Alternative to the Stroop Color-Word Test for Illiterate Individuals

Abstract

An alternative to the Stroop Color-Word Test (SCWT), denominated the Colored Numbers Test (CNT), was developed to evaluate the selective attention of illiterate individuals. A total of 30 volunteers with basic education (control group) and 30 illiterate volunteers (experimental group) performed the SCWT and the CNT. Volunteers had to name the color of the rectangles in the CNT neutral condition, and in the critical condition they had to either name the color of the numbers or, when the numbers were black, read the numbers. An interference index (II) was calculated for both tests by subtracting the time taken to complete the task in the neutral condition from the time taken to complete the task in the critical condition. The control group showed an II of 14.9 s in the SCWT and of 19.1 s in the CNT, and the experimental group, which practically presented no interference in the SCWT (II = 0.2 s), showed an II of 18.7 s in the CNT. These findings suggest that the CNT can be used to evaluate selective attention. Further work should confirm its validity. Its advantage over the SCWT is that it does not depend on the ability to read words, being then suitable for illiterate individuals.

Keywords:

• Cognition
• Illiteracy
• Selective attention
• Stroop test

Notes

¹According to UNESCO (2005), there are presently 771 million people aged over 15 years around the world who are illiterate; that is, who do not possess basic reading, writing, and calculation competence. In Brazil, this contingent is estimated to be 14.87 million individuals. Another large contingent is represented by individuals who went through an insufficient alphabetization process and are unable to use reading, writing, and calculation abilities appropriately in their daily life. They are identified as functionally illiterates. In Brazil, this population was estimated by the Brazilian Institute of Geographic Statistics (IBGE, 2006) to be about 32.1 million individuals in 2002.

Stroop Color-Word Test (SCWT): Card 1 = colored rectangles; Card 2 = words that are not names of colors printed with colored ink; Card 3 = words that are names of colors printed with colored ink; Card 4 = words that are not names of colors printed with black ink.

Colored Numbers Test (CNT): Card 1 = colored rectangles; Card 2 = colored rectangles and numbers printed with colored ink; Card 3 = numbers printed with colored ink; Card 4 = numbers printed with black ink. II = time spent to perform Card 3 minus time spent to perform Card 1, in both tests.

The experimental group was unable to read the words of Card 4 of the SCWT.

95% CI – Confidence Interval of 95%. SCWT – Stroop Color-Word Test; CNT – Colored Numbers Test.