Introduction

In 1935, John Ridley Stroop created and performed an experiment to test the effects of color on word perception.(9) The following experiment was conducted to test the difference in response times of people when given two tests based on words, one with color and one without color, like that of Stroop's original test. Gender was recorded to account for differences in males and females (not recorded by Stroop), but only university age students were tested, therefore, age was not taken into consideration (nor was it a consideration for Stroop) and could affect the conclusion based on such response times.

Background

When John Ridley Stroop created his test in 1935, he used five words for the basis of the examination: red, blue, green, purple, and brown.(9) He first asked participants to read the list of words as fast as they possibly could.(9) In this first test, the colors of the words were congruent with the color-word (i.e. a red ink was used to write the word "red").(9) As for the second test, the color of the ink used was incongruent with that of the color-word (i.e. the word "green" was written in a blue ink).(9) This time, though, he asked the participants to say aloud the color they perceived instead of the word.(9) In his conclusion, Stroop stated that incongruency of colors and color-words resulted in a longer response time, but that participants could adjust to the incongruency and reduce response times.(9)

Since then, different forms of the Stroop Test have been created to test different aspects of psychology. In one study, performed at the University of Florida, emotionality and color-relatedness were the basis for an experiment.(9) Forty-nine students from the University of Florida were tested to determine whether or not emotion played a role in the response times of participants.(9) Four word groups were created: one group with emotional, color-related words: sad, anger, and envy; a second group with emotional, non-color-related words: nice, reek, and ugly; a third group with non-emotional, color-related words: sky, cherry, and lime; and a fourth group with non-emotional, non-color-related words: chair, desk, and hat.(9) Each group was administered in two conditions: with congruency, where the words were written in the related color, and with incongruency, where the words were written in a color different from the related color.(9) The participants were asked to respond to the colors of words on a computer screen by pressing either R, G, or B for the color they perceived.(9) A standard was set for the sets of tests in order for them to be evaluated properly in the results/conclusion.(9) All responses had to be 85% correct and had to be completed in 115.85 seconds for the set to count.(9) The university found that emotionality does not play a role in color-naming in that it had two different effects for different sets and, therefore, had no consistency which could be used to determine a positive or negative effect.(9) Color-relatedness did change response times.(9) Congruency between words and colors resulted in faster response times, whereas incongruency between words and color resulted in slower response times.(9)

The Stroop Test being used in this experiment is a psychological test in two parts. Part one arranges the words of colors in columns in black ink. Part two arranges the words of colors in columns in colored ink different from that of the color name written.

Procedure

With the aid of an online test called the Stroop Test and a stopwatch, people's responses to words and colors were tested. For part one of the Stroop Test, subjects were timed, and the amount of time that was used to read all of the words in the columns was recorded in a table. Then, the same was done for the color portion of the test, also known as part two. Times were, again, recorded in a table. With both times recorded, a conjecture was made as to whether or not color/word incongruency affected response times. Gender was also documented to account for any differences between males and females.

An example of a Stroop Test:

Observations and Data

The following table contains the data collected from twenty-five students who attend the University of the South and took the Stroop Test. The results are as follows:

* Once again, age was not taken into consideration because only university age students were tested.

Conclusions

After examining the results above, one can make the statement that color incongruency does have a negative effect on response times. Color-words written in colored ink different from that of the word slows the ability of people to respond quickly when naming the color of the color-word. Two theories aid in the explanation of such a statement. The Speed of Processing Theory states: response times are delayed because colors are named more slowly than words are read.(8) The Selective Attention Theory states: response times are delayed because more attention is required for naming colors than reading words.(8)

In this experiment, all participants averaged 10.31 seconds in response to the black ink test, averaged 20.94 seconds in response to the colored ink test, and averaged 10.63 seconds difference in response to both tests. The females tested had a lower average for both tests than did the males, but had a higher average difference in response to both tests. Based on these results, one could make the assumption that females can either respond faster to colors faster than males or have a longer attention span than males. In either case, this experiment shows that males are more negatively affected by incongruent colors and words than females.

Links

Take The Stroop Test!

Other Stroop Tests:

Directional Stroop Test

Number Stroop Test

Other References

1 Coren, Stanley and Joan Stern Girgus. Seeing is Deceiving:The Psychology of Visual Illusions. New York; Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1978.

2 Ladd-Franklin, Christine. Colour and Colour Theories. New York; Arno Press Inc.; 1973.

3 http://www.stoeltingco.com/tests/catalog/stroop.htm

4 Gibson, Eleanor J. Principals of Perceptual Learning and Development. New York; Meredith Corporation, 1969.

5 http://www.exploratorium.edu/exhibits/postcard_illusions/

6 Zubek, John P. Sensory Deprivation: Fifteen Years of Research. New York; Meredith Corporation, 1969.

7 http://www.cogsci.ecs.soton.ac.uk/cgi/psyc/newpsy?10.025

8 http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/words.html

9 http://www.psych.ufl.edu/~levy/96_2.htm

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Dr. John Bordley for his instruction and guidance, and the twenty-five students from the University of the South for taking the time to take the Stroop Test.