Barrage
In reviewCancellation task: find and mark all target symbols among distractors (CRAB battery, ages 6-10).
Study
CRAB
Computerized Reading-related Assessment Battery
Brain and Learning LabPI: Daphné Bavelier
The CRAB (Computerized Reading-related Assessment Battery) is a suite of nine short tasks that together profile the cognitive skills underpinning reading acquisition in children. The battery spans selective visual attention (Barrage), visuospatial working memory (Corsi Block-Tapping), sustained attention and multiple-object tracking (Multiple Object Tracking), phonological awareness (Rhyme Recognition, Phoneme Deletion), receptive/expressive vocabulary (Vocabulary), visual orthographic processing (Visual Orthography), and oral reading (Decoding, Text Reading). Each task is listed as a module below and can be run and downloaded on its own page; the battery is intended to be administered as a coherent set. Decoding, Phoneme Deletion, and Text Reading are spoken-response tasks scored via automatic speech recognition; Text Reading in particular is flagged as an abandoned/experimental feature in the source project and is less polished than the rest of the battery. Developed at the Brain and Learning Lab (University of Geneva).
- Tasks
- 9
- Total duration
- ~40 min
- Languages
- French, Italian
- Domains covered
- Attention · Auditory Processing · Learning · Psycholinguistics · Spatial Processing & Memory · Visual Processing & Memory · Working Memory
Tasks in this study
Corsi Block-Tapping
In reviewReproduce sequences of spatial locations to test visuospatial working memory (CRAB battery).
Multiple Object Tracking
In reviewTrack multiple moving objects among distractors to assess visual attention (CRAB battery).
Rhyme Recognition
In reviewDecide whether two spoken words rhyme to test phonological awareness (CRAB battery).
Vocabulary
In reviewSelect the picture matching a heard or read word (CRAB battery).
Visual Orthography
In reviewJudge whether two character strings (letters or symbols) are the same or different (CRAB battery).
Decoding
In reviewRead real words and pseudowords aloud into a microphone to test word-reading decoding (CRAB battery).
Phoneme Deletion
In reviewHear a word and say it back with a phoneme removed, to test phonological awareness (CRAB battery).
Text Reading
In reviewRead a short passage aloud into a microphone to test connected-text reading fluency (CRAB battery).
Credits
Developed at the Brain and Learning Lab (University of Geneva) under Angela Pasqualotto (task conception) and Zeno Menestrina (software developer) as part of the CRAB (Computerized Reading-related Assessment Battery) project. Software updated by Hugo Farajallah and Zeno Menestrina (2025). Adapted from Unity to HTML/JS by Hugo Farajallah in 2026. The Unity source code is not publicly distributed — contact Angela Pasqualotto (Angela.Pasqualotto@unige.ch) or Zeno Menestrina for access. Each module carries its own task-specific citations on its page.