A variation of the Stroop effect experiment

In another study, five experiments were conducted to determine if coloring a single Stroop element reduced automaticity or slowed the processing of a color. The results demonstrated that indeed it slowed processing of congruent and neutral stimuli more than it slows processing of incongruent stimuli (Monahan, 2001).

An interesting challenge arises when a task such as color naming is identified as both controlled and automatic, by varying the other task involved. Color naming is identified as a controlled process when the other task is word reading, but as an automatic process when the other task is shape naming. Cohen, Dunbar and McClelland (1990) proposed an alternative explanation of the Stroop effect, which does not distinguish between automatic and controlled processing. Instead, they proposed that automaticity is a range, and that Stroop interference depends on the relative degree of learning the particular tasks, not on processing speed.

The Stroop effect was tested on four different tasks. Nineteen Queens College students were recruited by flyer, and each were assigned to a word reading task, color reading task, color inhibition task, and word inhibition task. They were timed using a stopwatch function on a cell phone, to name the color, or word to the quickest of their ability. In the order from longest reaction time to shortest: inhibition color naming task, color naming task, inhibition word reading, and word reading. This study shows that people can read words more quickly than they can name colors, and that inhibiting an automatic response to color/word tasks will take longer to do than tasks that do not involve inhibition.

The Stroop experiment by J. Ridley Stroop in 1935 was performed in order to analyze the reaction time of participant’s stimuli and desired results while also obtaining a collective result of color interference and word reading(Stroop, 1935; Lee & Chan, 2000). In the experiment three forms of the test were given, the first consisting of color patches, the second had the color words printed in black and the other was an incongruent test beaming the color did not match the color word

The aim of this experiment is to study autonomic processes by replicating the previously carried out Stroop effect by using numbers. A number of 180 random participants aged in between 18-89 were recruited to participate in this experiment. Participants were presented with a stroop experiment task sheet which consists of three parts which was the control, congruent and incongruent conditions. Time was taken and recorded for each participant to say out the number of stars in the control condition and to say out the number of numbers in the congruent and incongruent conditions. Based on the results, participants took a considerably longer time to say the number of number in the incongruent condition than in the congruent condition.

The informed consent should indicate the participant has read, and understands the details of the study. A statement regarding the maintenance of privacy, confidentiality, and right to decline to participate is included on the consent form, and discussed with each participant prior to the beginning of any interviews. One copy of the consent form is provided to the participant for their records, with the original signed copy is maintained by the researcher in safe

Each participant was presented a consent form electronically, and confidentiality was maintained throughout the process. (See Appendix A.) Steps taken to ensure the confidentiality of the respondents included assigning an alias name or number to each respondent requesting such, presenting the consent form that explained to participants that they had been selected to participate in the study, and minimizing “off the record” conversations. The only identification of individual interview data in reports was by subjects’ MASSP

Controlled Vs Automatic processes: A modified version of a Stroop experiment using colour-associated and colour neutral words.

Voluntary informed consent is a prerequisite for a subject’s participation in research. Informed consent and the consenting process are about the protection and respect for research subjects

In order to protect the subjects ethically and legally in this research project and in accordance with the ethical principles discussed above, researchers will obtain informed consent by describing all the potential benefits and risks of this study to the participants. The risks would include: 1) the possibility that the participants would have an increased level of distress and anxiety throughout the project, 2) the possibility of being identified as a participant in the research project, 3) the inconvenience of the project and opportunity costs such as using participants own gas to drive to an interview, 4) exploitation such as participants feeling pressurized to participate because of a sense of duty 5) Misrepresentation which means that

Gaining informed consent ensures the research intentions has been made clear and also “provides a degree of proof that the person was informed and consented to take part” (Burns, 2000, p.18). Furthermore, ‘many researchers have their potential participant sign an informed consent form which describes the purpose of the research, its procedures, risk, and discomforts, its benefits and the right to withdraw’. All participants were informed of the manner in which the information was to be reported and were guaranteed that their confidentiality would be ensured at all

In his historic study, Stroop found that reading names of colors interfered with individuals’ ability to name the ink color the word was printed in when the two differed (i.e., the word “BLUE” written in red ink) (1935). However, the basis of this phenomenon can be traced back to Cattell who found that naming colors and pictures took twice as long to accomplish than reading the word these colors or pictures represented (1886). He concluded that this was due to reading being an automatic process while identifying colors or pictures requires a conscious effort (Cattell, 1886). MacLeod (1991) reflects that it was Cattell’s work which strongly influenced future psychologist including Stroop.

The psychological phenomenon called the Stroop effect was first popularized by John Ridley Stroop’s series of experiments (1935). Stroop investigated the conflicting stimuli of color identification and reading, and whether practice could diminish interference effects. His first experiment compared the speed at which it took participants to read 100 color-words printed in black ink with the same list of words printed in incongruent colors. Stroop found participants took an average 2.3 seconds longer to read black-printed words, which was, “…not reliable, which is in agreement with Peterson’s prediction made when the test was first proposed,” (p. 17). In his second experiment, Stroop compared the speed at which participants identified colored squares with the naming of ink color a color-word was printed

The null hypothesis of the study, developed by Elliot et al, was that the colour red evokes avoidance motivation and undermines intellectual performance, and that it has these effects without conscious awareness or intention (as cited by Elliot & Maier, 2007). However, the results of this study suggest that the colour of the ink does not influence the performance of the two groups; therefore, the colour red does not hinder the ability to complete the anagram test. The t-value is significantly lower than the critical t-value [t=2.02]; therefore, the null hypothesis is to be accepted and the mean values are statistically insignificant.

We are replicating J.R. Stroop’s original experiment The Stroop Effect (Stroop, 1935). The aim of the study was to understand how automatic processing interferes with attempts to attend to sensory information. The independent variable of our experiment was the three conditions, the congruent words, the incongruent words, and the colored squares, and the dependent variable was the time that it took participants to state the ink color of the list of words in each condition. We used repeated measures for the experiment in order to avoid influence of extraneous variables. The participants were 16-17 years of age from Garland High School. The participants will be timed on how long it takes them to say the color of the squares and the color of the words. The research was conducted in the Math Studies class. The participants were aged 16-17 and were students at Garland High School. The results showed that participants took the most time with the incongruent words.