WHAT IS THE STROOP TASK AND HOW CAN YOU USE IT IN YOUR OWN RESEARCH

Abstract

The Stroop effect is one of the most widely known psychological phenomena. It describes the difficulty to name the font color of a word, if that word itself names a different color. In experienced readers, reading happens automatically and effortlessly. Therefore, it takes mental effort to suppress the meaning we gather from the word to instead focus on its color. 

The mental effort we experience when trying to ignore the meaning of the word is what psychologists call ‘inhibition’. We can say that we need to ‘inhibit’ the automatic response of reading the word so we can give the more unusual response of naming the font color. Our brain’s ability to inhibit automatic responses is crucial to taking deliberate actions. It allows for our behavior to not just be governed by our habits and reflexes. Mental disorders, such as Schizophrenia, depression, or addictions can be both the cause and effect of a loss of inhibitory ability. This makes the study of cognitive inhibition an important focus of research. The Stroop task, among other tools, remains a reliable and widely used instrument to measure it.