The Stroop Effect

http://nogfod.com/products/stroop/the_stroop_effect.jpg

The Stroop effect is a psychological experiment conducted by John Ridley Stroop. The goal of this experiment was to expand human knowledge on the capacity of a person performing two tasks at the same time and the effects it had. Psychologists wanted to prove how conducting two tasks simultaneously had a negative impact on the outcome.

In order to prove this theory, Stroop created several variations of the same test in which three different kinds of stimuli were created. In the first one, names of colors appeared in black ink. In the second, names of colors appeared in a different ink than the color named. Finally in the third one, there were squares of a given color. He would then time the participants while they read the different stimuli. For the first one they had to say the name written, in the second they had to say the color that the name was written in, and for the third stimuli they had to say the color of the square. With this experiment, Stroop’s theory was accepted.

The outcome did prove how humans were not as efficient in performing a task while they were also trying to do a different one. This was seen when the participants read the second stimuli. They had trouble saying the colors, because they were in words. This experiment also explains why it is dangerous to talk on the phone while driving or why some people cannot read while listening to music. Through this experiment psychologists gained a better understanding on humans multitasking.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroop_effect