Feedback Stress: Does Auditory Feedback Negatively Affect Performance on a Stroop Task?

The Stroop Effect

In his historic study, Stroop found that reading names of colors interfered with individuals’ ability to name the ink color the word was printed in when the two differed (i.e., the word “BLUE” written in red ink) (1935). However, the basis of this phenomenon can be traced back to Cattell who found that naming colors and pictures took twice as long to accomplish than reading the word these colors or pictures represented (1886). He concluded that this was due to reading being an automatic process while identifying colors or pictures requires a conscious effort (Cattell, 1886). MacLeod (1991) reflects that it was Cattell’s work which strongly influenced future psychologist including Stroop.

In his experiment, Stroop investigated how the reaction time to name colors increased when it conflicted with the automatic process of reading. He broke down his experiment into three parts. In the first, he tested how reading the name of a color printed in a different ink color (i.e., BLUE) differed from reading the name of a color printed in black ink (i.e., BLUE). The difference between the name of the color and the ink color it was printed in caused a slight interference resulting in an increased reaction time of 2.3 seconds (Stroop, 1935).

In the second part of his experiment, Stroop (1935) looked at reaction time differences between naming the color of solid blocks (i.e., ■ ■ ■ ■ ■) versus naming the color of the ink not the name of the color (i.e., responding “RED” for BLUE). He found that participants required 74% more time to name the color of the ink when it did not agree with the name of the color (Stroop, 1935). Stroop concluded that it was the interference between the automatic process of reading the na...

... middle of paper ...

...a preliminary feedback intervention theory. Psychological Bulletin, 119(2), 254-284. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.119.2.254

MacLeod, C. M. (1991). Half a century of research on the Stroop Effect: An integrative review. Psychological Bulletin, 109(2), 163-203. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.109.2.163

Richards, A., French, C. C., Johnson, W. Naparstek, J., & Williams, J. (1992). Effects of mood manipulation and anxiety on performance of an emotional Stroop task. British Journal of Psychology, 83(4), 479-491.

Shor, R. E. (1975). An auditory analog of the Stroop test. Journal of General Psychology, 93(2), 281-288.

Stroop, J. R. (1935). Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 18(6), 643-662.

Thorndike, E. L. (1913). Educational psychology, volume ii: The psychology of learning. New York, NY: Teachers College, Columbia University.