ACADEMIC LEVEL Undergrad. (yrs 3-4) DISCIPLINE Psychology DOCUMENT TYPE Research Paper SPACING DOUBLE CITATION STYLE APA

1. Running head: STROOP EFFECT
Stroop Effect
Name
Institutional Affiliation

2. STROOP EFFECT 2
Abstract
The psychological phenomenon of colour and text processing in human brain
originates from Stroop effect. There is tendency of people to process colour faster than text
depending on the extend of changing the stimuli. However, based on parallel processing
theory, the pathway determines the rate of processing between colour and text. Through
experimental simulation of word color tests and Stroop game, the results support the
theoretical facts regarding interference in Stroop effect. Through analysis of variations in
time depending on the changes in the order and colour, it was possible to generate statistically
significant results that were important for the conclusion of the research. The main idea was
to investigate the changes in the arrangement of objects with respect to colour and words in
order to determine the causes of Stroop interference effect and how this happens.

3. STROOP EFFECT 3
Introduction
In conducting various tests on the rate of color recognition against words and vice
versa, it is found that there is a variation on how one could identify the color of a word that
doesn’t match the name of the color(Fisk &Haase, 2019). Findings suggest that saying the
color of a word when it matches the semantic meaning of the text is simple that saying the
color of the text when it doesn’t match the semantic meaning of the word. Imagine saying
color of the text “blue” printed in blue ink and text “blue” when printed in red ink. It is easier
to speak out the color of the word than when printed in a different color. This concept
introduces the Stroop effect in psychology, which describes the cognitive interference that
occurs due to delay in the reaction resulting from a mismatch in stimuli.
Following a basic test to demonstrate the effect, presenting a mismatch between the
color name like blue, green, red and so on and the print color, it is possible to note the effect
by finding it challenging naming the color rather than reading out thecolor when printed in
the same color as the word color. This effect was named after the first publisher of the effect,
John Ridley Stroop. Stroop investigated the effect through various forms of the same test by
creating three different stimuli(Lutfi-Proctor et al., 2014). Different theories exist that try to
explain the effect which forms the race models. The theories are based on the assumption that
relevant and irrelevant information under processing in parallel but these sets of information
race to obtain processing at the time of response selection.
The first theory of the race model is Processing speed,which suggests that the brain
experiences laxity in its ability to make recognition of the color of words as it reads words
faster compared to the recognition of colors. The theory, therefore, believes that the human

4. STROOP EFFECT 4
brain tends to process words faster than it processes color (Lutfi-Proctor et al., 2014). Any
chances of conflict in color and text arrangement and one presented with a challenge of
recognizing color, then text information will reach the decision-making stage of the brain
faster than the color information presenting confusion (Zolliecoffer et al., 2018). It is also
certain that an attempt to report the word information will result incolor information lagging
after the text information and thus a decision made before the conflicting information.
Selection attention theory is the second theory amongst these theories and stands on
the ground that recognition of color requires more attention than reading out the respective
word. Humans will require more attention in recognizing a word than encoding a word,
which takes much more time. This theory lies in the findings in Stroop tasks regarding
interference. Interference is the result of allocating responses, some attention, or inhibiting
distractors that are not of concern to the response.
Another theory of the Stroop effect is automaticity. This theory suggests that based on
the fact that color recognition is not an automated process as the brain hesitates to respond
while due to habitual reading, the human brain understands the word meanings(Graham
&Winskel, 2018). The idea in this theory stages from the reasoning that there is no need for
controlled attention but utilizes sufficient resources of the attention to inhibit the access of the
attention by the color processing.
Lastly, the Parallel distributed processing theory is another theory that suggests at the
time when the brain does information analysis; there is the development of different and
specific pathways for various tasks. These pathways differ in strength for various tasks, and
therefore, the speed of the pathway and its strength is significant on the processing speed.
The theory further explains that activating two pathways simultaneously for the troop effect;

5. STROOP EFFECT 5
there is interference between the stronger path and the weaker path if the pathway leading to
the response is weaker. Assuming that word reading is the stronger pathway and color
recognition is the weaker path, then occurs, which might manifest as confusion. According to
Lesley University, psychologists are into many types of research trying to find the causes that
result inStroop effect (Lutfi-Proctor et al., 2014). Among the suggested outcomes reveal that
some factors are associated with Stroop effect and cause variations in the extent of the effect.
Among these factors include the gender and age of the individuals.
A question could arise on what is the impact of Stroop effect that attracts all the
attention of researchers. Stroop effect has no effect on the psychological being of people.
However, it touches so much on the way the mind processes information and also in the
assessment of how able the mind is in overriding the thinking arising from our instincts(Song
&Hakoda, 2011). The effect finds application in the field of medicine and psychology.
Therefore this research aims to respond to the question, “What does the differential
ability of task arrangements to attenuate Stroop interference tell us about what produces the
Stroop effect in the first place?”.The theories stated suggest that changes in the ability of task
arrangement change the Stroop effect interference. It is also important to understand how the
changes can describe the truth in the theories regarding the way Stroop effect is through to
exist("Stroop Effect," 2020). This research aims at finding out the differential ability of task
arrangements to attenuate Stroop interference on the suggested theories regarding the cause
of Stroop effect. The research involves four experiments thatattempt to manipulate practice
arrangements to determine the changes in the performance of the colorStroop test.
Hypothesis
Null Hypothesis N0:

6. STROOP EFFECT 6
Deferential ability of task arrangement to attenuate Stroop interference suggests that change
in the pattern of arrangement does not result in the occurrence of stroop effect.
Alternative Hypothesis N1:
Deferential ability of task arrangement to attenuate Stroop interference suggests that change
in the pattern of arrangement result in the occurrence of stroop effect.
Method
This research was based on the analysis of experimental data to gather findings. The
research used four experiments to generate data that was used in the analysis. The experiment
wasconducted on the virtual web resource that involved the Stroop test, Pickup Sticks,pickup
Sticks 2, and Stroop Game. There was a random reversing of the arrangement of objects and
time of response recorded in every instance to gather sufficient data for analysis. Analyzing
the data gave the answers to the research question and validation of the hypotheses. The
following section gives the activities involved in conducting the experiment step by step.
Procedure
The first step it to locate the URL of the ColorStroop Test and open in browser.
Locate the URL for and open Pick UP Sticks, Pick UP sticks 2, and the Stroop Game in the
same browser from in different tabs. Make sure that every experimental game is able to load
well in the browser. If there are some errors of failures, then check and make sure to install
Adobe Flash Player and integrate with the browser. When every environmental requirement
is set, adjust all the preferences like sound and levels if so needed.
Start playing the Pick Up Sticks game on an average level of 30 minutes. Ignore the
worry about the scores or stopping before it ends when the 30 minutes elapses. Go to the
browser with interactive ColorStroop Test. Follow the instructions from the interface and

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then attempt the first test without recording the time. Click Continue Experiment. Speak out
the color names as first as possible and click Finish when done. Record the time. Open Pick
Up Sticks 2 game and give it a time out of 30 minutes without playing. Repeat
theColorStroop Test while ignoring the parts where the colors are congruent.
Take the second part of the test by speaking out the color of the text and not the word.
Click Finish when done and record the time. Load the Stroop Game and give it 30 minutes
time out without playing. Ignore the first part and take the second part saying the font color
and not the word. Click Finish when done and record the time as the third set of results.
Repeat the procedures until sufficient data is collected for analysis. Record your results and
conduct the analysis.
Results and Analysis
The results collected from the experiment wereanalyzedusing SPSS to conduct a test
on the assumption of Sphericity with the use of Repeated Measures ANOVA. The following
were the results of this test.
Descriptive Statistics
Mauchly's Test of Sphericity
Mean Std. Deviation N
Neutral 25.13368 6.163581 96
Reverse 22.58967 4.858652 96
Standard 19.56366 3.753433 96
Epsilonb

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Test within Subjects-Effects
Within
Subjects
Effect
Mauchl’
s W
Approx.
Chi-
Square
Df Sig. Greenhouse
Geisser
Huynh-
Feldt
Lower-bound
Factor1 .917 8.117 2 .017 .924 .941 .500
Source Type II
Sum of
Squares
df Mean
Square
F Sig.
Factor1 Sphericity
Assumed
1492.924 2 746.462 115.442 .000
Greenhouse-
Geisser
1492.924 1.847 808.212 115.442 .000
Huynh-Feldt 1492.924 1.882 793.187 115.442 .000
Lower-bound 1492.924 1.000 1492.924 115.442 .000
Error(factor
1)
Sphericity
Assumed
1228.562 190 6.466
Greenhouse-
Geisser
1228.562 175.483 7.001
Huynh-Feldt 1228.562 178.807 6.871
Lower-bound 1228.562 95.000 12.932
(I)factor
1
(J)factor
1
Mean
Differenc
e (I-J)
Std.
Error
Sig.b 95%
Confidence
Interval for
Differenceb
Lower Bound Upper
Bound
1 2 2.544* .391 .000 1.591 3.497
3 3.570* .394 .000 4.610 6.530

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Based on estimated marginal means
*. The mean difference is significant at the .05 level.
b. Adjustment for multiple comparisons: Bonferroni.
Discussion
From the results of the Sphericity test, the p-value for the Mauchly's Test of
Sphericity was .017, which was way below .05. This value implied that we violate the
assumption of Sphericity and move further to analyze the Greenhouse-Geisser value. The
value of the Greenhouse-Geisser was .924. inanalyzing the assumption of Sphericity using
this value, the measure is compared to the .75 value. Any value below this value means the
violation of the assumption and therefore needs to do further analysis. Therefore, since the
Epsilon value is >.75, the value was not used. Using Huynh-Feldt value, there was statistical
significance and therefore based on the interpretation of the results on this value. This result
implies that the effect that results inStroop effect is based on the differential ability of task
arrangements to attenuate Stroop interference changes.
The test on the hypothesis of this research suggested the need to reject the null
hypothesis and base the conclusion on the alternative hypothesis that Deferential ability of
task arrangement to attenuate Stroop interference suggests that change in the pattern of
arrangement result in the occurrence of Stroop effect. From the experiments, Stroop effect
was evaluated based on the amount of time it took for the completion of the tests. Using
2 1 -2.544* .391 .000 -3.497 -1.591
3 3.026* .310 .000 2.271 3.781
3 1 -5.570* .394 .000 -6.530 -4.610
2 -3.026* .310 .000 -3.781 -2.271

10. STROOP EFFECT 10
various disarrangements of words and color, it is found that the arrangements had an impact
on the level of Stroop interference. Therefore, the analysis validates the theoretical facts that
Stroop effect results from delayed response due to the changes in the mismatch of stimuli.
The analysis gave a uniform F value of 115.442. This uniformity suggests that the
changes in the effects had significant results on the delayed response factor that caused
Stroop effect. It is therefore clear that Stroop effect happens in all circumstances that tend to
mismatch the stimuli to measure response. It is right to report that any possible changes in the
arrangement of tasks to change Stroop effect suggest variations in the occurrence of Stroop
effect.
The results presented also suggest some comparative trends in the Stroop effect
resulting from three reverse color changes; neutral, reverse, and standard. The difference in
the average variations, N, was 96 in all the three cases. This value implies that Stroop effect
occurs in any form of mismatch of stimuli irrespective of the type of reverse of colors that
happens. Any change in the mismatch will have an effect on the extend of Stroop effect. The
significance in the values suggests the same variations in the changes in the arrangements.
Conclusion
The research suggested that people can sense color faster than text when the color
word is in the color background. Also, the research complements the parallel processing
theory by suggesting that color information pathways travel faster to the decision portion than
the text pathway. Stroop effect interference is, therefore, a psychological process resulting
from a mismatch in stimuli for tested mind. The brain is able to sense the variations at
different rates due to the mismatch in stimuli. The application of this effect is, therefore,
present in most disciplines due to the brain effect among human beings. It is right to validate

11. STROOP EFFECT 11
that Stroop Effect can result in sluggishness in response based on the variations in the
mismatch of stimuli.
The experiment was well set, and the validity of the results was confirmed from the
uniformity in the outputs during interpretation. The data collected bear high level of
statistically significant and therefore validates the application of these findings in any area
that needsStroop effect. The understanding of this topic is also an important factor in gaining
information regarding the use of imaging systems that interact with the brain. Human
psychological posture, therefore, requires consistency in daily interactions to control decision
making. It is also clear that decision-making is part of human action that highly depends on
the vision.
References
Eidels, A. (2012). Independent race of color and word can predict the Stroop
effect. Australian Journal Of Psychology, 64(4), 189-198. https://doi.org/10.1111/
j.1742-9536.2012.00052.x

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Fisk, G., &Haase, S. (2019). Classic StroopColor Words Produce No Stroop Effect When the
Display Characteristics Are Based Upon Emotional Stroop Studies With Subliminal
Presentations. Psychological Reports, 003329411984322. https://doi.org/
10.1177/0033294119843220
Graham, M., &Winskel, H. (2018). Stronger Stroop effect from fearful faces shows automatic
processing differences on a face-word task. Frontiers In Psychology, 9. https://
doi.org/10.3389/conf.fpsyg.2018.74.00008
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Stroop interference. Psych Journal, 3(1), 17-29. https://doi.org/10.1002/pchj.51
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