Identifier

etd-06252013-120151

Degree

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

The classic Stroop task, during which one names the ink color of color words, has long been used as a measure of selective attention (Stroop, 1935). Selective attention generally refers to our ability to attend to one stimulus (a target) while ignoring another (a distractor). Since its initial creation, many variations of the classic Stroop task have been developed. One of these variations is cross-modal Stroop, which uses visual colored targets and auditory distractor color words. However, whether the same mechanisms and processes are used while completing the two tasks has yet to be determined. The following thesis examined cross-modal Stroop and the theories that have been developed in an attempt to explain the classic Stroop findings. Two experiments were conducted. In Experiment 1, different colored visual stimuli were used (e.g. color squares and @ symbols) to determine whether this had any impact on task performance. A row of X’s induced significantly less interference, suggesting that they serve as an excellent neutral stimulus. In Experiment 2, the response times and accuracy levels for repeating auditory color words and visual colored items were examined with or without accompanying distractors. Although the classic Stroop task displays a very clear asymmetry between word reading and color naming, this asymmetry was not found for cross-modal Stroop. This finding suggests that the same processes and mechanisms may not be involved when completing cross-modal Stroop as classic Stroop, and furthermore, that some of the theories are better at explaining the cross-modal Stroop effect than others.

Date

2013

Document Availability at the Time of Submission

Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.

Committee Chair

Elliott, Emily

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_theses.3784

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Psychology Commons

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