The Stroop Effect

This experiment was first described by John Ridley Stroop in 1935. Stroop first tested that reading the word of a color in black was almost the same as reading it on color. Then he tested reading the word in the same color and then incongruent color. He found out that the subjects took an average of 74% longer to read an incongruent color. This was due to how humans were more practiced to name reading then color naming.
This experiment consists of first naming several color names with their respective color. For many people this is an easy task to perform. Then several names of colors will be provided, but this time the name of the color will not match the real color, for example Yellow, Blue, Red Green. The Stroop effect is the demonstration of the reaction time of a task. When the name of a color is shown in another color instead of its own, naming the color shown takes longer and has a greater chance of committing a mistake. This is do since your brain is trying to process to different types of information, it is trying to process both the color and the word naming the color. The brain is trying to suppress the input from the printed word, in order to focus on the color of the word. Studies have shown that people who do not know how to read or are learning a new language or even child have no problem naming the color of the word.

"BACKGROUND ON THE STROOP EFFECT." Rochester Institute of Technology. Web. 10 Sept. 2010.

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"What Is the Stroop Effect?" WiseGEEK: Clear Answers for Common Questions. Web. 10 Sept. 2010. .