The Stroop effect was established by John Ridley Stroop in 1935 and has since become increasingly influential through its replication in published works. This effect illustrates the interference in human perception (Hilbert, Nakagawa, Bindl, & Buhner, 2014) and is a perfect example that describes situations in which task-irrelevant stimuli are hard to ignore. This study aims to investigate whether the fast and automatic processing of the colour denoted by a word will interfere with the ability to identify the font colour of the word.
According to Raz, Moreno-Iniguez, Martin and Zhu (2007), Stroop effect is the difference in response time between congruent and incongruent stimuli – increase in time taken to name the font colour when it differs from the colour denoted by the word
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A pedestrian light is an example of a behaviour which can eventually become automatized once people get familiar with its colours and figures. If these colours and figures are incongruent, people will try to control the automatic process, resulting in slower response (Perrochon, Kemoun, Watelain, Dugue, & Berthoz, 2015). After WWII, West Germans used the standard European pedestrian traffic signal – a red abstract human figure standing still for “do not walk” and a green abstract human figure in mid-stride for “walk”. East Germans devised their own signals – a little traffic light man with a jaunty hat and arms outstretched to form a ‘T’ represents “don’t walk”, while the “walk” symbol is similar to that of Westerns. Because the pedestrian signals for East Germans displayed more interference, they are less congruent and may be a potential cause for danger (Peschke, Olk, & Hilgetag, 2013). This explains why pedestrian signals are universally congruent today as it ensures interference does not occur when pedestrians cross