Emotional Stroop Task
Background
The classic Stroop Task demonstrates the interference of word meaning on naming the color in which the words are written. People are generally faster to name the color of words when the word meaning and color match (e.g. RED) than when they mismatch (e.g. RED). This effect is widely considered a demonstration of automatic verses controlled cognitive processing with 'reading' as the automatic process interfereing with color naming, the controlled one.
The Aggression Themed Emotional Stroop Task by Paul Smith and Mitch Waterman (2003) takes advantage of this basic Stroop interference effect by comparing people's performance when categorizing the color of aggression themed (as well as positive and negative) words: The more people are affected by the meaning of the words, the more pronounced the observed Stroop Effect. Smith & Waterman (2003) were particularly interested in studying Stroop performance under the influence of aggression salience in different subpopulations such as violant and nonviolant offenders and regular undergraduate students. Their results supported that aggression-themed words had the most influence on the performance of violant offenders. In later iterations of the task they further included sexual offenders and showed that sexual offenders' Stroop performanc was particularly impacted by sexually-themed words.
Similar experimental setups can be used to study Stroop Effects under the influence of alcohol-related and food-related words.
Task Procedure
Participants are presented, one at a time, a series of 125 words pulled from five different categories (neutral, aggression-themed, negative, positive and regular color names). Each word can be printed in four different colors (blue, red, yellow, green). In the keyboard version participants are asked to press one of four response keys to indicate the color of the words regardless of their meaning. In the voice-recording version participants are asked to say the color of the word out loud.
By default, participants receive error feedback.
What it Measures
The Aggression Themed Emotional Stroop Task is a measure of cognitive control (response inhibition) under conditions of aggression salience
Psychological Domains
- Executive Function
- Inhibitory Control: Ability to suppress dominant automatic response in favor of a weaker one
- Selective Attention: Ability to focus on the relevant stimulus dimension
- Processing Speed: Overall reaction times reflect psychomotor and perceptual speed
Main Performance Metrics
- Accuracy: proportion correct color naming responses
- Response Times: mean response times to correctly naming the colors
- Bias Scores: differences in performance of aggression-themed performance compared to neutral words
Psychiatric Conditions
Aggression Themed Emotional Stroop performance tends to be particularly pronounced in
- violent offenders
Test Variations
The emotional stroop task described by Smith & Waterman (2003) using manual keyboard responding.
The emotional stroop task described by Smith & Waterman (2003) using recorded verbal responding.
References
Search Google Scholar for peer-reviewed, published research using the Inquisit Emotional Stroop Task.
Williams, J. M., Mathews, A., & MacLeod, C. (January 01, 1996). The emotional Stroop task and psychopathology. Psychological Bulletin, 120, 1, 3-24.
Cannon, B. J. (January 01, 2003). An emotional Stroop effect to malingering-related words. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 96, 3, 827-34.
Pérez-Edgar, K., & Fox, N. A. (January 01, 2003). Individual differences in children's performance during an emotional Stroop task: a behavioral and electrophysiological study. Brain and Cognition, 52, 1, 33-51.
Smith, P. & Waterman, M. (2003). Processing bias for aggression words in forensic and nonforensic samples. Cognition and Emotion, 17, 681-701.
Strauss, G., Allen, D., Jorgensen, M., & Cramer, S. (January 01, 2005). Test-Retest Reliability of Standard and Emotional Stroop Tasks. Assessment, 12, 3, 330-337.
Price RB, Siegle G, Mohlman J. (2012). Emotional stroop performance in older adults: effects of habitual worry. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 20, 798-805.
Isaac L, Vrijsen JN, Eling P, van Oostrom I, Speckens A, Becker ES (2012). Verbal and facial-emotional Stroop tasks reveal specific attentional interferences in sad mood. Brain and behavior, 2, 74-83.
Witthöft M, Mier D, Ofer J, Müller T, Rist F, Kirsch P, Bailer J, Diener C (2013). Neuronal and Behavioral Correlates of Health Anxiety: Results of an Illness-Related Emotional Stroop Task. Neuropsychobiology, 67, 93-102.