Neuropsychology Central

[Sobriquet]

Should the stroop (colour-word) interferencescore be seen as a meassure of executive functions or distractibility?

[drejb]

Not necessarily an either or... Any test requires attention, so distractability would seem to be a possibility for failure - on the other hand if they perform well on the the W and C trials, which are generally more boring/tedious, and have specifically unusual problems on the interference trial, it is likely a deficit in ability to inhibit a pre-learned set. In individuals making good effort, the inhibition trial on the stroop takes more interest and motivaiton focusing effort. Maybe one can say both answers are correct - the interference of the prelearned set distracts from the task, due to the executive function difficulties in inhibitting.
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[Sobriquet]

First of all, thank you for your reply.

Could one say that the interference score is mostly a measure of distractability and that accuracy (if one can't inhibit the dominant respons of reading leading to making a lot of mistakes or not being capable at all to make the CW condition) is more a measure of executive functioning?

[chrisadams]

I have heard that Stroop effect is a demonstration of interference in the reaction time of a task. The ability to sort out distracting information from meaningful information is an important part of our cognitive abilities, because much of the information we perceive isn’t relevant to the tasks that demand our attention at any given moment.

[AlexanderDoka]

I have read that it is not necessarily considered as a meassure of executive functions or distractibility.I think Drejb has explained it very nicely.

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