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The Stroop effect shows how the brain processes words and colors differently, with most people identifying words faster than colors. Tests involve words with differently colored letters or no meaning, and can be used to measure brain development and mental disorders.
The Stroop effect is a phenomenon that can show how the brain processes words and colors differently. Discovered by John Ridley Stoop in the 1930s, this effect is typically triggered by printing words that express a different color than they actually are. If the word green is printed in blue, for example, most people will read what it says, whereas text colors are usually more difficult to read instead. Different tests for the Stroop Effect may involve words that have a differently colored letter, words that have no meaning, or words that identify emotions. Research using Stroop’s experiments have shown that most people identify words faster than colors.
A basic test of the Stroop Effect includes one list of words that say what color they are, while a second list includes words printed in a different color than what they mean. Readers are typically asked to say the color instead of the meaning of the word. Another variety of the Stroop effect is to use shapes outlined in different colors. Usually, people identify colors and shapes regardless, as opposed to the general difficulty of reading what color a word is. The Stroop effect, however, can be reduced and even eliminated by changing the color of just one letter.
Slowed brain processing can also be tested by manipulating words in other ways. Some Stroop tests rotate words or arrange letters clockwise or counterclockwise. These can provide insight into whether the brain processes word patterns or colors faster, and some varieties of the test even reverse the letters or mix them up altogether.
Researchers often test the brain’s processing using multiple tasks. Up to 150 articles can be used in a clinical trial; scores can be derived by counting how many of these are read during a given period of time. Sometimes tests are scored based on the amount of time it takes to complete each subtask, while other versions focus more on counting your errors.
The Stroop effect is often used to measure brain development in school-age children. Higher levels of interference are often present in conditions such as brain damage, dementia, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The effect can also be used to determine the severity of these problems, as well as schizophrenia, addictions and other common mental disorders. Many experiments, however, are used to demonstrate brain function as part of a school science fair, while interactive online tests, in several variations, can be run and scored automatically.
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