What GameTan is — and isn't

GameTan is a cognitive assessment tool for gamers, built on published cognitive science paradigms. It measures a set of cognitive abilities (reaction time, working memory, interference suppression, visual attention, task-switching, and more) that correlate with competitive gaming performance according to published research.

It serves two audiences with one scientific foundation:

• Individual gamers who want an honest, quick read on their cognitive profile — not a personality quiz, not a prediction of pro status
• Coaches, clubs, and esports academies who want a structured observation tool to compare players, track changes over time, and inform training

What we measure (and why)

Every game in GameTan implements a paradigm from peer-reviewed cognitive science. We do not invent metrics. Where literature has normative data, we cite it. Where literature does not have norms yet, we say so.

• Simple Reaction Time — based on Human Benchmark population data (Bridges et al. 2020, N=81M)
• Flanker Task (Eriksen & Eriksen 1974) — selective attention under interference
• Stroop Task (Stroop 1935; MacLeod 1991 meta-analysis) — interference suppression (NOT emotional regulation)
• Go/No-Go (Donders 1869; Logan 1994) — response inhibition
• N-Back (Owen et al. 2005; Jaeggi et al. 2010) — working memory under load
• Corsi Block (Kessels et al. 2000) — visuospatial short-term memory span
• Multiple Object Tracking (Pylyshyn & Storm 1988) — visual tracking capacity
• Task Switching (Monsell 2003) — cognitive flexibility
• UFOV / Useful Field of View (Ball et al. 1988; Edwards et al. 2005) — visual attention breadth
• Dual-Task (Pashler 1994) — attention allocation between concurrent tasks
• BART / Balloon Analogue Risk Task (Lejuez et al. 2002) — risk sensitivity under reward
• Mental Rotation (Shepard & Metzler 1971) — spatial reasoning
• Perspective Taking (Michelon & Zacks 2006) — visuospatial perspective shift (NOT a teamwork measure — a solo cognitive task)
• Posner Cueing (Posner 1980) — visual orienting attention (rebuild in progress)
• Iowa Gambling Task (Bechara 1994) — decision-making under uncertainty (rebuild in progress)
• Sensorimotor Synchronization (SMS) (Repp 2005 review) — rhythm perception and tap timing (rebuild in progress)

What we do NOT claim

• No professional player database. We do not have raw test data from pro players. When you see "top 5% of FPS players," it refers to published data from gamer-population studies (Dale & Green 2017; Green & Bavelier 2003; Kowal et al. 2018), not to GameTan's own player pool.
• Not a clinical tool. GameTan is not FDA/CE certified. It does not diagnose ADHD, cognitive decline, or any medical condition.
• Not a predictor of pro success. Competitive success depends on practice hours, mental toughness, game-specific skill, team chemistry, luck, and opportunity — not just cognitive abilities. We measure one slice of the puzzle.
• Not game-specific skill. We do not measure champion pools, map knowledge, meta awareness, or mechanical peak performance.

How it works

The test is structured in three depths, using the same scientific foundation:

• Quick Test (free, 5 minutes, no login) — 3 core paradigms (reaction, pattern/attention, risk). Gives a fast cognitive snapshot and one of 16 gamer archetypes. Good for casual curiosity and sharing.
• Deep Self-Assessment (paid, 25 minutes) — All validated paradigms. Full profile with 95% confidence intervals, trainability estimates per dimension (based on published meta-analyses), game-genre and role fit analysis (based on published cognitive profiles of gamers), longitudinal retest tracking, and a downloadable PDF report.
• Team / Coach Mode (B2B, in development) — Multi-player dashboards for coaches, longitudinal team tracking, CSV/PDF export, and API access. Built for esports academies, clubs, and research teams.

Scientific transparency

We believe users deserve to know what's measured, how it's scored, and where the limits are. Our Methodology page lists every paradigm, its citation, the normative data source, known test-retest reliability values from literature, and the full list of things we cannot measure.

Who uses GameTan

• Competitive gamers who want an objective cognitive snapshot
• Coaches and club managers using GameTan as a structured observation tool (alongside, not replacing, their scouting judgment)
• Esports academies tracking player cognitive development over months
• Researchers and students who want a quick way to run classic paradigms without installing PsychoPy or PEBL

Try it

The Quick Test is free and takes 5 minutes. No registration needed. Start the cognitive assessment.