Stroop Manuscript - Report Example

Introduction

Stroop manuscript is a neuropsychological test. It is used in assessing the capability to hinder cognitive interference (Aarts 2014). It is used for clinical and experimental trials. Cognitive interference happens when the stimuli factor processing simulates the other attribute of a similar stimulus's simultaneous production. In its application, people were expected to read different tables as fast as possible. It is called the incongruent condition, and instead of reading the word, the individuals were to name the color. Stroop manuscript can measure cognitive functions like; Attention, cognitive flexibility, speed of processing, and working memory.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

First Cognitive Function

The first cognitive function measured by the Stroop manuscript is Attention. It is a mental process of discriminative concentration on distinct informational aspects, whether objective or subjective, while other perceptible information is ignored (Yang et al., 2020). Attention is measured by observing the movement of the eye in the incongruent and congruent trials. An experiment was carried out. Individuals were to view two different stimulus arrays considering the number of items and their numerical value and decide by the manual response the collections that enclosed more things.

In contrast, their value is disregarded, viewing patterns observed between congruent where we had a higher value, large array numbers, and incongruent trials where we had lower value, extensive array of numbers. The first saccades direction was guided by task-relevant information, while in the incongruent, the focus was towards the task-irrelevant tip. Attention has a critical function in the Stroop task.

It requires attending to task-relevant attributes that are less automatically processed and involuntary processing suppression of the study of irrelevant points. Data suggested that throughout the trial, attention deployment changes.

Second Cognitive Function

The second cognitive function measured by the Stroop manuscript is processing speed. It is the speed at which someone takes in information, analyzes it, and starts responding to it (Carlozzi 2013). Besides being auditory, like languages are spoken, it can also be visual, like numbers and letters. We all have different speeds of processing. Experiments were carried out, individuals changed to responding vocally, reading words was considered faster than color naming, and a contingency learning effect was reduced by color information.

The two experiments' results were consistent with contingency learning, and they influenced the performance in that the irrelevant feature is quicker to process than the relevant one. Therefore, they were entirely in accord with the explanation of the speed of processing. In 2007, Crump, Cheesma, and Besner created the paradigm for word contingency learning. On every trial, participants identified the color that the word was presented with, despite them being irrelevant to determining the color task. In the presence of a contingency between the colors and words, the terms' color identification task performance is influenced. That is, the response is faster to high contingency pairings of the words and colors.

Third Cognitive Function

The third cognitive function measured by the Stroop manuscript is mental flexibility. It is the ability to think about several concepts simultaneously (Gopnik et al., 2017). It reduces as someone ages and also by the obsessive-compulsive disorder. Test for cognitive flexibility, three cards are given in the deck, the color card has a different color, and participants are asked to identify them as quickly as possible.

The names of the colors are printed in white and black ink. The participants have to name faster. The final card contains color names printed in a conflicting color, and the participants are to name colors of the ink while ignoring the contradictory color names. The score is the time taken by the participants to respond verbally. When the color of the ink is different from the term's color, naming will take long, and errors will be more. Adult participants took longer in naming than children because they are sensitive to the words' actual color and are more influenced by it in naming the word painted with clashing colors.

Last Cognitive Function

The last cognitive function measured by the Stroop manuscript is working memory. It is a cognitive system that has a limited capacity to hold information temporarily. It is useful in decision making and reasoning (Cowan, 2014). A test was carried out using Egner and Kiyonga's 2014 task paradigm. In the beginning, individuals were shown a color word written in Chinese, and they were required to hold it throughout the trial in working memory.

To probe the memory's performance, after some time, a color word, this time is written in English, was displayed. Manipulation forced the participants to memorize the meaning of the word sample, completing the memory task basing on congruency of systematic significance and not the visual forms and memory test item. They were to conclude the color patch that was at the screen center.

Conclusion

Conclusively, the Stroop manuscript is significant. It can help improve the level of Attention, which is useful in preventing mistakes and allows one to avoid problems that may be costly. It improves the processing speed of the brain to make decisions quickly and respond. Also, improvement in cognitive flexibility gives us the capability to multitask. Lastly, it improves the working memory, which helps to reason well.

References

Aarts, E., Wallace, D., Dang, L., Jagust, W., Cools, R., & D'Esposito, M. (2014). Dopamine and the Cognitive Downside of a Promised Bonus. Psychological Science, 25(4), 1003-1009. Retrieved December 7, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/24543542

Carlozzi, N., Tulsky, D., Kail, R., & Beaumont, J. (2013). NIH TOOLBOX COGNITION BATTERY (CB): MEASURING PROCESSING SPEED. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 78(4), 88-102. Retrieved December 7, 2020, from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/43772792

Scott, W. (1962). Cognitive Complexity and Cognitive Flexibility. Sociometry, 25(4), 405-414. doi:10.2307/2785779

Yang, X., Lin, L., Wen, Y., Cheng, P., Yang, X., & An, Y. (2020). Time-Compressed Audio on Attention, Meditation, Cognitive Load, and Learning. Educational Technology & Society, 23(3), 16-26. doi:10.2307/26926423.