Internal Assessment - The Stroop Effect

The Stroop Effect is a very controversial and interesting effect first publishes by John Ridley Stroop in the 1930’s. Stroop at first created two classic experiments in the first he compared reading a list of words printed in black and reading the same list of words printed in different colored ink. Stroop found little difference in reading time between the two lists. Stroop then compared the naming of colors for a list of solid colored squares with the naming of a list of words printed in different colored ink. He then found in an average the participant took 74% longer to name ink colors for the incongruent words. This effect’s main purpose is to demonstrate the interference in which the brain experiences slowed processing time because it is trying to sort trough the information being received, meaning that the brain is trying to multitask. The Stroop Effect mainly consists of giving an individual a list of words printed in different color ink and asked to name the color of the ink used to print the word, not the word. When ask to do this the participant will experience a delayed reaction time because the brain is processing the conflicting information. The brain is trying to suppress the input or meaning of the word and focus on the ink color of the word instead.

The results of these two studies led Stroop to conclude that since people are more practiced at word reading than naming colors, there is less interference with word reading than with color naming.

Testing on the Stroop Effect is down trough Strop Testing and when one test is performed in a language learner beginner or a young children that still doesn’t know exactly how to read the participants have no problem quickly naming the colors of the ink. While people who have learned to read and analyze language had difficulty with the list of words. This happens due to the interference in the brain and the slowed processing time this causes.

Stroop Testing data is very easy to collect and can be collected on the basis of how long it takes for the participant to work trough the list of colored words. The effect is so strong and constant that Stroop Testing is used several times in psychological testing and assessment. People are often introduced to the test when beginning psychology class because they can easily learn and observe how the brain works and processes information. This test can also be used to Asses mental acuity for a job or after a patient has experienced a certain degree of brain injury. Many people are very surprised when they first see the Stroop Effect results and how a simple task like identifying colors is truly a slight complicated for the brain. The truth is the Stroop Effect demonstrates that if two pathways are active simultaneously and the pathway that leads to the response is stronger (naming words) there is no interference. Though if two pathways are active at the same time the pathway that leads to the response is weaker (naming the colored ink) and there is interference.

Even though the Stroop effect has been investigated ins several ways and replicated several times it is harshly criticized for being very strict or robust due to the fact that it only extends to color-related words and does not include words that sound like the colors word (wred.bloo). In summary the difficulty of removing the interference present in the Strop effect between a words name and meaning and the inks color has lead some researcher’s to claim that the brain is wired to recognize words unconsciously. This explanation is called the “automatic word recognition hypothesis” and can be classified as the only answer to the Stroop Effect.

Sources

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-stroop-effect.htm

http://www.rit.edu/cla/gssp400/sbackground.html

The famous Stroop Effect is named after J Ridley Stroop who discovered this controversial phenomenon in the early twentieth century. This experiment consists of the individual reading the color or ink of the word instead of the word. A good quality example is the word "RED" printed in yellow ink. The individual should say yellow instead of red. This exercise becomes so tricky for the mind due to the fact that the words themselves have a strong effect on your ability or effectiveness to say the word. The interference or confusion between the information your brain receives causes a great confusion. Due to this great confusion two main theories have been developed the theory of speed processing and selective attention theory. The speed processing theory consists of the fact that words are identified and processed quicker than color so when you are instructed to read the color your brain processes the information slower. The other theory that was developed due to this effect consist of the confusion occurring because it requires more attention to identify colors and name them than just reading words, this theory is known as the Selective attention theory. As the mind becomes more developed and reading becomes more of a daily activity, this experiment confuses the mind even more. If this experiment were to be conducted on an illiterate person or a child that does not know how to read at a decent level this experiment would come very easily to them since colors are easier for them to recognize than words.The confusion in the brain occurs in the cingulate area. This area of the brain lies between the left and right portions of the frontal brain and is responsible for some of the thought process and emotional responses.

Source: "Neuroscience for Kids" / http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/words.html