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pymetrics Stop Practice: Press for Red, Hold Back on Green

Practise a pymetrics-style Stop game: press for red circles, hold back on green ones. See your misses, false presses and reaction time block by block.

Practice: 80 circles, about 2 minutesAlso called “pymetrics stop game”Also called “pymetrics go/no-go game”

How the practice module works

  1. 01A circle appears in the middle of the screen for about 1 second, then a short blank.
  2. 02Red circle: press the space bar (or tap Press) as fast as you can.
  3. 03Green circle: do nothing and let it pass.
  4. 04Most circles are red, so be ready to hold back when a green one appears. There is no feedback until the end.

Controls

  • Space bar presses
  • Tap the Press button on a phone

Included in 1 Game Platform Prep (when you choose Harver), All Games Platforms Prep and Full Access. See plans

Task
A red circle asks for a space-bar press and a green circle asks for none (pymetrics patent, official)
Task type
A go/no-go task, not a stop-signal task with a changing delay (prep sites)
Screen
One circle at a time in the middle of the screen, each for about 1 second, with no feedback (prep sites)
Circles
About 70 to 80 circles in roughly 2 minutes; red is by far the more frequent colour (prep sites)
Game length
Each pymetrics game takes about 1 to 3 minutes (pymetrics FAQ, official)
Practice version
Candidate Falcon’s choice: 80 circles, 1 second each with a 0.5-second gap, 20% green, never two greens in a row

What the pymetrics Stop game looks at

Stop is pymetrics’ version of the go/no-go task, a standard test of response inhibition. pymetrics’ patent describes it plainly: press the space bar when a red circle appears and do nothing when a green one appears. Because red comes far more often, pressing turns into a habit, and the real test is whether you can stop that habit in time when green shows up.

Two kinds of slip show up in the data. Pressing on a green circle is a false press, the classic sign of acting before checking. Letting a red circle pass is a miss, which points to attention drifting. Reaction time on red circles adds speed to the picture. pymetrics does not publish how it scores any of this: its games feed a model that compares your play with people who do well in the job, and the company says there is no right or wrong answer.

Candidate Falcon’s practice follows the patent’s colours and the screen prep sites describe: 80 circles, each on screen for 1 second, no feedback during the run. Your results split the run into four blocks, so you can see whether misses, false presses or slower reactions crept in as it went on.

How the Stop practice works

  1. Press Start and wait for “Get ready”. The first circle appears about 1.5 seconds later.
  2. When a red circle appears, press the space bar, or tap the large Press button on a phone, as fast as you can.
  3. When a green circle appears, do nothing. It disappears on its own after 1 second.
  4. Each circle counts once: extra presses on the same circle and presses between circles are ignored.
  5. After 80 circles, see your accuracy, misses, false presses and median reaction time, overall and by block.

Stop tips

  • Rest a finger lightly on the space bar so a press costs no movement.
  • Keep your eyes on the centre of the screen, where every circle appears.
  • Aim for speed on red and calm on green: a fast press on red is good, but not if it means pressing on green too.
  • If you notice you have pressed on green, let it go and focus on the next circle.
  • Play in a quiet place: two minutes of steady attention is the whole game.

Common Stop mistakes

  • Pressing as soon as anything appears, before the colour has registered.
  • Slowing right down out of fear of green circles, which turns red circles into misses.
  • Looking away or at the keyboard during the run.
  • Holding the space bar down: only a fresh press counts.
  • Playing on a phone in the real test when a computer is available; prep sites advise a keyboard.

A short Stop practice routine

  1. Do one run to get a baseline for misses, false presses and reaction time.
  2. If false presses are high, do the next run aiming for zero, even if you are slightly slower.
  3. If misses are high, check the block table: misses late in the run mean you need to hold focus longer.
  4. Once both are low, try to bring your median reaction time down without new errors.

Stop FAQ

What is the pymetrics Stop game?

It is a go/no-go task. pymetrics’ patent describes a red circle that asks you to press the space bar and a green circle that asks you to do nothing. Red comes far more often, so the game looks at how well you hold back a response that has become a habit.

How many circles are in the pymetrics Stop game?

pymetrics does not publish a count. Prep sites report about 70 to 80 circles in roughly 2 minutes. Candidate Falcon’s practice uses 80.

Does the pymetrics Stop game tell you when you are wrong?

Prep sites say there is no feedback during the game, and this practice works the same way. You see your misses and false presses only at the end.

Is it better to be fast or accurate in the Stop game?

pymetrics does not publish how it weighs speed and accuracy, and it compares your play with people in the job rather than using a pass mark. A sensible aim is to press quickly on red while keeping presses on green rare.

Is this the real pymetrics game?

No. It is independent practice by Candidate Falcon, built from the task in pymetrics’ public patent and prep-site descriptions, with original screens. It is not affiliated with pymetrics or Harver.

Independent practice by Candidate Falcon, based on pymetrics’ public patents and research and on prep-site descriptions. Not affiliated with pymetrics or Harver, and not their scoring. The game, its art and its wording are original, and practice results are not pymetrics scores. For all 12 games, timing, results and retakes, read the free pymetrics test guide.