Stroop test online
Name the color of the ink, not the word you read. Slowing down when the word and the ink disagree is called the Stroop effect, described by John Ridley Stroop in 1935 (Stroop, 1935).
Say the color, not the word.
A color word appears in another ink. Tap the circle of the ink color. Twenty seconds, as many as you can, each error removes a point.
Keys 1 to 4 work too
Say the color, not the word
A word like RED appears, printed in blue ink. Your task is to answer blue. Half of the words match their ink, half do not. You have 20 seconds, and your score is the number of correct answers minus the number of errors, so guessing fast does not pay.
On a keyboard, keys 1 to 4 match the four circles from left to right. If you see colors differently, switch on the color-blind mode above the game. It keeps the same conflict with directions instead of colors, the word UP placed on the left side for example, and you answer where the word is.
The Stroop effect in a few lines
In 1935 John Ridley Stroop asked people to name the ink colors of words that spelled other colors. They were much slower than when they named the colors of plain patches (Stroop, 1935). Reading is so practiced that the word arrives first, and you have to hold it back to give the ink.
That conflict between an automatic answer and the one you want is why the task is still used in psychology. The full story, with what has been learned since, is in the Stroop effect explained.
Your rate and your interference cost
Researchers usually compute an interference cost, the time on mismatched words minus the time on matching ones. This page shows something simpler, your number of correct answers in 20 seconds. It mixes how fast you read, how fast you tap and how well you resist the word.
There is no published norm for this exact format, so no percentile is shown. Headgame is collecting its own norm from anonymous games and will publish it once it reaches 1,000 games, with the date and the sample.
Why Headgame does not score the Stroop effect
The Stroop effect is one of the most robust findings in psychology, and yet it is a weak measure of one person. In a test retest study, the Stroop cost reached a reliability of only 0.60 and 0.66, while raw reaction times on the same task were more stable (Hedge et al., 2018). The reason is that almost everyone shows the effect, so the differences between people are small compared with the noise.
This is why the Color game is a free game in the app and does not move your card. Only tasks that stay stable from week to week, like the go/no-go test, feed your Focus stat.
Questions
Can the Stroop test tell if I have ADHD?
No. The task is used in attention research, but an online version of 20 seconds cannot support any conclusion about ADHD. Only a clinical assessment by a professional can.
Is there a Stroop test for color-blind people?
Yes, switch on the color-blind mode above the game. It uses direction words placed in a position that may conflict with the word, the same kind of interference without relying on colors.
What this test does not tell you
It measures how many ink colors you name correctly in 20 seconds on this device. It does not measure intelligence, attention disorders or any health condition.
Your score depends on reading speed and on how fast you can tap, not only on interference. Compare it with your own earlier games.
Sources
- Stroop J.R. (1935). Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology 18(6), 643 to 662. doi.org/10.1037/h0054651
- Hedge C., Powell G., Sumner P. (2018). The reliability paradox. Behavior Research Methods 50(3), 1166 to 1186. PMC5990556. doi.org/10.3758/s13428-017-0935-1
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