The reverse Stroop effect

Abstract

In classic Stroop interference, manual or oral identification of sensory colors presented as incongruent color words is delayed relative to simple color naming. In the experiment reported here, this effect was shown to all but disappear when the response was simply to point to a matching patch of color. Conversely,strong reverse Stroop interference occurred with the pointing task. That is, when the sensory color of a color word was incongruent with that word, responses to color words were delayed by an average of 69 msec relative to a word presented in gray, Thus, incongruently colored words interfere strongly with pointing to a color patch named by the words, but little interference from incongruent color words is found when the goal is to match the color of the word. These results suggest that Stroop effects arise from response compatibility of irrelevant information rather than automatic processing or habit strength. 121The Stroop effect is one of the easiest and most powerful effects to demonstrate in a classroom, but not the easiest to explain. Nearly every introductory psychology book provides a demonstration ofthe phenomenon: that it is difficult to name the ink color in which different color words are printed. But what is the proper explanation? Perhaps the weakest hypothesis concerning Stroop interference is that "words are processed faster than are colors." It is true that reading words is faster than naming colors, but this seems to be a matter ofresponse compatibility, rather then perceptual speed.

Role of attention and translation in conflict resolution: Implications for Stroop matching task interference.

“…As previously mentioned, small but significant interference was observed by Durgin (2000) in the "color identification" condition of his Stroop pointing task, in which no translation was necessary. Moreover, Sugg and McDonald (1994) showed that when volunteers had to respond to the color by pressing a colored button on a touchscreen (no translation), interference was observed when an irrelevant word preceded the colored target by at least 200 ms.…”

“…Therefore, the combination of S1 duration and ISI produced three different SOAs: 200, 400, and 600 ms (SOA-200, SOA-400, and SOA-600, respectively). As mentioned above, Luo (1999) showed that for simultaneous stimuli presentation under similar conditions, color-to-color comparisons did not produce any interference, and other slightly different studies also reached the same conclusion (e.g., Treisman & Fearnley, 1969;M.O.Glaser & Glaser, 1982;Sugg & McDonald, 1994;Durgin, 2000). Therefore, we decided to study the timecourse of color-to-color matches for SOAs longer than 0 ms to complement those findings.…”

Space, object, and task selection

“…Assuming that the semantic code for the stimulus GREEN is the same as (or at least closely associated with) the semantic code for the vocal response "green," compatibility effects will occur. This mechanism has been proposed independently by other authors to explain certain variations of the Stroop effect (Durgin, 2000(Durgin, , 2003Virzi & Egeth, 1985). In our example, when participants are asked to respond to a red rectangle by saying the word "red," the semantic code for the color red must be translated into the semantic code for the word red (via the response mappings).…”

“…The object selection method proposed by Feintuch and Cohen (2002;see also Cohen & Shoup, 2000) does generate Stroop effects when both dimensions are integrated into the same object but does not explain the numerous reports of Stroop effects when the word is separated from the color patch Brown, Roos-Gilbert, & Carr, 1995;Dyer, 1973;Gatti & Egeth, 1978;Lachter et al, 2008;MacLeod, 1991;Merikle & Gorewich, 1979). Their method also does not explain why the word interferes with color naming but the color does not interfere with word naming (Durgin, 2000(Durgin, , 2003MacLeod, 1991;Stroop, 1935).…”

A reverse Stroop effect without translation or reading difficulty

“…Because both words and colors are essentially equal in terms of response strength, virtually symmetric interference is observed. This is evident in Durgin's (2000) study, in which he obtained 11 msec of Stroop interference when subjects matched the color of the Stroop stimulus to a color patch that varied in location from trial to trial. We replicated this in our lab and found 23 msec of interference and 6 msec (n.s.)…”