The Stroop Effect and Colour-Related Words
THE STROOP EFFECT AND COLOUR-RELATED WORDS
ABSTRACT
An experiment was carried out to test if the Stroop effect occurred when a small but significant modification to the conditions was applied to the classic Stroop experiments. Previous evidence suggested that although automatic and controlled processes can work simultaneously, they can cause undesired interferences. In this experiment, colour names were replaced by colour-related words in the Stroop condition and it was found that the Stroop effect still occurs, suggesting that characteristics of the meaning of the word are automatically processed and perceived.
INTRODUCTION
Our senses (visual, auditory, tactile and so on) detect external stimuli. This sensory information is processed by internal cognitive processes and result in perception (Edgar, 2007, p.3).
We have limited brainpower capacity to process all the information available to us through our senses (Edgar, 2007, p11) and for our brains to allocate appropriate resources, this information gets filtered by cognitive processes. One of these processes is attention. Attention acts like a filter between what is sensed and what is perceived and allocates sensory information processing resources as appropriate.
Several studies have been conducted in the area of attention. In 1954, Donald Broadbent suggested that the attention system works like a “bottleneck” that only allows a limited amount of sensory information through (as cited in Edgar, 2007, p.17). He further suggested that this “bottleneck” chooses the information based on its type and physical characteristics, such as location or sound pitch. Posner (1980) suggested that “spotlight” would be a more appropriate analogy (as cited in Edgar, 2007, p.15), as the area illuminated by it receives priority of processing resources. Eriksen & Murphy, 1987, suggested that a “zoom lens” was still a more accurate analogy as attention can be zoomed in on a small area and thus its information processing
ABSTRACT
An experiment was carried out to test if the Stroop effect occurred when a small but significant modification to the conditions was applied to the classic Stroop experiments. Previous evidence suggested that although automatic and controlled processes can work simultaneously, they can cause undesired interferences. In this experiment, colour names were replaced by colour-related words in the Stroop condition and it was found that the Stroop effect still occurs, suggesting that characteristics of the meaning of the word are automatically processed and perceived.
INTRODUCTION
Our senses (visual, auditory, tactile and so on) detect external stimuli. This sensory information is processed by internal cognitive processes and result in perception (Edgar, 2007, p.3).
We have limited brainpower capacity to process all the information available to us through our senses (Edgar, 2007, p11) and for our brains to allocate appropriate resources, this information gets filtered by cognitive processes. One of these processes is attention. Attention acts like a filter between what is sensed and what is perceived and allocates sensory information processing resources as appropriate.
Several studies have been conducted in the area of attention. In 1954, Donald Broadbent suggested that the attention system works like a “bottleneck” that only allows a limited amount of sensory information through (as cited in Edgar, 2007, p.17). He further suggested that this “bottleneck” chooses the information based on its type and physical characteristics, such as location or sound pitch. Posner (1980) suggested that “spotlight” would be a more appropriate analogy (as cited in Edgar, 2007, p.15), as the area illuminated by it receives priority of processing resources. Eriksen & Murphy, 1987, suggested that a “zoom lens” was still a more accurate analogy as attention can be zoomed in on a small area and thus its information processing
References: * Edgar, Graham (2007) ‘Perception and Attention’ in Miell, D., Phoenix, A. and Thomas, K. (eds) Mapping Psychology, (2nd ed., pp.3-56) Milton Keynes / The Open University *