How It Works
You do a boring task for about 25 minutes. That's it.
What you actually do
You'll see a yin-yang symbol appear on the screen, over and over.
- ● If the filled-in circle is at the top — tap the screen as fast as you can.
- ○ If the filled-in circle is at the bottom — don't tap.
That's the whole test. Fast and accurate, for 25 minutes straight. If you start making mistakes, don't slow down — keep going.
Why is it so boring?
If it was exciting, it would be easy to pay attention to it. That's the point. Attention is easy when things are interesting. Staying focused on something deliberately simple and repetitive — that's where your true attention performance reveals itself.
Before you start — go clean.
For your most accurate baseline, Dr. Corman recommends eliminating caffeine, nicotine, and chocolate for at least a week before your first test. These are stimulants that work briefly then block dopamine receptors — and they can affect your brain for up to 10 days.
He also recommends eliminating marijuana for 30 days before a baseline test.
Once you have a clean baseline, test under any conditions you want. That's how you discover what's actually affecting your focus.
Practice first.
Your first session includes a 3-minute practice test so you can get familiar with the task before the real thing begins. The practice test has no clinical significance — it's just to get you comfortable.
How to use your results
Take the test before starting a new medication. Take it again after. If the medication is working, your score should be noticeably better.
When only a slight difference occurs, don't automatically assume the medication needs to increase. Surprisingly, a lot of the time the dose actually needs to decrease.
Compare your results across conditions — morning vs evening, before vs after caffeine, under stress vs well-rested.
This is not a diagnostic tool. It's your personal window into how your attention actually works. Use it alongside your healthcare provider, not instead of one.