An Investigation of the Stroop Task Effect Using an Orthographic Variation of the
3/\/9|$|-| 14/\/9(_)493 (English Language)
Kaetlyn Graham, Michael Schiel, Blaine Peden, Allen Keniston
Psychology Department - University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire
Introduction
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Discussion
Stroop (1932) originally contemplated the effects that two cognitive dimensions
have on each other when presented as a compound stimulus.
Two cognitive dimensions compiled to investigate interference within this
study include:
1) the process of generalization that occurs when presented with physically
similar stimuli to English letters which are composed of numbers and symbols
also known as Leet speak.
2) Identification of colors, which has long been known as a cognitive process
which evocates multiple cognitive responses (Peterson et al, 1925).
An exploratory pilot study indicated that the Stroop interference was reproduced by Leet
words. Additionally, there was a significant change in times from the baseline of reading Leet
speak (BRL) to the resulting baseline (RRL). This study seeks to replicate these results,
and proposes that between the two baseline conditions, a perceptual learning experience
occurs.
Participant’s were able to read the Leet words after only one trial, indicating that possibly
1) an extremely effective and powerful generalization process was operating after that trial
or 2) participants continued to learn Leet speak via perceptual learning during the congruent
and incongruent color identification conditions.
Stroop-induced interference is not greater for those participants most familiar with Leet
words. These results are contrapositive to the results of the pilot study. A reason for this
could be that fewer people were familiar with Leet speak in the current study than in the
pilot study. Future research should more fully sample the range of Leet speak familiarity
among participants. Evocation of multiple responses between identifying colors and reading
Leet may actually prevent interference, requiring participants to alternate rapidly between
identifying color and reading Leet speak.
A one way between subjects ANOVA for the pilot study suggested that familiarity did not have a relationship with the amount of
interference experienced between congruent and incongruent conditions. This study seeks to re-evaluate and replicate that
self-reported exposure rating (familiarity with Leet Speak) will be an indicator of how much interference is experienced.
We expected that participants with higher ACT scores would have faster response times for
reading Leet words and identifying colors. The pilot study demonstrated that ACT negatively
correlated with response time taken for BRL and for BIC, but only when the congruent
condition was before baseline. This study did not replicate the pilot study results.
Fluid intelligence is a concept that refers to the capacity to which individuals are able to logically solve problems and identify
patterns or relationships in novel situations (Catell, 1971). The novelty problem presented to participants in this study is
generalizing Leet words to English words. Standardized tests such as the ACT are thought to be a loose measure of fluid
intelligence. Therefore, this study investigates the extent of the relationship between ACT and the time it takes for
participants audibly report the generalization of Leet words to English words.
Overall, exploring the Stroop effect using Leet speak has given us the opportunity to
explore the cognitive mechanisms underlying the Stroop effect. These include the influence
of perceptual learning, the nature of interactions between cognitive dimensions, and the
effects of previous experience on responding to complex stimuli.
Hypotheses
A perceptual learning process will occur between the baseline of
reading Leet words.
Results
Hypothesis 1
Hypothesis 2
Hypothesis 3
Perceptual Learning Between BRL
Familiarity as a Predictor of Interference
ACT as a Predictor for BRL & BCI
Although ACT was a covariant that
completely wiped out all variance
accounted for the congruent conditions,
Pearson bivariate correlations did not
produce any significant relationships
among the lists.
The interference effect for reading incongruent color words will
be greater for those participants most familiar with Leet words.
ACT scores will demonstrate a negative relationship with the
time it takes to read the Leet words and identify colors.
Methods
Method
Participants
38 undergraduate students from the
University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire took
part in the study. All of the participants
were native speakers of English. The mean
age for the participant pool was 23.
Materials
Eight color words in medium difficulty Leet
Speak were selected to be used in this
experiment – orange, red, pink, green, blue,
purple, gray, and brown.
Procedure
Using M.Powerpoint, subjects were
instructed to audibly report either the
color of a given Leet word, or the Leet
word.
Slides include:
 Two baselines – Identifying colors
(XXX slides, labeled as BIC) and
another was for reading Leet speak
presented in black font (BRL).
 There were 12 slides total in the
PowerPoint in the order of BIC
BRL, CIC (congruent condition,
identifying colors, list 3), IIC
(incongruent condition, identifying
colors, list 4), RRL (resulting
baseline reading Leet speak), RIC
(resulting baseline identifying
colors).
A paired t-test was performed to evaluate
whether a perceptual learning process occurs
between the initial baseline of reading Leet
words (list 2) and the resulting baseline (list 5).
The results indicate that the resulting baseline
of reading Leet words was significantly faster
than the initial baseline, t(37) = 15.61, p <
.000.
A 2 x 6 repeated measures ANCOVA was
conducted to investigate whether there is a main
effect of familiarity (between-subjects) and if there
is an interaction effect with congruency condition
[within-subjects; levels – congruent (list 3),
incongruent (list4)], while controlling for a known
covariant – ACT. There was not a main effect for
familiarity, F(1, 28) = .54, p = .71, and no
interaction effect with the congruency condition
F(4, 28) = .44, p = .78. When conducting a regular 2
x 6 ANOVA, the only significant main effect was
the congruency condition, F(5, 32) = 8.06, p = .008.
However, after conducting the ANCOVA to account
for ACT, this main effect for congruency was
completely wiped out, F(1, 28) = .01, p = .93.
List
r
p
1 BIC
-.15
.39
2 BRL
-.14
.45
5 RRL
.13
.47
6 RIC
.09
.62
Acknowledgements:
We would like to extend our outmost thanks for the
extraordinary guidance and wise words provided by
both Allen Keniston and Blaine Peden. Additionally,
thanks to ORSP for funding of this poster.
References (see handout)
:
Additional Statistical Investigations
An error bar graph to the right indicates the strong significant interference that was
replicated by this study, but was wiped out when ACT was taken into account as a covariant.
Prior to statistical analyses, preliminary data screening indicated that the list 5 scores were
right skewed (skewedness = 3.2, shown as tan colored histogram to the right) as compared to
the other list scores which ranged from .20 – 1.31. In order to fix the departure from
normality, a natural log transformation of the scores were used for analyses as replacement.
The resulting skewedness for list 5 scores was reduced to 1.61, shown as the green histogram
to the right.
Additionally, the Levene test for homogeneity of variance was used to determine whether
there were any serious violations of the homogeneity of variance assumption across groups
(for analyses of hypothesis 2) and no significant value was observed: F(3, 32) = .71, p = .55.