Running head: THE STROOP TASK

The Stroop Task:

Attention Reflects the Performance of Participants

Brianna Bennett

University of Central Florida

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Abstract
The Stroop task is a very known test used in psychology to demonstrate the selectiveness of

attention and the relationship between controlled and automatic processing. The Stroop task

involves a display of words that are either congruent or incongruent with the actual color of the

font. For example, a congruent word would be a word that reads red and has a red font. An

incongruent word would be a word that reads red, but has a green font. The purpose of this study

was to prove how crucial the participant’s attention is to be successful in accuracy and quickness

of the Stroop task. In this particular study, grade point averages were used to prove how those

with a higher grade point average will outperform those with a lower grade point average in both

the accuracy of the color called out as well as the response time.
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The Stroop Task:

Attention Reflects the Performance of Participants

The Stroop task is a way of measuring a participant’s reaction time, inhibitory control,

attention, and executive function. The Stroop task can be performed in different ways, but for

the purpose of our research, we will be focusing on the most common method (word-color) and

the numerical version. The Stroop task is heavily influenced by perception, more specifically

attention. Olk (2013), states that “attention plays a crucial role in the Stroop task, which requires

attending to less automatically processed task-relevant attributes of stimuli and the suppression

of involuntary processing of task-irrelevant attributes.” There is a lot of relevant and recent

research going on to prove how attention is crucial to perform well on the Stroop task and how

attention can be affected by eye movement patterns, working memory load, high spans of

memory capacity, caffeine, and lucid dreaming.

Olk (2013) argues that saccadic eye moment patterns and fixations is a great way to

measure where attention is allocated. Attention and eye moments are strongly linked because

where we are looking and what we are focused on, is where our attention is directed towards.

Some things are easily ignored, whereas others are not. The Stroop task is typically presented to

the participant as either congruent (the words match the color) or incongruent (the words do not

match the color). Our automatic response is reading, so when we see a word, we read the word

before thinking about the color of the word, which is bottom-up processing. The task presented

in the Stroop task is identifying the color of the word, not reading what the word says, which

requires ignoring the automatic response and having to use top-down processing. For example, a

word might read red, but is presented in green color (incongruent) or a word might read red and

is presented in red color (congruent). The following research studies that are going to be talked
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about hypothesize that there is a quicker response time for congruent words than incongruent

words.

Olk (2013) uses a different Stroop task, one with numerical values so that he can

accurately demonstrate the eye moment patterns. Olk (2013) specifies that for his study, the

congruent condition has the higher numbers in the larger array, whereas in the incongruent

condition, the lower numbers are in the larger array. This research study proved that there is a

quicker response time and accuracy for congruent numbers than incongruent numbers. Olk

(2013) also summarized that participants frequently looked to the array of numbers with more

items and were attracted by higher numbers. This study proves that attention overall is an

important factor in the accuracy and response time during the Stroop task.

Researchers suggest that “working memory capacity predicts the ability to suppress

reflexive movements, rapidly focus attention, and avoid being distracted by powerful stimuli,

such as hearing one’s own name” (Shipstead & Broadway, 2013). This research focuses on

working memory capacity and early suppression versus late suppression. Shipstead and

Broadway (2013), state that early selection is when low working memory capacity participants

outperform high working memory capacity participants when there is no warning given about the

task, but high working memory capacity participants outperform low memory capacity

participants when there is a warning about the task. Late selection states that high working

memory capacity participants will consistently outperform low working memory capacity

participants regardless of a warning or not. This research study proved that the higher the

working memory capacity, the quicker the response as well as more errors on incongruent words.

Again, this demonstrated how attention is crucial because attention to the words relates to

working memory and the likelihood of a Stroop interference.

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Researchers suggest that the frontal executive control system plays a role in mediating

top-down processing and suppressing automatic responses (Kalanthroff et al., 2015). These

researches performed an experiment to prove that task conflict occurs under high working

memory load and not low working memory load during a Stroop task. Kalanthroff et al. (2015),

suggest that proactive control serves as a control mechanism for both informational and Stroop

task conflicts. The higher the working memory, the better the accuracy, but the longer the

response time because of an increased interference. Something that should be made note of is

what affects attention that can therefore result in quicker response times, such as caffeine and

something not so obvious, lucid dreaming.

Soar et al. (2016), assessed the effects of a normal dose of caffeinated coffee (about one

cup) on executive function. Caffeine is a widely consumed beverage world-wide, so taking note

of how caffeine may affect attention is note-worthy for a Stroop task, considering that a

participant may or may not have consumed coffee before completing the task. Caffeine is known

to “reduce mental fatigue and improve alertness, increase attention and reduce reaction times,

increase concentration, improve response accuracy, focus attention and enhance short-term

memory” (Soar et al., 2016). The results of this study reflected that caffeine consumption results

in a faster response time on a Stroop task, but there are no effects on inhibitory control.

Blagrove and Wilkinson (2010), performed a study that examined frequent lucid

dreamers, occasional lucid dreamers, and nonlucid dreamers to find out if lucid dreaming

influenced the response time during a Stroop task. Lucid dreaming is known as one who is

aware that they are dreaming, while still being asleep. To know that you are dreaming requires a

great amount of attentional skills just like performing efficiently on a Stroop task does. The

hypothesis of the study predicted that frequent lucid dreamers would have a quicker response
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time on a Stroop task because they have better attentional skills than those who do not have lucid

dreams often or at all. The findings of the study proved the hypothesis right; frequent lucid

dreamers had better response times on the Stroop task because their attention is more focused.

The researchers suggested that for future research, researchers should test the time in seconds it

takes to accurately do a Stroop test for individuals who have longer lucid dreams or more control

in their lucid dreams (Blagrove & Wilkinson, 2010).

All five of these research methods used participants between the ages of eighteen and

thirty-seven, most being between eighteen and twenty-five. The participants all consisted of

both males and females who either received money or a college course credit for their

participation. The dependent variables, the response time and the accuracy, were measured in

each study on the Stroop task and all the studies demonstrated how attention is crucial to the

overall performance. Something to take more note of is the time of day the Stroop task is

performed because some people may focus better in the morning or at night, as well as the

amount of sleep one has, if one suffers from any depression or anxiety that may disrupt

attentional capabilities, as well as the type of student one is. The studies should show the grade

point average of the students to reflect if the participants are scholarly students, thus already

indicating that they will perform better on a Stroop task than participants with low grade point

averages. It is hypothesized in this study that college students with a high-grade point average

will outperform college students with a low-grade point average on a Stroop task and will reflect

higher attentional capabilities.

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Method

Participants

The participants in this study will be recruited from local colleges using social media as well as

email. They will not be paid for their participation, but I intend to reward them all with donuts

and a coffee after they have performed the Stroop task. Participants must meet the criteria of

having attended any college and having a grade point average to report before participating in the

Stroop task. Based on their reported grade point averages, participants will be assigned to the

following groups:

High grade point averages, having a grade point average of 3.0 or higher [6 females and 6 males,

mean age = 24.25];

Low grade point averages, having a grade point average of 2.9 or below [4 females and 4 males,

mean age = 23.88].

It is important to note that all participants will have provided their informed consent and will be

treated in accordance with the “Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct” of the

American Psychological Association.

Materials

The materials used for the Stroop task will be forty flashcards; twenty congruent (the words

spelled out matched the color ink used) and twenty incongruent (the words spelled out did not

match the color ink used). The words and colors used will be red, green, blue, and yellow. A

timer will also be used to record the time in seconds that it took each participant to complete the

Stroop task. A document for each participant will be used to record their name, age, GPA,

correctness on congruent and incongruent conditions, and the total time in seconds for

completion.
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Design

The experimental design of my experiment is between-subjects because each person was only

tested once, therefore it was an independent study. The independent variable is the grade point

average with two levels; high and low. The dependent variable is the accuracy of the color word

named performed on the Stroop task.

Procedure

Participants will individually report to a private office at the University chosen to perform the

Stroop task without any distractions. Each participant will first be given a document for them to

right their name, gender, and grade point average on. I will then use the document to record the

total time in seconds that it took for the participant to complete the Stroop task as well as how

many congruent and incongruent conditions that the participant got wrong. Each participant will

individually be given the same directions: “You are about to be administered a Stroop task

presented on flash cards. Your job is to name the color of the ink and not the actual word. There

will be a timer to record the amount of time this task takes you in seconds, but there is no time

limit.” After the directions, I intend to administer the Stroop task to the participant by using

flash cards. When the participant has named the color, I will place the flashcard in either the

correct or incorrect pile and show them the next card. Again, each participant will be allowed to

take their time for each item because there is no time limit. Each condition will be recorded as

the time in seconds that it took the participant to complete all 40 items and the total number of

errors.

Predicted Results / Discussion

In this study, we hypothesized that college students with a high-grade point average will

outperform college students with a low-grade point average on a Stroop task and will reflect
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higher attentional capabilities. The predicted results would respectfully prove the hypothesis

correct in that students with a high-grade point average would get less wrong on a Stroop task

than students with a low-grade point average. The study would also prove that students with a

high-grade point average have a quicker response time than students with a low-grade point

average.

The implications of these predicted results would prove that the Stroop task requires a

great amount of attention skills and requires one to ignore their automatic responses of wanting

to say the word first, but rather to think about the color of the word. Students with high grade

point averages pay attention more and process what they are trying to understand. Students with

a low-grade point average are going to make more mistakes because they make decisions without

processing the instructions of the task because they are not giving the task attention. This study

will show how attention is very crucial to be successful at a Stroop task.

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References

Blagrove, M., Bell, E., & Wilkinson, A. (2010). Association of lucid dreaming frequency

with Stroop task performance. Dreaming, 20(4), 280-287. doi:10.1037/a0020881

Kalanthroff, E., Avnit, A., Henik, A., Davelaar, E. J., & Usher, M. (2015). Stroop proactive

control and task conflict are modulated by concurrent working memory load.

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 22(3), 869-875. doi:10.3758/s13423-014-0735-x

Olk, B. (2013). Measuring the allocation of attention in the Stroop task: Evidence from eye

movement patterns. Psychological Research, 77(2), 106-115. doi:10.1007/s00426-011-

0405-9

Shipstead, Z., & Broadway, J. M. (2013). Individual differences in working memory capacity

and the stroop effect: Do high spans block the words?. Learning And Individual

Differences, 26191-195. doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2012.04.003

Soar, K., Chapman, E., Lavan, N., Jansari, A. S., & Turner, J. D. (2016). Investigating the effects

of caffeine on executive functions using traditional Stroop and a new ecologically-valid

virtual reality task, the Jansari assessment of Executive Functions (JEF©). Appetite,

105156-163. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2016.05.021