The Stroop Effect

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the Stoop Effect, named for psychologist J. Ridley Stroop in 1935, is a deceptively simple theory of attention and cognition, which observes that it takes a human subject longer to name objects and colors aloud than it takes to name their corresponding words off a list of words. The author points out that Stroop concluded that the difference in speed in reading names of colors and in naming colors may be satisfactorily accounted for by the difference in training in the two activities called the "automatic word recognition hypothesis" or, as others have claimed, certain mental activities happen automatically whether the subject is consciously intending them or not. The paper relates that an interesting implication to come out of these studies testing this effect is that the context of the standard Stroop test may actually induce the Stroop effect.

From the Paper:

"Still, current research continues to deal with the "automaticity" of learned behaviors, or "connections" in the modern parlance. MacLeod notes a 1990 study conducted by Jonathan Cohen in which he re-created many of the results of Stroop effect research in computer simulation done with a neural network. A neural network is a type of computer that allows the system hardware to "learn" by adaptation and evolution. Cohen's experiment gradually taught the computer to recognize information that represented ink colors, color words, animal picture and shapes in such a way meant to model human training - that is, by emphasizing the color words rather than the colors. As might be expected, the Stroop effect was also noticed in the computer's responses to standard Stroop tests."

More papers on The Stroop Effect:

• Analytical Essay # 136313 : "The Stroop Effect"
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• Research Paper # 53095 : "Computer-Aided Rehabilitation in ADHD"

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