Stroop test, a psychological test based on color

The Stroop test was first published in 1935 and is still valid. This is a test to measure people’s attentional control using an interference system. To produce it, they can be asked, for example, to read a series of color names written in a different shade than the one they designate. Something so simple actually contains a certain degree of difficulty.

This is one of the most common and popular psychological tests. It draws attention above all to its age and the large number of studies it has behind it. It was, in fact, JM Cattell who in 1886 realized something relevant. Human beings discriminate colors before words. The reading process is more complex and undoubtedly requires a higher level of attention and concentration.

It would be the experimental psychologist John Ridley Stroop who would go much deeper into the relationship between cognition and inference, coining what is known as stroop effect. This idea is summarized in the difficulty we have, for example, when reading the word ‘green’ written in red. Something like this generates a high level of difficulty, to the point of being able to evaluate neuropsychological problems.

Let’s see more data below.

Stroop test, what does it measure?

The Stroop test or color and word test is an attention test which evaluates people’s ability to classify information from the environment and react selectively to that information.

It is a very common instrument in neuropsychological practiceespecially to identify students with attention deficits with or without hyperactivity, to evaluate people with dementia with brain damage or even to measure the way in which stress affects our attentional processes. On the other hand, studies such as those carried out carried out by José Pardo and Patricia Jenner, from the University of Minnesota, tell us that The brain area linked to the Stroop task is the anterior cingulate cortex and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Processes related to memory, attention, reading and color discrimination are concentrated in these structures.

How is the Stroop test applied?

If the Stroop test is known for something, it is for its simplicity in its use and application.

It is administered individually. It has a short duration that does not exceed 15 minutes.It is applied to subjects who have already acquired the reading process, so that, on average, it is used in people between 7 and 70 years old.The Stroop test consists of three pictures that contain 100 elements. The purpose is for the subject to be able to reduce their impulses or that first automatic response that usually arises when seeing the pictures. The most common thing, for example, is that we make the classic mistake of reading ‘green’ if the word is written in this color.The Stroop test measures selective attention as well as processing speed.

The three tasks that make up the colors and words test

The Stroop test consists of three very specific and simple phases. These are three very different sheets and in each of them there are 5 columns with 3 elements. What the subject must do in each of them is the following.

First phase: reading

The first task is the simplest and with it, we try to break the ice and, in turn, perform the introduction to this attention test. For it, The person is provided with a list where three words are repeated arbitrarily: red, blue and green. The difficulty is that these words are written in black and the objective is not to make mistakes and do it quickly.

Second phase: what color is it and what shape is it?

In this second phase, the subject is given a second card where they will see a series of figures with different tones. The objective is simple, although not without some difficulty if we do not pay attention. The person is asked to first identify the color of each figure. Then, have them say what symbol or figure it is (a square, a cross…).

Third phase: the inference task

The third task is undoubtedly the best known. On this card there is a set of words that appear in different colors: red, blue and green. The purpose is for the person to be able to read each word without making mistakes and quickly.. The difficulty, of course, lies in the fact that these terms are names of colors, where each shade with which they are written does not correspond to its original meaning.

How is the Stroop test evaluated?

To evaluate the Stroop test, two variables are used: number of correct answers and response time.. Both factors are important, because we may have, for example, people who spend an excessive amount of time performing a single task. The professional must therefore take all the data into account, including the difficulty in understanding the instructions (something common in cases of dementia or drug abuse).

Average, The Stroop test is very useful to evaluate executive functions in patients with Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia or Huntington’s Korea., where damage to the anterior cingulate cortex and prefrontal cortex is usually progressive and evident. As we see, we are faced with a type of instrument that is as simple as it is useful and that, despite the time it has been with us, remains valid and, above all, effective.

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