Doing a stroop test yourself

Some cognitive processes are different between monolingual and multilingual speakers. In this and the following step, we will introduce you to and let you try a Stroop task yourself. The Stroop task, designed by John Ridley Stroop in 1935, measures inhibitory control. Inhibitory control is the process of altering one’s learned behavioral responses in a way that makes it easier to complete a particular goal and it is normally higher in multilingual speakers. In the regular Stroop task, you are asked to name the colour of the ink and not the written word.

Naming the colour of the ink is rather easy in trials where the word and colour are the same: for example, when the word ‘red’ is printed in red. These conditions are called the congruent conditions, because the colour and the written information match. Incongruent conditions, on the other hand, are more difficult, because then the colour of the ink and the word do not match. For example, the word ‘red’ printed in green. Typically, because of the conflicting information, people are slower to name the colour of an incongruent items than of congruent items. The difference in reaction time between incongruent and congruent items is known as the within-language Stroop effect.

To experience it yourself, we invite you to do the following quiz. To allow for a more genuine experience, try and answer each questions fairly quickly.

In the discussion following the quiz we will ask you to expand on your experience with the stroop task.