The Go/No-Go task is the simplest test of response inhibition: the ability to stop an action you were about to make. You press as fast as you can when you see a GO signal and do nothing at all when you see a NO-GO signal. Because GO trials are far more common, pressing becomes a habit, and the task measures how well you can override it. It has been used in psychology labs for over a century and still appears in research on attention, impulsivity and ageing. Here is how it works, how to read the three numbers in your result, and what practice can and cannot do. Try it free in our Go/No-Go test.
A stimulus appears: one colour or shape means GO, another means NO-GO.
On GO, respond as fast as you can.
On NO-GO, do nothing until the next stimulus appears.
GO trials usually make up about 70 to 80% of the run, so you build up a strong urge to press.
Your result separates hits, misses, false alarms and reaction time.
The rarity of NO-GO trials is the whole point. If the two signals came up equally often, there would be no habit to override and the task would measure something closer to choice reaction time.
False alarms are the main measure. Pressing on NO-GO is the error the task exists to catch, and it reflects how well you inhibit a prepared response.
Misses usually mean lapses of attention or that you are being so cautious that you skip GO trials as well.
Reaction time on hits shows how fast you are when you do respond. It only means something alongside the error counts.
Look at speed and false alarms together. Pressing very fast with many false alarms is not a better score than pressing a little slower with almost none.
| You pressed | You held back | |
|---|---|---|
| GO trial | Hit (correct) | Miss, or omission error |
| NO-GO trial | False alarm, or commission error | Correct rejection |
There is no universal norm, because results depend on the ratio of GO to NO-GO trials, how long each stimulus stays on screen and your device. These are typical patterns for healthy adults on a computer with a mouse or keyboard:
Phones and wireless keyboards add input delay, so compare scores only on the same device. For more on the hardware effect, see our guide to reaction time tests.
| Measure | Typical | Strong |
|---|---|---|
| Hit reaction time | about 300 to 450 ms | under 300 ms with few errors |
| False alarms | 5 to 20% of NO-GO trials | under 5% |
| Misses | under 5% of GO trials | close to zero |
Every Go/No-Go run is a negotiation between speed and caution. Push for faster hits and false alarms climb. Play safe and your reaction time slows and misses creep in. You can watch this happen over a few runs: try one run focusing only on speed and one focusing only on accuracy, then compare.
The best balance is usually to stay relaxed and let your finger rest lightly, rather than hovering tense over the key. Tension speeds up GO responses but makes NO-GO presses almost automatic.
They are related but not interchangeable. Someone can be quick to cancel a press and still slow on Stroop interference. Read the Stroop test explained for the colour-word version.
| Task | What you inhibit | Play it |
|---|---|---|
| Go/No-Go | An action before it starts | Go/No-Go |
| Stroop | Reading a word when you must name its colour | Stroop Test |
| Stop-signal | An action already under way, when a late stop cue appears | A lab task; the closest game here is Red Alert, a Go/No-Go variant that speeds up |
Honestly, only a little and mostly on the task itself. You will make fewer false alarms with practice, because you learn the stimuli and the rhythm. Reviews of inhibitory control training, including a 2016 meta-analysis by Allom, Mullan and Hagger, found little evidence that these gains spread to self-control in daily life.
Some studies have trained people to withhold responses to pictures of specific foods or drinks and found small changes in choices afterwards, but the effects are modest and inconsistent. If impulsivity affects your life, talk to a professional; a web game is a fun measure, not a treatment, and not a test for ADHD.
Where the game is useful: as a quick daily check of alertness. False alarms rise noticeably when you are tired, which makes it a decent "am I sharp today?" probe. Our guide on how to improve focus and concentration covers the habits with better evidence: sleep, exercise and removing distractions.
Fix your eyes on the centre of the play area so every stimulus appears in the same place.
Decide on the NO-GO feature before you start, then look only for that.
Keep your finger relaxed and resting, not hovering and tense.
After a false alarm, do not slow down for the next five trials. Reset and carry on.
Play three runs and judge your median, not your best single run.
Verbruggen, F., & Logan, G. D. (2008). Response inhibition in the stop-signal paradigm. Trends in Cognitive Sciences.
Allom, V., Mullan, B., & Hagger, M. (2016). Does inhibitory control training improve health behaviour? A meta-analysis. Health Psychology Review.
Simons, D. J., et al. (2016). Do "brain-training" programs work? Psychological Science in the Public Interest.
Response inhibition: your ability to stop a prepared action. False alarms on NO-GO trials are the main measure, with reaction time and misses as context.
Pressing on a NO-GO trial. It is also called a commission error, and it is the error the task is designed to catch.
On a computer most adults respond to GO signals in roughly 300 to 450 milliseconds. Speed only counts as good when false alarms stay low.
Versions of it appear in ADHD research, but no online score can diagnose ADHD. A diagnosis needs a full clinical assessment.
Practice improves your score on the task. Evidence that it improves self-control in daily life is weak, so treat it as a measure and a game rather than a treatment.
The Go/No-Go task is a minute-long window into impulse control: count your false alarms, read your reaction time beside them, and compare against your own runs. Try the Go/No-Go test now, then the Stroop Test to see a different kind of control.