Stroop Effect Essays

Stroop Effect Essays Stroop Effect Essay Stroop Effect Essay Discussion The aim of this experiment was to replicate the original experiment carried out by the Stroop effect theorists and gain the same results. The Stroop Effect has a very long and established history of research that most if not all produce congruent results. However, in this experiment the results say otherwise, but this does not mean that one is right and the other is wrong. Consider the factors that may have contributed to producing such results. Since the experiment had results that there is no significant relationship between the Stroop effect and reaction time there could be several factors that may have contributed this: (1) demographics, (2) age and (3) gender. The Stroop performance has been found to be related to demographic factors and the relationship between an advanced age and reduced performance has been consistently reported. (Houx et al. , 1993; Graf et al. , 1995; Ivnik et al. , 1996; Klein et al. , 1997; Golden Freahwater, 2002; Moering et al. , 2004; Lucas et al. , 2005; Steinberg et al. 2005; Van der Elst. , 2006) Moreover, although the effect is relatively small, educational level is also known to have a significant influence. (Houx et al. , 1993; Ivnik et al. , 1996; Klein et al. , 1997; Golden Freahwater, 2002; Moering et al. , 2004; Lucas et al. , 2005; Steinberg et al. , 2005; Van der Elst. , 2006) In addition, the influence of gender was found to be significant; women performed better than men. Moreo ver, there was an interaction between gender and education for the color page indicating women outperformed men with increasing educational attainement. If the word meaning and colour are the same then facilitation appears; this results in a faster reaction time than ompared to when the word meaning and colour are different, in-congruent and interference occurs. It is Also easier to simply name an ink patch then it is an in- congruent word. The Horse Race Model explains this by saying that there is only one single exit before saying the same and so the two independent processes, reading and colour naming, are in competition to get there first; reading is the fastest of these processes and so gets there first. When the word meaning and colour are in- congruent and interference occurs then the single exit is blocked, with the wrong esponse, and so a delay occurs because the wrong response has been rejected and suspended to allow the correct response to be said. when the word mean and colour are the same then the reading process still gets there first however, as it is the correct response, the reaction time of naming the colour decreases. This experiment will look at the Horse Race Model (HRM), the reading process will be delayed by different variants of time, this should mean that the colour naming process will get to the exit first. For this participants will be required to make a decision about what colour is being presented on a monitor, as fast as possible. There has been some dispute in past research on experiments done on the HRM, for example; Lost et al and Glaser et al found that delaying the word meaning showed the HRM in practise and it had an effect on the reaction time of the response. However Goolkasian found rather different results, he did not see the HRM in action, this difference in results between the researchers is a reason for this experiment. It is unclear to what extent, if any, the HRM has on response time; because of these conflicting finding more research is needed. The main reason for experiment was to test if the HRM gave a alid reason for the Strop effect. As mentioned prestigiously the HRM assumes that, as reading is the fastest of the two independent processes then reading a word should be faster than naming a colour therefore it predicts that there should be a significant interference when the word and the colour are presented simultaneously for the in-congruent conditions and a significant facilitation when congruent word and colour appear simultaneously. This interference and facilitation, if the HRM is correct will be significantly reduced when there is a delay because naming the colour wou a nave aa Methods Participants nea start ana slowed down tne read Ing process. There was a total of 159 participants used for this in this study. They were recruited as a sample group in the University of Essex. Apparatus An Apple lmac was used, this had a screen resolution of 19201200 pixels. On a 24 screen. Using Supercard version 4. 7 software. Materials The participants were presented with stimuli of two components which was displayed to them on screen. One stimuli was the coloured rectangular patch (3. 55. 5cm). This patch was presented in a variety of difference colours; yellow, red, green and blue. The other stimuli that was presented to the participants was a word, which either matched up to one of the four colours, however could have been in- congruent or congruent or a natural, control word being XXXXX. As well being presented with the patch, the words would also appear, in size 24, in the centre of the patch. There were four conditions for when the word appeared; Oms (simultaneously), looms, 200ms or 350ms. The participants were also presented with the four colour in 4 separate answer/response squares: ranging in sizes. Once the participant had selected which colour they were presented with either correct or ncorrect. Design This was a repeated measure design in which participants were to take part in all conditions. The independent variables for this condition were the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA), which constituted of 4 times; Oms, 100ms, 200ms and 350ms. The second independent variable was the congruence level which was made up of three conditions; congruence, in-congruence and neutral. The dependent variable was how long it took the participant to identifying the colour patch, which was measured in milliseconds(ms). Procedure To begin with participants were asked to open the correct software. Participants randomly assigned to 144 trials, which was made of 2 trials for each of the 12 conditions that were being used. The participants were asked to name the colour as fast as possible, the way they responded to the colour was using a keyboard in which each colour was assigned to a key; Q=Yellow, W=Red, 0=Blue and P=Green. Each trial started wltn a wnlte rectangular Dox Delng snown In tne centre 0T tne screen, underneath this box were the four keys, labelled with the appropriate colour. After 1 second a randomised colour patch appeared (which could have been any of the four olours, red, blue, green and yellow) followed by the word or XXXXX depending on randomised condition, this word would be neutral, in-congruent or congruent and appear after a random SOA. The participants were giving a 2 second limit on the response time, and once they had responded using the corresponding key, Q,W,O or P, they were presented with feedback either correct or incorrect. Once the participant had finished the trial pressing the space bar would allow them to move onto the next trial. After 24 trials participants were giving a break, the next set of rials would then resume when the space bar was pressed. Once all 6 blocks were finished the test was over and the participants were presented with 12 scores which they were asked to record on a table given to them on entering the room. Results although 159 participants were used for this experiment 17 participants data could not be used due to colour blindness or not having enough correct responses, if participants got less than 8 out of 12 of the trials correct their data could not be used. This left the study with data from 142 participants. Ones the raw data was received from the participants, an means and standard eviations were calculated for each of the conditions giving a total of 12 means and 12 standard deviations. Also four paired sample t-tests were conducting to see if the predictions had come true. Table 1 shows the mean reaction time for all the conditions, as we can see the ln- congruent at Oms was the slowest time (M=826. 28, SD 188. 131) and the fastest time being the neutral at looms (M-722. 30, 133. 386). Table 1- Descriptive statistics on mean reaction time in ms and Standard deviations Condition Mean (in ms) Standard deviation In-congruent at Oms 826. 28 188. 13 Neutral at oms 715. 63 130. 9 congruent at oms 781. 2 161. 83 In-congruent at looms 778. 61 179. 42 Neutral at looms 722. 3 133. 39 congruent at looms 738. 8 178. 25 In-congruent at 200srn 716. 47 140. 29 Neutral at 200rns 732. 08 144. 61 congruent at 200rns 738. 8 129. 95 In-congruent at 350ms 735. 11 156. 27 Neutral at 350ms 24. 05 156. 13 congruent at 350ms 729. 62 153 I ne palrea sample t-test tnat were conauctea snowed a numDer 0T tnlngs, Tlrstly we can see that inference occurred at Oms, when in-congruence is compared to neutral at Oms we can see a significant result. In-congruence having a mean of 826. 28 while neutral having a mean of 715. 63, t(141)=9. 60, p=