This study shown above was explored in the present experiment. Previous research has shown that the response times will be longer for colour related words so we can predict that based on that, the times for the first condition will be longer. The hypothesis for this experiment is two tailed as there is a lot of previous research.
The experimental hypothesis is that people find it harder to name what ink a word is written in if the word is the name of a colour rather than if the word is colour neutral. The null hypothesis is that there will be no difference in the processing time of the colour related words and colour neutral lists.
Method
Design
The experiment adopted a within participants design as the same participants were used in both conditions. The independent variable is the two lists of words and the dependent variable is the time taken to read the lists. The two lists of words were condition 1 – colour associated words and condition 2 – colour neutral words. The time taken to read them was measured in seconds. A number of controls were used in the experiment to make sure the effects of the confounding variables. The same instructions were given to all participants and they were not given the chance to confer with each other before the test.
Participants
Twenty people took part in the test. Sixteen of which were recruited from colleagues at the Open University or friends and family. The other four participants were selected by the author and were friends. The age of the participants varied between eighteen and sixty nine and was a mix of thirteen women and seven males.
Materials
Two lists of thirty words were prepared on A4 sheets. One list contains words such as plum, blood and lemon and the other contained colour neutral words such as blame, ledge and grade. Each word was printed in one of six colours: red, orange, yellow, blue, green or purple. The same ink colour sequence was used for lists. All words were printed in the same font and were the same size. Examples of the word lists are shown in Appendix 1. Also used was a stopwatch to time the responses. Standard instructions were also given to the participants (Appendix 2) and a consent form was completed by each participant before they underwent the task (Appendix 3).
Procedure
All the participants were approached and asked if they would take part in a psychological experiment. Their names and ages were recorded and they were asked if they had any previous psychological experience. They were given a consent form to sign (see Appendix 4) and all were tested on an individual basis with no chance to confer before the test. They were read a list of standard instructions to follow (see Appendix 3) which explained condition 1 (colour related words) and condition 2 (colour neutral words) and what they had to do. They explained that the participant had to read from the top left word down the left column then from the top to the bottom of the right column). They explained that they had to name the colour of the ink that the word was written in and not the name of the word itself. They were told to complete the tasks as quickly as possible. Once the participant understood the instructions they were given the list of words (see Appendix 2). When they were ready the experimenter started the stopwatch and timed the participant reading the list of words. When they finished reading the experimenter stopped the timer and recorded the time taken to read the words (see Appendix 5). The participant was then debriefed about the nature of the test and asked if they had any questions they wanted answering.
Results
The experimental hypothesis was that people find it harder to name what ink a word is written in if the word is the name of a colour rather than if the word is colour neutral. The time taken to test this was recorded in seconds.
As can be seen by the table above, there was a difference in the times taken with the second condition (colour neutral words) being 3 seconds longer than the first condition (colour related words). A paired samples test was conducted on the results which showed the results as t(19) = 4.595, p = 0.000, d = 0.775. This analysis showed the p value at 0.000 to be statistically significant which means the experimental hypothesis can be accepted and the null hypothesis rejected. The d value at 0.775 shows a large effect size which tells us the size of the difference between the two means. These two values show us that there was a longer time taken to name the colours in condition one than condition two.
Discussion
The results showed a significant difference in the time taken to read the colour related words over the colour neutral words. This is in line with previous research which has been undertaken and supports the experimental hypothesis of this study.
This study was done on a small scale with only twenty participants.
In the study when naming the colours on the first condition, a number of participants named the word rather than the ink colour and spent a number of seconds correcting themselves. This in itself had an effect on the results. For further research the number of mistakes could be measured and tested. Also some of the participants seemed to slow down when reading colour words and tried to pay more attention to the task.
Further research on this subject could try to find out whether automatic processing can deal with even more complex inputs. That is to see if the automatic processer can process information at a deeper level than surface level.
The limited capacity theory is supported by the Stroop experiment because it shows that’s the capacity of attention is limited by doing two things at the same time, i.e. seeing the word and saying the colour of the ink the word is written in. Knowledge of the word interferes with the process.
References
Edgar, G. (2007). Perception and attention. In D. Miell, A. Phoenix, K. Thomas (Eds). Mapping Psychology(2nd ed, pp1-56). Milton Keynes, The Open University.
Appendices
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Condition 1
Condition 2
Appendix 3
Instructions
In a moment I will place a sheet of A4 paper in front of you that contains
two columns of words. You will notice that the words are written in six
different colours of ink – red, blue, green, yellow, orange and purple.
What I would like you to do is to say out loud the colour of the ink each
word is written in. Start with the word at the top of the left column and
work downwards. When you have finished all the words in the left
column, start on the right column. Remember, I do not want you to read
the word itself out to me, instead I want you to state what colour of ink it
has been written in. You should work through the list as quickly as you
can.
To help you, here are two examples:
CHAIR*
For the item above you would respond ‘blue’.
HOUSE{
For the item above you would respond ‘red’.
Do you understand what you will be required to do?
(If yes, then proceed to task.
If no, go through the examples again.)
Appendix 4
Consent form
Consent to participate
I have been asked to participate in an experiment that investigates one aspect
of cognitive psychology and give my free consent by signing this form.
- I have been informed about the research and why it is taking place.
- I understand that my participation in this research is voluntary.
- I understand that I can withdraw from the research at any time.
- I understand that my data will be anonymous.
- I understand that I will be provided with a debrief after taking part in the experiment.
Signature _______________________________
Date ____________________________________
Appendix 5
Results table
Data from twenty participants in the colour-associated words experiment
