Abstract
An important characteristic of automatic processing is its uncontrollability, The Stroop phenomenon is regarded as a prototypical example of this characteristic of automatic processing, hence, the Stroop effect should not change when the percentages of color words versus neutral stimuli are manipulated to induce controlled processing. We found that Stroop interference decreased as the percentage of color words increased. Furthermore, the magnitude of the inhibitory component of the Stroop effect was negatively correlated with the percentage of color words; the facilitatory component was insensitive to the manipulation. These results suggest that the Stroop effect is controllable (see Logan, 1980) and that the locus of control is postlexical. The results also suggest that facilitation and inhibition are produced by different mechanisms and challenge those models of the Stroop phenomenon (e.g., Cohen, Dunbar, & McClelland, 1990; Phaf, Van der Heijden, & Hudson, 1990) that assume that a single processing mechanism causes facilitation and inhibition and that control affects facilitation and inhibition alike (Logan, 1980).
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Chessman, J., &Merikle, P. M. (1986). Distinguishing conscious from unconscious perceptual process.Canadian Journal of Psychology,40, 343–367.
Chen, H-C., &Leung, Y-S. (1989). Patterns of lexical processing in nonnative language.Journal of Experimental Psychology,15, 316–325.
Cohen, J. D., Dunbar, K., &Mcclelland, J. L. (1990). On the control of automatic processes: A parallel distributed processing model of the Stroop effect.Psychological Review,97, 332–361.
De Groot, A. M. B. (1984). Primed lexical decisions: Combined effects of the proportion of related prime-target pairs and the stimulus onset asynchrony.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,36A, 253–280.
De Groot, A. M. B., &Nas, G. (1991). The bilingual mental lexicon: Some within- and between-language connections between lexical representations.Journal of Memory A Language,30, 90–123.
Driver, J., &Tipper, S. P. (1989). On the nonselectivity of “selective” seeing: Contrasts between interference and priming in selective attention.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception A Performance,15, 304–314.
Dunbar, K., &Macleod, C. M. (1984). A horse race of a different color: Stroop interference patterns with transformed words.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,10, 622–639.
Dyer, F. N. (1973). The Stroop phenomenon and its use in the study of perceptual, cognitive, and response processes.Memory & Cogni tion,1, 106–120.
Egun, M., &Hunter, A. (1990). Cuing efficiency in a Stroop-like task with visual half Field presentation.Memory & Cognition,18, 459–468.
Friedrich, F. J., Henik, A., &Tzelgov, J. (1991). Automatic pro cessing in lexical access and spread of activation.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,17, 792–806.
Glaser, M. O., &Glaser, W. R. (1982). Time course analysis of the Stroop phenomenon.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,8, 875–894.
Greenberg, S. (1988).Are letters codes always activated? (FJPDM Report No. 57). Israel: Haifa University.
Hasher, L., &Zacks, R. T. (1979). Automatic and effortful processes in memory.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,108, 356–388.
Hock, H. S., &Egeth, H. E. (1970). Verbal interference with encoding in a perceptual classification task.Journal of Experimental Psychology,83, 299–303.
Jonides, J. (1981). Voluntary versus automatic control over the mind's eye's movement. In J. Long & A. Baddeley (Eds.),Attention and performance IX (pp. 187–204). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Jonides, J., Naveh-Benjamin, M., &Palmer, J. (1985). Assessing automaticity.Acta Psychologica,60, 157–171.
Kahneman, D., &Chajczyk, D. (1983). Tests of the automaticity of reading: Dilution of Stroop effects by color-irrelevant stimuli.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,9, 497–509.
Kahneman, D., &Henik, A. (1981). Perceptual organization and attention. In M. Kubovy & J. R. Pomerantz (Eds,),Perceptual organization (pp. 181–211). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Kahneman, D., &Streisman, A. (1984), Changing views of automaticity. In R. Parasuraman & D. R. Davies (Eds.),Varieties of attention (pp. 29–41). Orlando, FL: Academic Press.
Keele, S. W. &Neill, W. T. (1978). Mechanisms of attention. In E. C. Carterette & M. P, Friedman (Eds,),Handbook of perception (Vol. 9, pp. 3–47). New York, NY: Academic Press.
Klein, G. S. (1964). Semantic power measured through the inference of words with color naming.American Journal of Psychology,77, 567–588.
Kroll, J. F., &Curley, J. (1988). Lexical memory in novice bilinguals: The role of concepts in retrieving second language words. In M. Grunberg, P. Morris, & R. Sykes (Eds.),Practical aspects of memory (Vo, 2, pp. 389–395). London: John Wiley & Sons.
La Heu, W., Van Derheijden, A. H. C, &Schreuder, R. (1985). Semantic priming and Stroop-like interference in word naming task.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception A Performance,11, 62–70.
Logan, G. D. (1980). Attention and automaticity in Stroop and priming tasks: Theory and data.Cognitive Psychology,12, 523–553.
Logan, G. D. (1988). Towards an instance theory of automatization.Psychological Review,85, 492–527.
Logan, G. D. (1989). Automaticity and cognitive control. In J. S. Neuman & J. A. Bargh (Eds,),Unintended thought (pp. 52–74), New York, NY: Guilford.
Logan, G. D., &Klapp, S. T. (1991). Automatizing alphabet arithmetic: I. Is extended practice necessary to produce automaticity.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,17, 177–193.
Logan, G. D., &Zbrodoff, N. J. (1979). When it helps to be misled: Facilitative effects of increasing the frequency of conflicting stimuli in a Stroop-like task.Memory & Cognition,7, 166–174.
Logan, G. D., Zbrodofe, N. J., &Williamson, J. (1984). Strategies in the color-word Stroop task.Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society,22, 135–138.
LOWE, D. G. (1979), Strategies, context, and mechanisms of response inhibition.Memory A Cognition,13, 74–80.
Mackinnon, D. P., Geiselman, R. E., &Woodward, J. A. (1985). The effects of effort on Stroop interference.Acta Psychologica,58, 225–235.
Macleod, C. M. (1991). Half a century of the Stroop effect: An integrative review.Psychological Bulletin,109, 163–203.
Macleod, C, M., & Grant, S. A. (1991, November).The Stroop effect: Incorporating noncolor words into the response set. Paper presented at the 32nd Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, San Francisco, CA.
Morton, J., &Chambers, S. M. (1973). Selective attention to words and colors.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,25, 387–397,
Neely, J. H. (1977). Semantic priming and retrieval from lexical memory: Roles of inhibition, less spreading activation, and limited-capacity attention.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,106, 226–254.
Neely, J. H. (1991). Semantic priming effects in visual word recognition: A selective review of current findings and theories. In D. Besner & G. Humphreys (Eds.),Basic processes in reading: Visual word recognition (pp. 264–336). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Neely, J. H., &Keefe, D. E. (1989). Semantic Context effects on visual word recognition: A hybrid prospective/retrospective processing theory. In G. H. Bower (Ed.),The Psychology of learning and motivation: Advances in research and theory (Vol. 24, pp. 207–248), New York, NY: Academic Press.
Neely, J, H., Keefe, D. E., & Ross, K. L. (1987, November).Retrospective postlexical processes produce the proportion effects in semantic priming. Paper presented at the 28th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Seattle, WA,
Neill, W. T. (1977). Inhibitory and facilitatory processes in selective attention.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception A Performance,3, 444–450.
Neill, W. T., & Lissner, L. S. (1988, April).Attention andselective inhibition in alphanumeric character matching. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association, Buffalo, NY.
Neill, W. T., &Westberry, R. L. (1987). Selective attention and the suppression of cognitive noise.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,13, 327–334.
Neumann, O. (1984). Automatic processing: A review of recent findings and a plea for an old theory, In W. Prinz & A. F. Sanders (Eds.),Cognition and automatic processing (pp. 255–293). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Paap, K. R., &Ogden, W. G. (1981). Letter encoding in an obligatory but capacity-demanding operation.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,7, 518–528.
Phaf, R. H., Van Der Heijden, A, H. C, &Hudson, P. T. W. (1990). Slam: A connectionist model for attention in visual selection task.Cognitive Psychology,22, 273–341.
Posner, M. I. (1978). Chronometrie explorations of mind. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Posner, M. I., &Snyder, C. R. R. (1975). Attention and cognitive control. In R. L, Solso (Ed.),Information processing and cognition: The Loyola symposium (pp. 55–85). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Potter, M. I., So, K-F., Von Eckhart, B., &Feldman, L. B. (1984). Lexical and conceptual representation in beginning and proficient bilinguais.Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior,23, 23–84.
Reisberg, D., Baron, J., Akemler, D. G. (1980). Overcoming Stroop interference: The effect of distractor potency.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance,6, 140–150.
Seymour, P. H. K. (1977). Conceptual encoding and locus of the Stroop effect.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,29, 245–265.
Shiffrin, R. M., &Schneider, W. (1977). Controlled and automatic human information processing: II. Perceptual learning, automatic attending, and a general theory.Psychological Review,84, 127–190.
Snodgrass, J. G. (1984). Concepts and their surface representations.Journal of Verbal Learning A Verbal Behavior,23, 3–22.
Snow, N., & Neely, J. H. (1987, November).Reduction of semantic priming from inclusion of physically related prime-target pairs. Paper presented at the 28th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Seattle, WA.
Tipper, S, P. (1985). The negative priming effect: Inhibitory effects of ignored primes.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,37A, 571–590.
Tipper, S. P., Bourque, T. A., Anderson, S. H., &Bkehaut, J, C. (1989). Mechanisms of attention: A developmental study.Journal of Experimental Child Psychology,48, 353–378.
Tippkr, S. P., &Cranston, M. (1985). Selective attention and priming: Inhibitory and facilitatory effects of ignored primes.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,37A, 591–611.
Tzelgov, J., & Henik, A. (1990a, November).Controlling Stroop effect. Paper presented at the 31st Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, New Orleans, LA.
Tzelgov, J., &Henik, A. (1990b). The insensitivity of semantic relatedness effect to surface differences and its implications. In P. J. D. Drenth, J. P. Sergeant, & R. I. Takens (Eds.),European perspectives in psychology (pp. 385–402). London: John Wiley & Sons.
Tzelgov, J., Henik, A., & Friedrich, F. (1987). Semantic activation during word and picture recognition (Final Report, Project 84-00050). Beer-Sheva: Israel-U.S. Binational Science Foundation.
Tzelgov, J., Henik, A., &Leiser, D. (1990). Controlling the Stroop interference: Evidence from a bilingual task.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition,16, 760–771.
Wahren, R. E. (1972). Stimulus encoding and memory.Journal of Experimental Psychology,94, 90–100.
YEE, P. L. (1990). Semantic inhibition of ignored words during a figure classification task.Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology,43A, 127–153.
Zbrodoff, J. N., &Logan, G. D. (1986). On the autonomy of mental processes: A case study in arithmetic.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,115, 118–130.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This article is based on a master's thesis in psychology, prepared by
This article is based on a master's thesis in psychology, prepared by
This article is based on a master's thesis in psychology, prepared by
This article is based on a master's thesis in psychology, prepared by
This article is based on a master's thesis in psychology, prepared by
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tzelgov, J., Henik, A. & Berger, J. Controlling Stroop effects by manipulating expectations for color words. Mem Cogn 20, 727–735 (1992). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03202722
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03202722