THE STROOP TEST1
The Stroop Test of working memory
Methodology
Methods
In the study, the response time will be measured four types of tests. The four tests are required for verifying the consistency of results. In addition, it will help affirm the hypothesis and verify if the Stroop test that employs color can work if colors are for instance changed for numbers. The four types of tests will involve colors, numbers, animals and directions. On the other hand, response would be measured for congruent scenarios and incongruent scenarios. There are three groups of stimuli in Stroop paradigms. These include congruent, incongruent, and neutral[D1]. By using the color experiment to differentiate between the stimuli, neutral stimuli pertains to those that in which either the color or the text appears. [D2]On the other hand, congruent stimuli refer to those in which the word and the color connote the same color. Incongruent stimuli manifest a situation in which the color and text refer to different colors. [D3]
The study will target three experimental findings. The semantic interference finding props the hypothesis that says that naming neutral stimuli’s ink color is quicker than in incongruent’s scenarios. Semantic interference, therefore, means that the dissimilarity between the word and the ink color causes the interference. The second finding, semantic facilitation, connotes the idea that naming the color of an ink that matches with the word is faster than in the case of a neutral stimuli. Neutral stimuli, in this case, would refer to when a sole colored square is demonstrated. The third finding manifests that both semantic interference and semantic facilitation are eliminated when the task solely entails naming a particular ink. The interference score, thus, will be demonstrated in terms of the variance in time needed to read congruent and incongruent scenarios[D4].
Design
In this case, however, different stimuli would be used, and the last hypothesis suggests that there is no difference in interference when direction, numbers and animals are employed. For all the stimuli; color, numbers, direction, and animals, the experiment will be conducted in terms of congruent and the incongruent scenarios.
[D5]Participants
The sample included 12 young campus adults from age 18-23 and 12 older people, age 66 to 72, who live in the neighborhood around the campus. The mean age among the young adults will be targeted at 20 years while the mean age of the older people will be targeted at 68 years. All the natives will be English speakers of good health. The main hypothesis lies in the idea that the younger adults would outpace the older adults in working memory. The other hypothesis states that response times will differ in cases of different test conditions, which is in terms of congruent, and incongruent. On the other hand, the third hypothesis states that there would be no difference in response times when the test types would be altered. [D6]
Methods
The test will be conducted in two phases using verbal interview and simultaneous recording of results. This will require the usage of a stopwatch. The time will be recorded between when the question is asked and when the response is made. In the congruent set-up, participants will be asked to name ink colors that match respective colors. In this sense, the average response times for the older group will be compared with the average response times for the younger group. In the second study, the average test times will be recorded for the incongruent tests. In the last stages, the average interference scores will be calculated for all the four stimuli and compared between the results of the older group and the younger grou
References
Aschenbrenner, A., & Balota, D. (2015). Interactive effects of working memory and trial history on Stroop interference in cognitively healthy aging. Psychology and Aging, 30(1), 1-8.
Bialystok, E., Poarch, G., Luo, L., & Craik, F. (2014). Effects of bilingualism and aging on executive function and working memory. Psychology and Aging, 29(3), 696-705.
Gajewski, P., & Falkenstein, M. (2015). Long-term habitual physical activity is associated with lower distractibility in a Stroop interference task in aging: Behavioral and ERP evidence. Brain and Cognition, 98, 87-101.
Hayes, M., Kelly, A., & Smith, A. (2012). Working memory and the strategic control of attention in older and younger adults. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 68(2), 176-183
[D1]This is incorrect.
[D2]This is incorrect.
[D3]This is confusing. Please edit for wording, sentence structure and clarity.
[D4]All of this does not belong in the methods section. Some might but they need to be placed in the appropriate subsections.
[D5]This is included in comment #4
[D6]I am not sure where this came from. I would suggest you review you class notes and slides. These were not the participants meant to be recruited for the experiment.