Stroop test !1

Stroop Effect, color word experiment

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Stroop test !2

Abstract

The main aim of the research was to observe the whole procedure of the famous stroop test

which was developed by J.R. stroop. The process includes a thorough stroop task. In the

experiment, 18 participants were taken and each of them did 40 trials. The participants were 23

to 25 years old. All the participants were male. All the participants completed the given

conditions for reaction and accuracy. The researcher found significant results from the study.

There was a difference in the accuracy and reaction time in each condition. In the end the study

concluded that when the process of reading becomes automatic, simple tasks like identification

of the color of words which spells a color can become a difficult task for a person.

Keywords: Stroop test; colors; fonts; accuracy; reaction time;

Stroop test !3

STROOP TEST COLOR WORD EXPERIMENT

Introduction:

Human beings have the ability to learn at a very young age. Some people have the ability

to practice reading at a very young age. In the first few stages reading is considered a hard and

effortful work.

In early stages the person constantly need attention and consciousness to understand each

letter. But when the person repeat and practice this skill again and again the process of reading

becomes easier and less effortful. Reading falls under cognitive tasks. According to (Francis,

Neath, & Van Horn, 2008) when the process of reading becomes easier and effortless it does not

need conscious efforts to accomplish and hence we call it an automatized process. J.R stroop

conducted an experiment to test the effects of automaticity on people. Reading was the main

focus.

The Stroop effect is one of the most famous examples of interference in human perception.

(Bindl, 2014) In the first condition the researcher presented the participant with 100 words. Each

word spelled out a color. The color of the word was different from the word spelled. The

participants were then asked to tell the color of ink from which the word was written. In each

trail the reaction time was noted.

Also, the researcher presented the participants with 100 sets of squares which were

presented in varying colors. He asked them to tell the color of each square. Again the reaction

times were recorded for each trial. The researcher come to know that participants took 47

seconds more to identify the condition where word names were spelled out.

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From this study we got the stroop task and stroop effect. When the participant was asked

to report the color of a word that spells out a color different from the color of the ink, they are

actually performing the stroop task. Whereas, the trend to have longer reaction times when words

and word colors do not match is known as the Stroop Effect.

After the original studies have been conducted, many other researchers have tried to

develop and replicate the findings.

The researchers compared vocal, arbitrary-key press, and typewritten responses and

found the largest Stroop effect for the type written responses. (Zbrodoff, 1998)

Aim of the study:

The purpose of the study is to investigate the stroop effect in the students. The

independent variable in the study is the font color and the word name. The dependent variable is

reaction time of the participants. The methodology which stroop used in his experiment was used

in the study. The participants were given the external stimuli in the form of names of different

colors which they had to identify. Because of the results of previous experiments in this field, it

is hypothesized that participants will take longer to respond to stimuli when the name of the

color does not correspond to the font color than when they do.

Method:

Subject:

There were 18 participants and each of them performed 40 trails. All the participants

were males whose ages varied from 23 to 25 years old.

Material:

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The participants were given stimulus in the form of different colors like green, blue, red

etc. there were words ‘Red’, ‘Green’ or ‘Blue’ in approximately size 26pt .

Procedure:

There were four conditions of the experiment. In each condition the participant was asked

to report the color of the fond. In one condition a string of purple, orange or green color were

presented. In other condition a word was presented to the participant which was aimed to spell

one of the above mentioned colors but was in a font colored different than that of what the text

spelled. In the third condition one of the three colors was presented with the first and last letters

in the correct positions and the middle scrambled. The color of the font matched what the word

was spelling. In the final condition, one of the three words with the letters in all random positions

was presented to the participant. The font color did not match the color the word was spelling

out.

Discussion:

The results which the researcher obtained from the study supported the hypothesis. The

main hypothesis was that the reaction time is longer when the color of the font is different from

the name that has been written. Whereas the response time was less when the font and the color

were same.

This hypothesis has been approved by the above mentioned data. A significant difference

was seen between the two reaction times and the two conditions. The present study supports to

the ideas proposed by Stroop (1935).

However this study has some drawbacks as well. The researcher did not screen out the

participants and ignore some important factors like eye sight, reading ability. Moreover the study

Stroop test !6

was based on one gender only. This may decrease the reliability and validity of the results

obtained from this study.

Moreover many researchers have already replicated this study. There is a need for further

research which should include new and improved methodologies. The findings also suggest that

they can be molded by adding new variables in the study. Still this is a very useful experiment

which is proved to be helpful in treating dementia caused by frontal and temporal lesions.

(Corwin, 2015)

Now I would show you how in each hypothesis results were computed

Note: The above discussed hypothesis shall be analyzed through SPSS charts by using

following calculations.

Correlations

Descriptive Statistics

Mean Std. Deviation N

WordDisplayed 2.51 1.115 1120

ReactionTime 1752.33 1671.259 1120

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The Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient (Pearson’s correlation, for short) is a

measure of the strength and direction of association that exists between two variables measured

on at least an interval scale. Correlation indicates degree of relations with the values; above

mentioned chart indicate that; reaction time of participants is in proportion to changing color.

T-Test

The independent-samples t-test (or independent t-test, for short) compares the means between

two unrelated groups on the same continuous, dependent variable. We can see from above chart

that, there’s substantial difference in mean of two colors, when we measure its reaction.

CorrelationsWordDisplaye

d ReactionTime

WordDisplayed Pearson Correlation Green .003

Sig. (2-tailed) .913

N 1120 1120

ReactionTime Pearson Correlation .003 Green

Sig. (2-tailed) .913

N 1120 1120

Group Statistics

WordDisplayed N Mean Std. Deviation

Std. Error

Mean

ReactionTime >= Green 276 1765.91 1497.025 90.110

< Yellow 844 1747.89 1725.230 59.385

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ANOVAReactionTime

Sum of

Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

Between Groups 8880158.669 Blue 2960052.890 1.060 .365

Within Groups 3116606363.0

00

1116 2792658.032

Total 3125486522.0

00

1119

Multiple Comparisons

Dependent Variable: ReactionTime

Tukey HSD

(I)

WordDisplayed

(J)

WordDisplayed

Mean

Difference (I-

J)

Std.

Error Sig.

95% Confidence Interval

Lower

Bound

Upper

Bound

Green Red -220.007 142.663 .413 -587.06 147.05

Blue -1.831 139.557 1.000 -360.90 357.24

Yellow -89.042 141.873 .923 -454.07 275.98

Red Green 220.007 142.663 .413 -147.05 587.06

Blue 218.175 140.747 .408 -143.95 580.31

Yellow 130.965 143.044 .797 -237.07 499.00

Blue Green 1.831 139.557 1.000 -357.24 360.90

Red -218.175 140.747 .408 -580.31 143.95

Yellow -87.211 139.946 .925 -447.28 272.86

Yellow Green 89.042 141.873 .923 -275.98 454.07

Red -130.965 143.044 .797 -499.00 237.07

Blue 87.211 139.946 .925 -272.86 447.28

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ReactionTimeTukey HSDa,b

WordDisplayed N

Subset for

alpha = 0.05

Green

Green 279 1676.86

Blue 295 1678.69

Yellow 276 1765.91

Red 270 1896.87

Sig. .404

Means for groups in homogeneous subsets are

displayed.

a. Uses Harmonic Mean Sample Size =

279.702.

b. The group sizes are unequal. The harmonic

mean of the group sizes is used. Type I error

levels are not guaranteed.

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!

• : 1-Green • 2-Red • 3-Blue • 4-Yellow

The one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) is used to determine whether there are any

significant differences between the means of two or more independent (unrelated) groups

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(although you tend to only see it used when there are a minimum of three, rather than two groups

.From the above graphs, we analyze that, there’s significant differences in two variables, reaction

time and color used. Which shows, above mentioned hypothesis are proved that; reaction time

would reduce, when different words with different colors are being displayed.

Limitation of hypothesis:

From above statists, it is proved that hypothesis based on Stoop test is true but it is not devoid of

limitation, the most prominent one’s are: this study did not take into account some important

factors like eye sight, reading ability. Moreover study was focused on one gender. So these are

some drawback; which undermine the credibility of study.

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References Bindl, S. H. (2014). The spatial Stroop effect: A comparison of color-word and position-word

interference. Psychonomic Society, Inc., 1.

Corwin, C. F. (2015). Stroop Interference and AQT Cognitive Speed May PlayComplementary Roles in Differentiating Dementias with Frontal and Posterior Lesions. Community Ment Health J, 1.

Roos-Gilbert, T. L. (1995). Automaticity and Word Perception: Evidence From Stroop and Stroop Dilution Effects. Journal of Experimental Psychology:, 1395.

Zbrodoff, G. D. (1998). Stroop-Type Interference: Congruity Effects in Color Naming With Typewritten Responses. Journal of Experimental Psychology.

Laerd Satistics, Independent T-test using SPSS Satistics

Idre, Institute for digital research and education