Discussion The aim of this experiment was to replicate the original experiment carried out by the Stroop effect theorists and gain the same results. The Stroop Effect has a very long and established history of research that most if not all produce congruent results. However, in this experiment the results say otherwise, but this does not mean that one is right and the other is wrong.
Consider the factors that may have contributed to producing such results.Since the experiment had results that there is no significant relationship between the Stroop effect and reaction time there could be several factors that may have contributed this: (1) demographics, (2) age and (3) gender. The Stroop performance has been found to be related to demographic factors and the relationship between an advanced age and reduced performance has been consistently reported. (Houx et al. , 1993; Graf et al. , 1995; Ivnik et al.
, 1996; Klein et al. , 1997; Golden & Freahwater, 2002; Moering et al. , 2004; Lucas et al. , 2005; Steinberg et al.
2005; Van der Elst. , 2006) Moreover, although the effect is relatively small, educational level is also known to have a significant influence. (Houx et al. , 1993; Ivnik et al.
, 1996; Klein et al. , 1997; Golden & Freahwater, 2002; Moering et al. , 2004; Lucas et al. , 2005; Steinberg et al.
, 2005; Van der Elst. , 2006) In addition, the influence of gender was found to be significant; women performed better than men. Moreover, there was an interaction between gender and education for the color page indicating women outperformed men with increasing educational attainement.The superior performance of women in verbally-based tests is consistent.
(Lezak, 1995; McCurry et al. , 2001; Lee et al. , 2004) As Stroop (1935) suggested, this may be because women have greater facility in verbal reactions, and are more accustomed to responding to color stimuli than men. It is now well documented that normal aging is accompanied by a general decline of cognitive functions such as episodic memory, working memory, attention, or executive functions (Grady and Craik, 2000; Groth and Allen, 2000; Park et al.
2002; Salthouse, 2003; Craik and Bialystok, 2006). One particular aspect of attention known to be sensitive to aging is the inhibitory process which permits to suppress interfering stimuli and to focus on relevant information. Facing with distracting stimulus or with irrelevant information, elderly have been reported to reach a lower level of accuracy associated with a higher reaction time compared to younger subjects (Hasher et al. , 1991; Spieler et al. , 1996; West and Alain, 2000; Nielson et al.
2002; Davidson et al. , 2003; Zysset et al. , 2007) Going back to the experiment and the review of related literature, most of these studies have been done in the westernized concept of a person as for most of the psychology theories that have been arousing debates if these results transcend countries and cultures are happening so to speak. When it comes to demographics, the participants in this particular experiment have very similar characteristics to one another.All participants were BS Pscyhology majors, therefore even the educational level, which research says there is a small chance, and may have an effect to the results.
As mentioned above about how women perform better in verbally demonstrated tasks, it would be wise to assume that this particular variable could have a major contribution since all the participants were women. The last factor would be the age, since the participants are relatively young; they do not exhibit the qualities that would qualify them for the decline of cognitive functions as noticed in old people.This also agrees with the results because since they are young, they are in the prime of their cognitive functions and thus reaction time would not really be affected by the Stroop effect, The study was limited when it came to the number of participants, which could also be the reason for the lack of diversity which would have been interesting to have as a part of the experiment which leads the researchers to suggest that this experiment be replicated with more resources and time both which were constraints in this experiment.It would be interesting to see whether there would be a consistency if the 3 factors were changed around and manipulated to produce a greater understanding of the reaction time, whether slower or faster, with regards to the Stroop effect being done.
