The Stroop and Reverse Stroop Effects as Measured by an Interactive Tabletop

Abstract

An interactive tabletop equipped with RFID technology implemented the Stroop and reverse-Stroop tasks. Participants moved a tangible object into one of four displayed virtual zones, which were identified either by a color border or the name of a color written in black. The correct target zone corresponded either to the color (Stroop) or meaning (reverse Stroop) of a word displayed in congruent or incongruent colored LED lights (e.g., “YELLOW” displayed in yellow or red, respectively). Participants took more time to place the object in a zone, made more errors, and found the task more difficult when the word was lit with an incongruent than congruent color. This interference was influenced by both the types of task and response zone in a way that fits with a dual step processing account. Results also showed that the outcomes of the conflicting information streams might be judged as fun.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors thank Yoann Lebrun and Maxence Courbez for their contributions. In addition, we would like to thank the two anonymous referees for their helpful comments.

FUNDING

This research was supported in part by the Ministère de l’Education Nationale, de la Recherche et de la Technologie, the Région Nord Pas-de-Calais, the CNRS, the FEDER, CISIT, and especially the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (TTT and IMAGIT ANR projects 2010 CORD 01701).

Notes

¹ As for the response mode, similarities with other HCI tasks can be exemplified by at least three prototypical applications: (1) during a learning task the user could classify a set of instructions/data with a certain order in several response zones according to the importance or characteristics of the instructions/data into the learning procedure (see for instance Kubicki, Wolff, Lepreux, & Kolski, 2015); (2) while filling a form, a user could fill in (or not) a response zone that could be highlighted by colors (ISO 9241-143, 2012); and (3) games are also tasks that would require responding to different types of response zones, for instance in order to make a choice during the game (Pagulayan, Keefer, Wixon, Romero, & Fuller, 2003).

² Like the computer version, the response locations were fixed. Instead of typing D for Blue, and F for yellow etc., participants moved left for Red and right for Blue etc.

³ Gender effects are only sporadically reported in the Stroop literature. In the present study, the results related to gender were unsystematic and did not negate the conclusions that are given for the other factors. They will not be presented for concision.

⁴ To sustain this point further, it was possible to perform an ANOVA on the response time (log) and difficulty ratings with the response factor replaced by a translation factor (WITHOUT and WITH). As expected a significant interaction arose between trial type and translation (F(1, 72) = 8,04; p = .005, η_p² = .10, and F(1, 72) = 19,37; p = .000, η_p² = .21) showing that the translation increased interference, and the higher order interaction with task did not reach significance (p = .397, and p = .636).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported in part by the Ministère de l’Education Nationale, de la Recherche et de la Technologie, the Région Nord Pas-de-Calais, the CNRS, the FEDER, CISIT, and especially the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (TTT and IMAGIT ANR projects 2010 CORD 01701).

Notes on contributors

Holly C. Miller

Holly C. Miller obtained her doctorate in experimental psychology at the University of Kentucky. She is now a post-doctoral researcher who examines the biological underpinnings of cognitive behavior, and how unconscious processes influence human responses.

Sébastien Kubicki

Sébastien Kubicki obtained his PhD in 2011. He is an assistant professor of computer science at the Brest National School of Engineering (France) and a member of the IHSEV team of the Lab-STICC laboratory. He is specialized in human–computer interaction, context awareness, systems, and new user interfaces like interactive tabletops.

Delphine Caffier

Delphine Caffier is a doctoral student in engineering and ergonomics of physical activity at the University of Valenciennes (France). Her main research interest concerns the links between emotions and movement.

Christophe Kolski

Christophe Kolski obtained his PhD in 1989. He is a professor of computer science at the University of Valenciennes (France). He specializes in human–computer interaction, software engineering for interactive systems, adaptive user interface, and tangible and distributed interaction.

Janick Naveteur

Janick Naveteur is an associate professor in the biology department of the University of Lille 1, with a research position at the University of Valenciennes. Her focus is on emotions, attention, and pain, with a special interest in time pressure and transportation. Methodologies include psychophysiological recordings and self-reports.