPX)
A dot-pattern cue is followed by a dot-pattern probe, and you respond only to the memorised target pair. This DPX variant of the AX-CPT compares responses to expected and unexpected cue-probe combinations.
Hierarchical Rule Task
The border colour of each stimulus selects one of two rules: judge its shape or its orientation. Comparing the two rule types probes how control represents rules at different levels of a hierarchy.
Multisource Interference Task (MSIT)
Three characters appear at once; press the key matching the one that differs, while its position and the distractor digits compete for your attention. A task developed for neuroimaging studies of cognitive control.
Number-Letter Task
A letter-number pair appears in one of four quadrants: the top half calls for an odd/even judgement of the number, the bottom for a consonant/vowel judgement of the letter. Pure and mixed blocks reveal the cost of task switching.
Plus-Minus Task
Mentally add or subtract 3 from a series of numbers. Separate blocks for each operation and for alternating between them measure the control cost of switching arithmetic rules.
Decision Making and Problem Solving
These experiments examine how humans make decisions and solve complex problems, including risk assessment and learning from reward and punishment.
Tower of Hanoi
Practice planning and move optimization in the classic three-peg puzzle; your move count is compared against the optimal solution.
Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST)
Assesses cognitive flexibility and abstract thinking through rule-switching tasks.
Information Sampling Task
Studies decision making under uncertainty by sampling information before committing to a choice.
Iowa Gambling Task (IGT)
Simulates decision-making under risk to study emotional and cognitive influences.
Dietary Decision Task
Discover how you make food choices between health and taste preferences.
Angling Risk Task
Test your risk decision-making abilities by choosing between safe and risky fishing lakes.
Tower of London
Assesses planning and problem-solving abilities through spatial puzzle tasks.
Bickel Titrator
Measure your delay discounting rate - how much you devalue future rewards.
Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART)
Assesses risk-taking behavior by balancing potential rewards against the probability of loss.
Columbia Card Task
Evaluates decision making under risk by choosing whether to turn over cards for potential rewards.
Delay Discounting
Choose between smaller-sooner and larger-later rewards and see the discounting curve your choices imply.
Cambridge Gambling Task (CGT)
Measures decision making and risk preference without the confound of learning.
Volatile Multi-Armed Bandit
Studies learning and adaptation in changing environments using a multi-armed bandit paradigm.
Probabilistic Reversal Learning (PRL)
Evaluates cognitive flexibility by learning and reversing probabilistic stimulus-reward mappings.
Holt-Laury Risk Aversion
Estimates risk preference through choices between paired lotteries with varying probabilities.
Probabilistic Selection Task (PST)
Examines feedback-based reinforcement learning by distinguishing go vs. no-go learning.
Monetary Incentive Delay (MID)
Measures reward anticipation through timed responses to win, loss and neutral incentive cues.
Two-Step Task
Distinguishes model-based vs. model-free reinforcement learning in sequential decisions.
Probabilistic Reward Task (PRT)
Measures reward responsiveness under uncertainty using signal detection methods.
Probability Discounting
Educational titration procedure: trade a certain amount against a chance at $100 across five winning probabilities and see your discount curve.
Guitart-Masip Learning Paradigm
Combines reinforcement learning and inhibitory control to measure action/inhibition-oriented reward learning and response inhibition.
Beads Task
One of two jars — one mostly red beads, one mostly blue — has been chosen in secret. Draw beads one at a time and decide when the evidence is strong enough to name the jar.
Sensation and Perception
These experiments study how we perceive visual and audiovisual information, including visual search, illusions, and spatial processing.
Navon Task
Studies global-local processing preferences to understand cognitive styles.
Visual Search Task
Evaluates attention allocation and visual processing by locating targets among distractors.
Mental Rotation Task
Tests spatial visualization ability by judging if rotated objects match a target shape.
Optical Illusions
Explores visual perception through various optical illusions, demonstrating how the brain processes visual information.
Line Bisection
Mark the perceived midpoint of lines of different lengths and see how far your judgments drift — the classic paradigm from unilateral neglect research.
Random Dot Motion Coherence
Tests motion perception by identifying coherent motion within random moving dots.
Signal Detection Theory
Explore how we distinguish signals from noise in perception.
Expression Icon Match
A quick symbolic matching game with expression icons; reports this session's reaction time and score only.
Change Blindness Experiment
Demonstrates how people fail to notice changes in visual scenes when they occur during brief interruptions.
McGurk Effect
Learn how lip movements can change what you hear (McGurk & MacDonald, 1976). Explained page with an audio-only demo - not an interactive test.
Perceptual Metacognition
Decide which side of the screen shows more dots, then rate your confidence in each choice on a scale from 1 to 4. See how well your confidence tracks your perceptual accuracy.
Motor Control and Human-Computer Interaction
These experiments examine the principles of human motor control and their applications in interface design and user experiences.
Trail Making Test
Evaluates visual attention, task switching, and cognitive flexibility by connecting numbered and lettered circles.
Fitts's Law Experiment
Investigates how target size and distance affect movement time, fundamental in human-computer interaction.
Simon Task
Evaluates stimulus-response compatibility and spatial conflict effects on reaction time.
HCI Experiment
Investigates the relationship between user interface design and user experience.
Other Integrated Experiments
These experiments cover multiple cognitive fields or do not fully fit into the previous categories.
Yerkes-Dodson Law Experiment
Discover the inverted-U relationship between arousal and performance through timed mental arithmetic tasks.
Random Number Generation
Generate digits as randomly as possible under time pressure, testing executive control over habitual counting and response patterns.
Network Traversal
Watch sequences of connected shapes, then judge rotation, mark natural boundaries and spot the shape that does not belong.
Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis Experiment
Classify shades of blue and discover whether the color words your language gives you shape what you see.
Lexical Decision Task
Evaluates word recognition speed and accuracy to study language processing.
Semantic Priming
Tests how related primes facilitate target processing, revealing semantic network dynamics.
Object Permanence
Explore Piaget's object permanence theory through interactive demonstrations of classic developmental psychology experiments.
Matrix Reasoning Task
A 3×3 matrix of shapes with one cell missing: work out which option completes the pattern. An experiment, not an IQ test.
Mental Workload Paradigm
Evaluates task load combining subjective questionnaires and objective metrics.
How to Use the Experiment Library
Learn and Understand
Each experiment includes a brief description of its purpose, theoretical background, and reference links.
Online Demo
Run tasks directly in the browser to experience how cognitive or social experiments are set up.
View Results
After completion, many tasks offer basic feedback such as reaction time and accuracy — for education and demonstration, not a diagnosis.
How to use this experiment library
- Learn and Understand: Each experiment includes a brief description of its purpose and theoretical framework, along with reference links.
- Online Demos: Run the task directly in your browser to experience how a typical cognitive or social experiment is set up.
- View Results: Upon completion, many tasks offer basic feedback (e.g., reaction time, accuracy). This is for educational purposes and does not constitute a diagnosis or research conclusion.
- Touch Screen Friendly: Many tasks support touch input on mobile or tablets, although precise reaction time studies are ideally performed on a desktop with a keyboard.
Ethical Considerations
- Research Ethics and Consent: If collecting data for real research, ensure participants have given informed consent and their privacy is respected.
- Interpretation of Results: Online tasks are for educational/demonstration purposes. Laboratory research usually requires more controlled conditions and calibration.
- Copyright and Sources: Cite original authors or instruments. If modifying or reusing tasks, verify licenses or usage restrictions.
Summary and Future Directions
As neuroscience and technology advance, traditional experiments are enriched with neuroimaging, physiological measures, and AI-driven analysis, offering a deeper understanding of the biological and computational bases of cognition and behavior. Emerging technologies like virtual reality (VR), wearable devices, Internet of Things (IoT), and smartphone data collection expand the scope, scalability, and ecological validity of psychological research. AI systems further enable real-time analysis and adaptive experimentation, while IoT devices provide continuous and context-rich behavioral monitoring.
Multidisciplinary approaches are also gaining ground, integrating social, developmental, clinical, cognitive, and computational perspectives. This convergence facilitates new experimental paradigms, improves data-driven findings, and reinforces predictive models of human behavior.
The task library aims to keep growing, reflecting these technological advances and methodological innovations, and supports students, educators, and curious minds in exploring the science of psychology.
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Theories & Insights
History of Psychology📚
Explore the history and core principles of psychology, key figures like Freud and Pavlov, and modern approaches like behavioral and cognitive psychology.
Learn More About the History of PsychologyList of Influential Psychologists🔬
Explore influential psychologists like Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, Abraham Maslow, Alfred Adler, Sigmund Freud, and more. Learn about their schools of thought, personal experiences, and major theories that shaped modern psychology, such as humanistic, psychoanalysis, and positive psychology.
Learn More About PsychologistsReferences
- Hick, W. E. (1952). On the rate of gain of information. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 4(1), 11–6. DOI
- Hyman, R. (1953). Stimulus information as a determinant of reaction time. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 45(3), 188–96. DOI
- Posner, M. I. (1980). Orienting of attention. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 32(1), 3–5. DOI
- Mackworth, J. F. (1948). The breakdown of vigilance during prolonged visual search. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1(1), 6–21. DOI
- Stroop, J. R. (1935). Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 18(6), 643–62. DOI
- Eriksen, B. A., & Eriksen, C. W. (1974). Effects of noise letters upon the identification of a target letter in a nonsearch task. Perception & Psychophysics, 16(1), 143–49. DOI
- Bechara, A., Damasio, A. R., Damasio, H., & Anderson, S. W. (1994). Insensitivity to future consequences following damage to human prefrontal cortex. Cognition, 50(1–2), 7–15. DOI
- Shepard, R. N., & Metzler, J. (1971). Mental rotation of three-dimensional objects. Science, 171(3972), 701–703. DOI
- Corsi, P. M. (1972). Human memory and the medial temporal region of the brain (Doctoral dissertation). McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
- Baddeley, A. D., & Hitch, G. J. (1974). Working memory. In G. A. Bower (Ed.), The Psychology of Learning and Motivation (Vol. 8, pp. 47–89). Academic Press. DOI
- Nissen, M. J., & Bullemer, P. (1987). Attentional requirements of learning: Evidence from performance measures. Cognitive Psychology, 19(1), 1–12. DOI
- Ratcliff, R. (1978). A theory of memory retrieval. Psychological Review, 85(2), 59–108. DOI
- Green, D. M., & Swets, J. A. (1966). Signal detection theory and psychophysics. Wiley.
- Shiffrin, R. M., & Schneider, W. (1977). Controlled and automatic human information processing: II. Perceptual learning, automatic attending and a general theory. Psychological Review, 84(2), 127–190. DOI
- Navon, D. (1977). Forest before trees: The precedence of global features in visual perception. Cognitive Psychology, 9(3), 353–383. DOI
- Fitts, P. M. (1954). The information capacity of the human motor system in controlling the amplitude of movement. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 47(6), 381–391. DOI
- Simon, J. R. (1969). Reactions toward the source of stimulation. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 81(1), 174–176. DOI
About This Experiment
This experiment is an educational adaptation for demonstration purposes. It is not a clinical diagnostic tool. Results reflect your performance in this specific session and should not be interpreted as an assessment of your cognitive abilities.
Data Privacy
Your experiment data is processed and stored locally in your browser. No data is uploaded to any server unless you explicitly export it.
Social Cognition and Implicit Attitudes
These experiments study how humans understand and process social information, and how implicit attitudes influence our behavior and decisions.
Implicit Association Test (IAT)
Compare how quickly you pair categories with pleasant and unpleasant words; differences in response speed reveal implicit associations.
Milgram Obedience Experiment
Step into the classic Milgram obedience study and discover how ordinary people respond when an authority figure tells them to continue.
Emotion Regulation Task
Discover your preferred strategies for managing emotions in different situations.
Marshmallow Test
Experience the famous delay of gratification experiment and compare your choices with the original follow-up data.
Bobo Doll Experiment
Discover how children learn behavior through observation, based on Bandura's classic Bobo doll study.
Little Albert Experiment
Explore how fears can be learned through classical conditioning in this famous and controversial study.
Bystander Effect Experiment
Six emergency scenarios: would you help — and does it matter how many people are around? Based on Latané & Darley's classic research.
Stereotype Threat Experiment
Six situations, one question: when does a reminder of your group identity change how well you perform? Based on Steele & Aronson's classic study.
Social Facilitation Experiment
Complete easy and hard tasks alone and with an audience to experience Zajonc's classic drive theory.
Fundamental Attribution Error Test
Discover how your mind explains other people's behavior through six everyday scenarios — based on Jones & Harris's classic study.
Trolley Problem
Explores moral decision making through classic dilemma scenarios in which every option carries a serious cost.
Visual Approach/Avoidance by the Self Task (VAAST)
Explores approach-avoidance compatibility effects on reaction times: classify positive and negative words with approach or avoid keys, across compatible and incompatible blocks.
Dictator Game
Explores sharing behavior: unilaterally split a token endowment with a passive, hypothetical recipient across 20 rounds.
The Evolution of Trust
An interactive guide to the game theory of why and how we trust each other.
Trust Game
Play the classic trust game against a simulated partner: invest your tokens and see how much the partner sends back.
Ultimatum Game
Studies fairness and punishment by proposing and accepting/rejecting splits.
Public Goods Game
Studies cooperation and free-riding in voluntary contributions to a common pool.
Social Discounting
Measures how generosity declines with social distance in resource allocation.
Asch Conformity Experiment
Experience the classic Asch conformity experiment and discover how social pressure influences your judgments.
Cognitive Dissonance
Explore how we resolve conflicts between our beliefs and behaviors.
Beauty Contest (Guess-the-Number)
Choose a number from 0 to 100. In the classic game the winner is closest to two-thirds of everyone's average; this single-player demo scores your guess against a fixed example average.