Strooptestet

The Stroop test is a psychological experiment that demonstrates interference in reaction time of a task. It was first described by John Ridley Stroop in 1935. The task involves presenting participants with a list of words printed in colors that are different from the words themselves. For example, the word "red" might be printed in blue ink. Participants are asked to name the color of the ink, not the word itself.

The interference effect occurs because the brain has to inhibit the automatic reading of the word to focus on the color of the ink. This cognitive conflict leads to slower reaction times and increased errors when the word and ink colors are incongruent. The Stroop test is used to measure selective attention, cognitive interference, and processing speed. It has been widely used in research on attention, memory, and executive functions, and is also employed in clinical settings to assess cognitive impairments associated with conditions such as ADHD, brain injury, and dementia. Variations of the test exist, including backward Stroop tasks and tasks involving auditory stimuli, but the core principle of identifying the ink color of a word remains central to its design.