Infant and Child Studies

SAY WHAT? Conduct your own Stroop Test!

The Stroop Effect is a fun phenomenon in cognitive science! The effect is named for a scientist named John Stroop. John Stroop studied the effect in the 1930s. He used what is now called a "Stroop Test." He showed people a list of words naming different colors. The words were all written in the color they were naming.

First Test: It looked a lot like this:
Red
Green
Purple
Blue

Second Test: Then he showed them the the same list of words naming colors, but this time the words were in a different color than what the word was naming. Like this:
Red
Green
Purple
Blue

Stroop asked people to say the colors of the words as fast possible- he found people were much slower during the second test.

Conduct your own Stroop Test by clicking the button below. Make sure you have a pencil and notebook ready to carefully record your findings. Make a hypothesis (educated guess) about what you think will happen. In Test 1, say the color of each word as fast as you can and then press "finish." Repeat in Test 2. Will you be faster or slower in the test where the color and the word do not match? Will you name the colors faster or slower in than your younger sister? Will you be faster or slower than your grandmother?

Discussion

Was the second test harder or easier than you thought it would be? Probably a little harder! The words have interference over your ability to say the actual color. Scientists have two theories on why this interference happens:
1. Speed of Processing Theory: You read the word faster than the colors are named.
2. Selective Attention Theory: Naming the color requires more attention than reading the word.

What about your hypotheses? For example, if your little sister cannot read yet, it might have been easier for her to do Test 2 more quickly!

References:
Thank you to Dr. Eric H. Chundler for use of his online Stroop Test and discussion at faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html Stroop, J.R. Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. J. Exp. Psychol., 18:643-662, 1935.