Visual Search Test: Find the Odd Ring
This visual search test fills the panel with rings that each have a small gap. One ring may have its gap on the right. Decide as fast as you can whether it is there.
- Rings with a small gap fill the panel.
- Look for the one ring whose gap faces right. Sometimes it is there, sometimes not.
- Answer Yes or No as fast as you can while staying right. 24 trials.
Keys: Left arrow or Y for Yes, Right arrow or N for No
You never need to tap the ring itself, so small screens are not at a disadvantage.
How does the visual search test work?
Each trial shows a set of rings scattered on the panel. Look for the one ring whose gap faces right. Sometimes it is there and sometimes it is not.
Answer Yes or No with the two big buttons, or with the arrow keys. You never have to tap the ring itself, so a small screen is not a problem. There are 24 trials, with small, medium and large sets of rings.
What is visual search?
Visual search is one of the classic tasks in the study of attention. People look for a target among distractors, often a simple shape that may or may not be on the screen. Researchers use it to learn what guides the eyes to a target and when people decide to stop looking.
Some targets seem to jump out at once. Others take longer as more items fill the screen. How your time grows with the number of items says something about how that search is working.
What does my score mean?
Your score is your median time for right answers, in milliseconds. Lower is faster. A personal best is saved only when most answers are correct.
The result also shows your times for each set size, with the ring there and with it absent. If the ring was there, you also see about how much each extra ring added to your time. That number is yours alone. We have no data from other players to compare it with.
Screens and input devices add their own delay. Compare scores on the same device. If you switch tabs, the game pauses and drops the trial in progress.
Why do “absent” trials often take longer?
To be sure the ring is not there, you usually have to check the whole panel. When it is there, you can stop as soon as you find it. Many players see this in their own numbers.
Does practice help?
Yes, at this game. A large review of brain-training studies found little evidence that such gains carry over to daily life. See our brain games page.
FAQ
Why did a trial say “too fast”?
An answer faster than a real look at the panel is a guess. That trial runs again.
Is this game fair on a phone?
Yes. The rings scale with the screen, and you answer with two large buttons.
What else can I try?
The flanker test is about ignoring nearby items. Visual memory asks you to remember where tiles were. Symbol match also rewards fast scanning.
Our free IQ test measures reasoning. Our guide on how accurate IQ tests are explains why a game score is different. The test score itself is explained on our methodology page. The cookie policy lists what the games save on your device.