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STROOP EFFECT A test of the capacity to direct attention Research aiding the process of localization |
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Raymond De Young INTRODUCTION To understand the mental process involved in the Stroop effect, look at the following four letters: tree. If you are like most people it is difficult for you not to quickly read the word "tree." Most humans are so proficient at reading, at perceiving whole words, that they do not easily notice the individual letters. This is why proofreading is so hard to do. This tendency to quickly perceive words is used in testing for the Stroop effect.
THE NEUROPSYCHOLOGY John Ridley Stroop first reported this effect in his Ph.D. dissertation published in 1935. Current research on the Stroop effect emphasizes the interference that automatic processing of words has on the more mentally effortful task of just naming the ink color. The task of making an appropriate response - when given two conflicting signals - has tentatively been located in a part of the brain called the anterior cingulate. This is a region that lies between the right and left halves of the frontal portion of the brain. It is involved in a wide range of cognitive processes.
THE ROLE OF DIRECTED ATTENTION The cognitive mechanism at work in this process is called directed attention. This mental resource is used to manage our thoughts by inhibiting one response in order to say or do something else. The capacity to direct attention is a foundational mental resource that allows us to voluntarily manage the focus of our thoughts. It is useful in our effort to remain effective, productive, clearheaded and helpful. We can use it to inhibit the power of certain features of the immediate physical and social environment, as well as internal distractions, so as to allow consideration of less salient but nonetheless valued information. Directed attention allows for a variety of prosocial and proenvironmental behaviors. It permits us to pursue important goals despite interesting competition in the immediate setting, to help others despite our own unmet needs, and to resist temptation so that we can remain devoted to a larger concern. In short, the capacity to direct attention is an essential resource for achieving both civility and environmental stewardship. FATIGUING THE CAPACITY TO DIRECT ATTENTION Research indicates that directed attention is a scarce and finite mental resource. When placed under continual demand, our ability to direct the focus of our thoughts tires, resulting in a condition called directed attention fatigue (DAF). This condition reduces our overall mental effectiveness and makes consideration of abstract concepts and long-term goals difficult, at best. SOME CONSEQUENCES OF DIRECTED ATTENTION FATIGUE DAF causes irritability and impulsivity that results in regrettable behavior, impatience that has us making poor decisions, and distractibility that allows the immediate environment to have a greatly magnified effect on our decisions. Directed attention fatigue makes both pro-environmental and pro-social behavior much less likely. Simply stated: Burned out people cannot help heal the planet. ONGOING RESEARCH Tests using the Stroop effect provide insight into the cognitive and behavioral effects that are experienced as a result of DAF. For further discussion of the capacity to direct attention, its fatigue, restoration and management, and for links to related documents, see:
For background information see:
There are several ways to demonstrate the Stroop effect. When included in a properly designed experiment, they can also be used to measure our capacity to direct attention. These methods share the same basic procedure. A paper version of the Stroop task involves showing words that are the names of colors in the participant's native language (for an English language version see Stroop test image here and other images here and here). The letters making up each word are printed in a color of ink different from the color name the word represents. You are asked to quickly respond with the color ink you see, and inhibit the printed word. It turns out that this is much harder than it sounds and research documents lower scores with increased directed attention fatigue. As part of a study of the effect of high altitudes on mountain climbers, NOVA created an interactive web-based test of the Stroop effect involving three stages (see Table 1) . This version is available below. The third stage of the online test demonstrates the Stroop effect with color words displayed in the wrong color. Each stage is preceded by three (3) short practice demos. Once a given stage starts you will be asked to use the keyboard left and right arrow keys to give your responses. At the end of each stage the task will display your score (number correct and time). Table 1. Description of online Stroop test
Click the blue button below to take the online Stroop test.
If your web browser does not have the Shockwave plug-in necessary to run this demonstration, you can install it from the Adobe website.
OTHER TESTS OF DIRECTED ATTENTION Another online Stroop effect self-test is here.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Portions used with permission. The ShockWave version of the Stroop test was developed for Nova with assistance from Rick Mahurin of the Battelle Seattle Research Center. Hosted and maintained by the Environmental Psychology Lab at the School of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1041. Part of ongoing research on the process of localization aimed at: (a) helping to plan for, motivate and maintain environmental stewardship and (b) pre-familiarizing ourselves with living well within the limits of local ecosystems. This document is part of The Localization Papers. EPLab OnLine Measures (EPLab OLM) — Stroop Effect — Version: 5.3
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The Stroop effect (sometimes called the Stroop test) is an outcome of our mental (attentional) vitality and flexibility. The effect is related to the ability of most people to read words more quickly and automatically than they can name colors. If a word is displayed in a color different from the color it actually names; for example, if
the word green is written in blue ink (as shown in the figure to the left) then we have a hard time noticing the blue ink. In this instance, even when asked to name the color of the ink, we tend to say the name the word represents.
Although the functions of the anterior cingulate are very complex, broadly speaking it acts as a conduit between lower, somewhat more impulse-driven brain regions and higher, somewhat more thought-driven behaviors. The Stroop effect's sensitivity to changes in brain function may be related to its association with the anterior cingulate.
