The Eriksen flanker task is a psychology paradigm. In a visual experiment the participant is expected to respond to a centered and directed item surrounded or flanked by distracting symbols like arrows or letters. They are called congruent if they all point to the same direction, the subject will have a short reaction time and performance is more exact. Flanking arrows that point to a different direction are therefore incongruent and correspond to a slower reaction time and less accurate performance.

[edit] References

• John F. Stins, Tinca J. C. Polderman, Dorret I. Boomsma and Eco J. C. de Geus (2007). "Conditional accuracy in response interference tasks: Evidence from the Eriksen flanker task and the spatial conflict task". Advances in Cognitive Psychology 3 (3): 389-396. http://www.ac-psych.org/download.php?id=63. 
• Eriksen, C. W., & Schultz, D. W. (1979). "Information processing in visual search: A continuous flowconception and experimental results". Perception & Psychophysics 25: 249-263. PMID 461085.