Half a century of research on the Stroop effect: An integrative review.

Abstract

The literature on interference in the Stroop Color-Word Task, covering over 50 years and some 400 studies, is organized and reviewed. In so doing, a set ofl 8 reliable empirical findings is isolated that must be captured by any successful theory of the Stroop effect. Existing theoretical positions are summarized and evaluated in view of this critical evidence and the 2 major candidate theories--relative speed of processing and automaticity of reading--are found to be wanting. It is concluded that recent theories placing the explanatory weight on parallel processing of the irrelevant and the relevant dimensions are likely to be more successful than are earlier theories attempting to locate a single bottleneck in attention.In 1935, J. R. Stroop published his landmark article on attention and interference, an article more influential now than it was then. Why has the Stroop task continued to fascinate us? Perhaps the task is seen as tapping into the primitive operations of cognition, offering clues to the fundamental process of attention. Perhaps the robustness of the phenomenon provides a special challenge to decipher. Together these are powerful attractions in a field of complex phenomena where the most subtie variation may exert a dramatic effect.In writing this article, I have two primary intentions. The first is to create a taxonomy of the empirical work on the Stroop task and its analogs. At least 70% of the more than 700 Strooprelated articles in the literature have been published since the reviews by Dyer (1973c) and Jensen and Rohwer (1966). Furthermore, Dyer's theoretical framework now seems in need of reconsideration, so that his review no longer provides the optimal organization. The second aim, then, is to survey existing theories, showing the critical weaknesses in the standard explanations and dispelling some myths that have arisen. I argue for a new theoretical framework for the Stroop effect, informed by contemporary cognitive psychology. This framework is more comprehensive than many earlier experiment-specific hypotheses, and suggests directions in which future research might profitably proceed.

Executive Attention and Metacognitive Regulation

“…The resulting reaction times and error rates are compared against a neutral condition in which a noncolor word or a letter string is presented. Highly reliable interference is found when the ink color and word meaning disagree, and a less reliable but often observed facilitation is found when the ink color and word agree (MacLeod, 1991).…”

Integrating biological and social processes in relation to early-onset persistent aggression in boys and girls.

“…The difference score was calculated as the time in seconds to complete Trial 2 minus the time in seconds to complete Trial 1. This difference score is the most widely used Stroop measure of selective attention (MacLeod, 1991) and is theorized to reflect a failure in response inhibition (Lezak, 1995). Individuals whose Stroop difference scores were in the highest 10th percentile were considered to have this biological risk factor.…”

Age-Related Changes in Task-Switching Components: The Role of Task Uncertainty

“…The current literature does not indicate whether this would have an impact on task switching performance. In other attentional paradigms such as Stroop interference or negative priming, targetdistractor ratio seems to matter (e.g., MacLeod, 1991;Tipper, Weaver, Cameron, Brehaut, & Bastedo, 1991).…”