Stroop test

Stroop Test

The Stroop Test is a psychological test of our mental (attentional) vitality and flexibility. The test is named after John Ridley Stroop, who first published the effect in English in 1935. The effect had previously been published in Germany in 1929. The original paper has been one of the most cited papers in the history of experimental psychology, leading to more than 700 replications.

History

The Stroop Test was first described in 1935 by John Ridley Stroop. The phenomenon noted by Stroop exists in the interference that occurs when the processing of a specific stimulus feature impedes the simultaneous processing of a second stimulus attribute, that is, that our attention is limited in capacity.

Procedure

In a Stroop Test, participants are presented with a list of words, with each word displayed in a color of ink. The participant’s task is to say out loud the color of the ink in which the word is printed. The task has two conditions: a congruent words condition, and an incongruent words condition. In the congruent words condition, the words being displayed are color words whose names match the colors in which they are printed. In the incongruent words condition, the words displayed are color words whose names do not match the colors in which they are printed.

Interpretation

The Stroop Test is used in a clinical setting to measure a person's selective attention capacity and skills, as well as their processing speed ability. It is also used to detect cognitive impairment and is used in the evaluation of certain neurological and psychiatric disorders.

See Also

• Cognitive Psychology
• Attention
• John Ridley Stroop
• Psychological Testing