Bait
A flash hints where the target will land. It lies more every level. Exercises spatial attention.
How to Play
Two boxes sit side by side. One flashes, then a target blinks into one of them for a fraction of a second. Tap the box where it appeared.
The flash is a hint, and it isn't always right. At level 1 it usually points the right way. From level 4 it usually points the wrong way, so the target tends to land on the opposite side. Sometimes it flashes and nothing appears at all. Don't tap then. Clear a level with 4 clean reads, and your response window and the targets keep shrinking. You get 3 lives, and the run ends after level 10 or 50 trials, whichever comes first.
On a keyboard, the ← and → keys select the left and right boxes.
The Science Behind Bait
Bait is built on the spatial cueing task introduced by Michael Posner (1980). A cue draws attention toward one location, then a target appears either there or on the other side. People respond faster when the cue pointed the right way than when it pointed the wrong way, which is how researchers track where attention goes even when the eyes stay put.
Timing matters. Shortly after a cue, detection at that location tends to be better. By around 300 milliseconds the pattern can flip, and responses to the cued spot get slower, an effect called inhibition of return (Klein, 2000). Bait keeps the gap between flash and target short so the flash works as a hint.
Lab versions measure the cueing effect in milliseconds over many trials. A game this short can't do that reliably, so Bait scores accuracy and speed rather than reporting your cueing effect. It exercises one mechanism: shifting attention to a location and recovering when the hint was wrong. It doesn't claim to change your attention outside the game.
Tips to Improve Your Score
- Use the flash, don't lean on it. Early on it is right most of the time. Let it speed you up, but wait for the target before you commit.
- Don't tap on a flash alone. Some flashes have no target. Tapping early, or on an empty trial, costs a life.
- Expect the hint to flip. From level 4 the flash usually points away from the target. Learn to go the other way, and notice when your attention follows the flash first.
FAQ
The flash is wrong more and more. Why even look at it?
You can't switch your attention off, and working out how far to trust a hint is the point. Lab versions of this task vary how often the cue is right, and the cueing effect is that people respond faster when it was right than when it was wrong (Posner, 1980).
Flash Scan also has me tap where something appears. How is Bait different?
Flash Scan has no hint: you react to whatever lights up. In Bait a flash arrives before the target and points somewhere, and that pointer gets less reliable every level. The skill is deciding how much to trust it, not just reacting quickly.
Why does the target come so soon after the flash?
The gap is deliberately short. Shortly after a cue, detection at that spot tends to improve, while around 300 ms later responses to the cued spot can slow down, a pattern called inhibition of return (Klein, 2000). A short gap keeps the flash working as a hint.
Will getting good at Bait make me better at ignoring distractions?
There's no evidence that it will. Bait exercises one specific mechanism, shifting attention to a location, and any carry-over to everyday distraction hasn't been shown. See How We Measure for what the scores can and can't tell you.