Independent Variables
The independent variables will be the people that is going to be used in the experiment for testing if the time will increase more with native English speaker or none English speaker. In addition with none English speaker, there is also a difference with people who learned English for 1 year, 2 years, 3 years and people who can speak really good English even though it is not there first language. Also the cards that are being used is also another independent variable, the first experiment to test will be the matching colour and word, and another factor will be the unmatching colour and word. Different cards are used to test when the word shown on the card is different to what the colour shown on the card will affect the time they spend to play their memory game.
Dependent Variables
The dependent variables will be the used of time between the cards with word and colour matched together and cards with colour and words doesn’t match together, as well as the time difference between native English speaker and none English speaker.
Results:
Native English speaker
VS None Native English Speaker
Average Time
Conclusion:
In this investigation I’ve found out that the when the card and the word shown is different, it affects our thinking, which it takes longer time than a normal memory game. My hypothesis does fit with the result that I’ve found, which I found out that native English speaker has a short amount of time difference compare to the people who are in the ESL, therefore I’ve also found out some interesting point out of this investigation, which is the people whose mother tongue is not English, therefore their English is as good as their mother tongue, they have the similar results to the people who are native English speakers.
From this investigation I’ve found out that the words themselves have a strong influence over your ability to see the colour and this is called interference. The interference between different information which is what the word says and the colour of the words shown, your brain receives causes a problem to it. Which they are two theories that can explain the effects. First theory will be the speed, interference occurs because words are read faster than colours are name. Another theory will be selective, which interference occurs because naming colours requires more attention than reading words. When we look at one of the words, you see both its colour and meaning, if two piece of evidence are in conflict; you have to make a choice, because experience has taught you word meaning is more important than ink colour.
The task of making an appropriate response when giving two conflicting signals have tentatively been located in part of brain called anterior cingulated. This is a region that lies between right and left halves of the frontal portion of the brain. It involves wide range of thought process and emotional responses. The people who’s English is not as good as their mother tongue has not much affect on it, because two languages share a modality, so there is no requirement to translate them. On the other hand, people who are still learning English the argument is made to the target information which it must be translated into the appropriate classification modality, and that is the reason why it takes longer time for the people who’s still learning English.
The table of results from this experiment has supported me with my hypothesis. In my results the native English speakers have a similar use of time, therefore Alana used more time compare to Emily, because in matched cards Alana already took longer time than Emily did, which it shows that Emily has a better memory than Alana in the first place, so the increase of the amount of the for Emily is also less than Alana. And also it is an anomalous result in my investigation, which I didn’t think about the people who speaks English as good as their mother tongue, but English is not their first language. For those people, the interference of two conflicts in our brain did have some affect on them, but not much just like the native English speakers. Therefore, for the ESL students who are still learning English compare to their time usage in the matching cards, they spent a really long time on the other set of cards which is the unmatching one. Therefore, I’ve found that Na Yeon can speak good language but not perfectly good, so her time difference between the matched and unmatched colour wasn’t that much compare to Byoung Seok, who has only studied English for a short amount of time.
Sources:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroop_effect
stroop effect.february 13th.2008.
- http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/words.html
Neuroscience for kids. february 13th.2008
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4930996.stm
Brain games aim to boost your IQ. february 13th.2008
Evaluation:
The method that I’ve used for my experiment is reliable and my data is also valid, therefore it could be more reliable then what I have got so far. I suggest that rather than repeated the experiment three times in a row for each person, I should have let everyone do their first try, and then second and then last, because once they repeat the game again and again their brain will get more used to the colour and the way it works, so as they get used to it, it will take less time for them to finish matching it. In addition if we extent the time between each experiment the data will be more valid, since in between the time for the next experiment they might have been doing something else to distract their attention of what they’ve done.
Also I found out that there is one data that I think it is an outlier, which I think that Arko's time difference is too long compare to Madeleine, even they are both none English speaker but they speak good English just like their first language. And Arko's time difference is even longer than Na Yoen, who's still in ESL. I think that for the further experiments on a similar theme I would like to do the similar style, which also have the colour and word shown different, but rather than doing matching cards, i would like them to read out the lists of words I wrote and record the time. The words that will be written on the cards will be different from the colour shown, I would like to test the time difference between each grades in the school and teachers. This suggested experiment would be useful to know how fast your brain reacts to the word and the colour when they are different.
