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A Behavioral Analysis of the Stroop Effect

Participants demonstrate the Stroop effect when, in naming the color in which a word appears, reaction times are longer when the color and word are incongruent (e.g., "yellow" printed in blue) compared to when they are congruent (e.g., "yellow" printed in yellow). The literature commonly refers to the difference in reaction times as a measure of the interference of word stimuli upon color stimuli, and is taken as support for the theory of automaticity. This study asks whether the Stroop effect can be analyzed as interactions within and across stimulus classes. Adult participants learned three 3-member classes (color, word, and pattern) in a serialized order of training. In the testing phase, participants were presented with compound stimuli formed from combinations of members within and across classes (e.g., word and color), and reaction times were recorded in similar fashion to the Stroop task. Results show that averaged participants' reaction times are faster to compound stimuli comprised of members within the same class, compared to compound stimuli formed with members from different classes. These group-level data are consistent with the Stroop literature in that congruent compounds produce faster reaction times relative to incongruent compounds. However, individual participant data do not consistently reflect the Stroop effect. Further considerations for future research in this area are discussed.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc1538655
Date08 1900
CreatorsLuc, Oanh
ContributorsVaidya, Manish, Ortu, Daniele, Dracobly, Joseph
PublisherUniversity of North Texas
Source SetsUniversity of North Texas
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis or Dissertation
Formatv, 36 pages, Text
RightsPublic, Luc, Oanh, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights Reserved.

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