The overall aim of the paper Studies of Interference in Serial Verbal Reactions by J. Ridley Stroop is to demonstrate how interference influences the reaction time of a given task. The paper presents an experimental work in the naming of colors while reading the names corresponding to the different colors. The time taken to name a color differs greatly when a color is given and the corresponding name turns out to be the name of the color as opposed to a scenario where the name of the color does not denote the color on which the name is written. Errors are bound to happen when the names do not correspond to the colors they denote and when they denote it color errors become less.
The background information that this paper is built on is the fact that several studies had been conducted to determine the inhibition or interference effect on experimental literature. Several experiments had been carried out before Stroop did this one. Among the several are the inhibiting effects on common daily habits done by Munsterberg, interference effects on association by Kline, among others. Previous studies point out other factors such as readiness of the color names as well as readiness in recognitive processes.
In the first experiment the participants were presented with names of colors printed in black alongside the colors they denoted. The research question addressed in the first experiment is the effect of color identification when the names of the colors were written in black. The participants were expected to read the names of the colors independent of the color of the ink used. The observations show that it took a bit longer to read 100 color names that are printed in colors different from that name of the word than the same ones written in black.
In the second experiment the participants were presented with the words of names written in the same color they denoted. This experiment seeks to identify the effect of the name of the color when it is written in a different ink. The participants were supposed to say the color of the words independent of the color represented by the squares. The colors were supposed to be named irrespective of the words denoting them. The colors of the squares were the stimuli and not the words. In this case the level of inhibition was much higher than in the previous experiment
In the third experiment the participants were presented with a list of solid color cubicles with congruent list of colors. The third research question rising from the third experiment was the effect of the squares that are used to connote color. The color was printed in swastikas with each line having colors whose appearance was separated by one other color. The interference seemed to increase as compared to the other experiments because it took longer for the subjects to say the colors when the names were missing.
The research study hypothesized the time taken by the subject to respond to different presentations; when the font color is different from the color name the subject will take longer to respond but take a shorter time to respond when the font color is the same as the color name. The independent variable in this experiment is the question whether the word name and the color font are the same or different. The dependent variable was the amount of time taken by the participants to respond. The brain gets affected in the processing of information and this only happens when it is dealing with conflicting information. The slowed reaction is as a result of interference brought about by competing phenomenon. There is a huge difference seen in the processing of information when participants were given a matching variable of words and colors and when they were given a non- matching variable of the same. The interferences brought about by non- matching variable interferes with the way the brain processes information. When this is put in real life situations, it means that people can process data easier when they have the right clues but their data processing prowess can be inhibited by conflicting information. Because this experiment is used to determine the psychological capacities of people, it can be used in clinical settings in the future in the treatment of such conditions as dementia and schizophrenia.
Reference
Stroop, J. R. Studies of Interference in Serial Verbal Reactions. PDF File
