Stroop effect

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Demonstration of the Stroop Effect (animation)

The Stroop effect is an experimental psychological phenomenon that occurs during mental processing conflicts. It shows that trained actions run almost automatically, while unfamiliar actions require greater attention . In the classic experiment, the subjects are asked to name the colors of the words presented. If these are color words that do not correspond to their printing color, the response time and the number of errors increase.

In 1935 the Journal of Experimental Psychology published the dissertation of John Ridley Stroop . In his work, he took up concepts that had been investigated almost 50 years earlier by James McKeen Cattell under the direction of Wilhelm Wundt in Leipzig. Cattell was able to show that people are quicker to read words than to name the associated objects or properties of these objects (e.g. colors). However, it would take nearly half a century for someone to combine the word and attribute dimensions into one and the same stimulus. This happened in 1929 in the laboratory of the perceptual psychologist Erich Rudolf Jaensch . Stroop introduced this into English-language literature in 1935.

A great deal of research has been carried out on Stroop's original test since the discovery. The Stroop test has a special role both in basic research (e.g. theoretical explanations, influencing factors, modeling) and applied research (e.g. neuropsychological diagnostics, educational research). The Stroop or color-word interference test is used in a variety of ways, particularly in clinical and preclinical neuropsychological functional diagnostics. For example, it is used in organic brain disorders, psychoses, aging or dyslexia, but sometimes also in psychological aptitude diagnostics. The so-called emotional Stroop test - a further development in which the color of emotional words must be named - is used to examine distorted attention processes in emotional processing.

The dominance of automated processes

The Stroop interference test is a method for measuring the individual tendency to interference in color-word interference. Stroop had developed this method following the investigations by Wilhelm Wundt , James McKeen Cattell and others on the color naming tests using color templates and color word templates in order to include the conflicting stimuli in the same test task. He explains that the naming of the color of a visually presented word is slowed down if the content of the word contradicts the color (e.g. word "red" in the color green, see illustration). If the content of the word matches the color, the name of the color is quicker. The effect was repeatedly shown in corresponding experiments (including Dunbar & MacLeod, 1984): Participants were asked to name the color in which the name of a color (i.e. the word designating the color) is printed; sometimes the word appeared in the color it stands for, then in another. The result: if you see the word “blue” written in yellow, for example, it takes longer to respond with the correct answer “yellow” than if the color name and word color match. The Stroop effect consequently occurs even though the person is supposed to ignore the word content at all and shows that the automated process of reading is difficult to suppress. Reading is a much more automated cognitive activity than naming colors; this initially leads to the contradicting brain reactions just mentioned when the test subject encounters the described discrepancy between color name and word color.

Experimental variations of the Stroop test

Emotional Stroop Test

There are now other areas of application, e.g. B. the "emotional stroop test" (Mathews and MacLeod, 1985), which is used in the field of clinical psychology . In this version of the Stroop test, e.g. For example, spider phobics were presented with words associated with the term "spider" as well as generally negative, neutral and positive words. Spider phobics show a characteristic slowdown in response to spider-related words in this test, but not with respect to other stimuli (Mogg et al., 1993). However, the similarity to the classic Stroop effect is superficial: unlike the classic Stroop effect, in which the color word and printing color may or may not match, the point here is not that the two properties compete with each other for the correct answer. Rather, it can be assumed that the slowdown comes about because the negative word distracts attention from the current task. It is therefore controversial whether this phenomenon is actually a Stroop effect.

Physical or numerical number sweep test

Schematic representation of the physical or numerical number sweep test

In the physical number sweep test, two numbers are displayed at the same time, one of which is written larger. The test person must now press the number on the keyboard that is shown larger as quickly as possible. If the display is incongruent (the numerically smaller number is shown larger), the response time and error rate increase.

application

The Stroop effect is used not only in experimental research, but also in individual case diagnostics to examine the performance of the central executive of working memory. It records inhibition processes, i.e. the suppression of an automated reaction, e.g. B. in the diagnosis of attention and concentration problems and thus the ability to control impulses for action.

literature

  • JR Stroop: Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. In: Journal of Experimental Psychology. 18, 1935, pp. 643-662.
  • K. Dunbar, CM MacLeod: A force race of a different color: Stroop interference with transformed words. In: Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance. 10, 1984, pp. 622-659.
  • Karin Mogg, BP Bradley, R. Williams, A. Matthews: Sublimal processing of emotional information in anxiety and depression. In: Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 102, 1993, pp. 304-311.
  • D. Algom, E. Chajut, S. Lev: A rational look at the emotional Stroop phenomenon: A generic slowdown, not a Stroop effect. In: Journal of Experimental Psychology General. 133, 2004, pp. 323-338.

See also

Web links

Videos

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ JR Stroop: Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions . In: Journal of Experimental Psychology. Volume 18, 1935, pp. 643-662.
  2. ↑ J. McK. Cattell: The time it takes to see and name objects. In: Min. Volume 11, 1886, pp. 63-65.
  3. ↑ ER Jaensch: Basic forms of human being. Taking into account their relationships with biology and medicine, with cultural philosophy and education . Otto Elsner, Berlin 1929.
  4. ^ AR Jensen, WD Rohwer Jr .: The Stroop Color-Word Test: A Review. In: Acta Psychologica. Volume 25, 1966, pp. 36-93.
  5. ^ CM MacLeod: Half a Century of Research on the Stroop Effect: An Integrative Review . In: Psychological Bulletin. Volume 109, 1991, pp. 163-203.
  6. ↑ G. Bäumler: Color-Word Interference Test (FWIT) according to JR Stroop . Hogrefe, Göttingen 1985, DNB 850473020 .
  7. ↑ JMG Williams, A. Mathews, CM MacLeod: The emotional Stroop task and psychopathology. In: Psychological Bulletin. Volume 120, 1996, pp. 3-24.
  8. ↑ D. Algom, E. Chajut, S. Lev: A rational look at the emotional Stroop phenomenon: A generic slowdown, not a Stroop effect. In: Journal of Experimental Psychology General. 133, 2004, pp. 323-338.
  9. ↑ JA Sergeant, H. Geurts, J. Oosterlaan: How specific is a deficit of executive functioning for attention-deficit / hyperactivity disorder? In: Behavioral Brain Research. 130, 2002, pp. 3-28.
  10. ↑ M. Hasselhorn, R. Schumann-Hengsteler, J. Gronauer, D. Grube, C. Mähler, I. Schmid, K. Seitz-Stein, C. Zoelch: Working memory test battery for children from 5 to 12 years (AGTB 5-12 ). Hogrefe, Göttingen 2012, OCLC 816306521 .