27/2/2017 ClassicsintheHistoryofPsychologyStroop(1935)

ClassicsintheHistoryofPsychology
Aninternetresourcedevelopedby
ChristopherD.Green
YorkUniversity,Toronto,Ontario

(ReturntoClassicsindex)

STUDIESOFINTERFERENCEINSERIALVERBALREACTIONS

J.RidleyStroop[1](1935)
GeorgePeabodyCollege

FirstpublishedinJournalofExperimentalPsychology,18,643662.

INTRODUCTION

Interferenceorinhibition(thetermsseemtohavebeenusedalmostindiscriminately)hasbeengivenalarge
placeinexperimentalliterature.Theinvestigationwasbegunbythephysiologistspriorto1890(Bowditchand
Warren,J.W.,1890)andhasbeencontinuedtothepresent,principallybypsychologists(Lester,1932).Ofthe
numerousstudiesthathavebeenpublishedduringthisperiodonlyalimitednumberofthemostrelevantreports
demandourattentionhere.

Mnsterberg(1892)studiedtheinhibitingeffectsofchangesincommondailyhabitssuchasopeningthedoorof
hisroom,dippinghispeninink,andtakinghiswatchoutofhispocket.Heconcludedthatagivenassociation
canfunctionautomaticallyeventhoughsomeeffectofapreviouscontraryassociationremains.

MllerandSchumann(1894)discoveredthatmoretime[p.644]wasnecessarytorelearnaseriesofnonsense
syllablesifthestimulussyllableshadbeenassociatedwithothersyllablesinthemeantime.Fromtheirresults
theydeducedthelawofassociativeinhibitionwhichisquotedbyKline(1921,p.270)asfollows:"Ifais
alreadyconnectedwithb,thenitisdifficulttoconnectitwithk,bgetsintheway."Nonsensesyllableswerealso
usedbyShepardandFogelsonger(1913)inaseriesofexperimentsinassociationandinhibition.Onlythree
subjectswereusedinanyexperimentandthechangesintroducedtoproducetheinhibitionweresogreatin
manycasesastopresentnovelsituations.Thislatterfactwasshownbytheintrospections.Theresultsshowed
anincreaseintimefortheresponsewhichcorrespondedroughlytotheincreaseinthecomplexityofthe
situation.Theonlyconclusionwasstatedthus:"Wehavefoundthenthatinacquiringassociationsthereis
involvedaninhibitoryprocesswhichisnotamereresultofdividedpathsbuthassomedeeperbasisyet
unknown"(p.311).

Kline(1921)used'meaningful'material(statesandcapitals,countiesandcountyseats,andbooksandauthors)
inastudyofinterferenceeffectsofassociations.Hefoundthatifthefirstassociativebondhadarecallpowerof
10percentorlessitfacilitatedthesecondassociation,ifithadarecallpowerof15percentto40percentthe
inhibitorypowerwassmall,ifithadarecallpowerof45percentto70percenttheinhibitingstrength
approachedamaximum,iftherecallpowerwas70percentto100percenttheinhibitionwasofmediumstrength
andinsomecasesmightdisappearorevenfacilitatethelearningofanewassociaiton.

IncardsortingBergstrm(1893and1894),Brown(1914),Bair(1902),andCuller(1912)foundthatchanging
thearrangementofcompartmentsintowhichcardswerebeingsortedproducedinterferenceeffects.Bergstrm
(1894,p.441)concludedthat"theinterferenceeffectofanassociationbearsaconstantrelationtothepractice

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effect,andis,infact,equivalenttoit."BothBairandCullerfoundthattheinterferenceoftheopposinghabits
disappearedifthehabitswerepracticedalternately.

[p.645]Culler(1912),inthepaperalreadyreferredto,reportedtwootherexperiments.Inoneexperimentthe
subjectsassociatedeachofaseriesofnumberswithstrikingaparticularkeyonthetypewriterwithaparticular
fingerthenthekeyswerechangedsothatfourofthenumbershadtobewrittenwithfingersotherthanthose
formerlyusedtowritethem.Intheotherexperimentthesubjectsweretrainedtoreactwiththerighthandto'red'
andwiththelefthandto'blue.'Thenthestimuliwereinterchanged.Intheformerexperimentaninterference
wasfoundwhichdecreasedrapidlywithpractice.Inthelatterexperimenttheinterferencewasoverbalancedby
thepracticeeffect.

HunterandYarbrough(1917),Pearce(1917),andHunter(1922)inthreecloselyrelatedstudiesofhabit
interferenceinthewhiteratinaTshapeddiscriminationboxfoundthataprevioushabitinterferedwiththe
formationofan'opposite'habit.

Severalstudieshavebeenpublishedwhichwerenotprimarilystudiesofinterference,butwhichemployed
materialsthatweresimilarinnaturetothoseemployedinthisresearch,andwhichareconcernedwithwhyit
takesmoretimetonamecolorsthantoreadcolornames.SeveralofthesestudieshavebeenreviewedbyTelford
(1930)andbyLigon(1932).Onlythevitalpointofthesestudieswillbementionedhere.

Thedifferenceintimefornamingcolorsandreadingcolornameshasbeenvariouslyexplained.Cattell(1886)
andLund(1927)haveattributedthedifferenceto'practice.'WoodworthandWells(1911,p.52)havesuggested
that,"Therealmechanismheremayverywellbethemutualinterferenceofthefivenames,allofwhich,from
immediatelyprecedinguse,are'onthetipofthetongue,'allareequallyreadyandlikelytogetinoneanother's
way."Brown(1915,p.51)concluded"thatthedifferenceinspeedbetweencolornamingandwordreadingdoes
notdependuponpractice"butthat(p.34)"theassociationprocessinnamingsimpleobjectslikecolorsis
radicallydifferentfromtheassociationprocessinreadingprintedwords."

[p.646]GarrettandLemmon(1924,p.438)haveaccountedfortheirfindingsinthesewords,"Henceitseems
reasonabletosaythatinterferenceswhichariseinnamingcolorsareduenotsomuchtoanequalreadinessof
thecolornamesastoanequalreadinessofthecolorrecognitiveprocesses.Anotherfactorpresentin
interferenceisveryprobablythepresentstrengthoftheassociationsbetweencolorsandtheirnames,already
determinedbypastuse."Peterson(1918and1925)hasattributedthedifferencetothefactthat,"Oneparticular
responsehabithasbecomeassociatedwitheachwordwhileinthecaseofcolorsthemselvesavarietyof
responsetendencieshavedeveloped."(1925,p.281.)AspointedoutbyTelford(1930),theresultspublishedby
Peterson(1925,p.281)andalsopublishedbyLund(1927,p.425)confirmPeterson'sinterpretation.

Ligon(1932)haspublishedresultsofa'geneticstudy'ofnamingcolorsandreadingcolornamesinwhichhe
used638subjectsfromschoolgrades1to9inclusive.Inthelightofhisresultshefoundallformerexplanations
untenable(HeincludednoexaminationoforreferencetoPeterson'sdataandinterpretation.)andproceededto
setupanewhypothesisbaseduponathreefactortheory,acommonfactorwhichheneverdefinitelydescribes
andspecialfactorsofwordreadingandcolornaming.Hepointsoutthatthecommonfactorislearnedbutthe
specialfactorsareorganic.Hepromisesfurtherevidencefromstudiesnowinprogress.

ThepresentproblemgrewoutofexperimentalworkincolornamingandwordreadingconductedinJesup
PsychologicalLaboratoryatGeorgePeabodyCollegeForTeachers.Thetimeforreadingnamesofcolorshad
beencomparedwiththetimefornamingcolorsthemselves.Thissuggestedacomparisonoftheinterfering
effectofcolorstimuliuponreadingnamesofcolors(thetwotypesofstimulibeingpresentedsimultaneously)
withtheinterferingeffectofwordstimuliuponnamingcolorsthemselves.Inotherwords,iftheword'red'is
printedinblueinkhowwilltheinterferenceoftheinkcolor'blue'uponreadingtheprintedword'red'compare
withtheinterferenceofthe[p.647]printedword'red'uponcallingthenameoftheinkcolor'blue?'The
increaseintimeforreactingtowordscausedbythepresenceofconflictingcolorstimuliistakenasthemeasure
oftheinterferenceofcolorstimuliuponreadingwords.Theincreaseinthetimeforreactingtocolorscausedby
thepresenceofconflictingwordstimuliistakenasthemeasureoftheinterferenceofwordstimuliuponnaming
colors.Asecondproblemgrewoutoftheresultsofthefirst.Theproblemwas,Whateffectwouldpracticein
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reactingtothecolorstimuliinthepresenceofconflictingwordstimulihaveuponthereactiontimesinthetwo
situationsdescribedinthefirstproblem?

EXPERIMENTAL

Thematerialsemployedintheseexperimentsarequitedifferentfromanythathavebeenusedtostudy
interference.[2]Informerstudiesthesubjectsweregivenpracticeinrespondingtoasetofstimuliuntil
associativebondswereformedbetweenthestimuliandthedesiredresponses,thenachangewasmadeinthe
experimental'setup'whichdemandedadifferentsetofresponsestothesamesetofstimuli.Inthepresentstudy
pairsofconflictingstimuli,bothbeinginherentaspectsofthesamesymbols,arepresentedsimultaneously(a
nameofonecolorprintedintheinkofanothercolorawordstimulusandacolorstimulus).Thesestimuliare
variedinsuchamannerastomaintainthepotencyoftheirinterferenceeffect.Detaileddescriptionsofthe
materialsusedineachofthethreeexperimentsareincludedinthereportsoftherespectiveexperiments.

EXPERIMENTI

TheEffectofInterferingColorStimuliUponReadingNamesofColorsSerially

Materials:

Whenthisexperimentwascontemplated,thefirsttaskwastoarrangesuitabletests.Thecolorsusedonthe
WoodworthWellscolorsheetwereconsideredbuttwochangesweredeemedadvisable.Asthewordtesttobe
usedincomparisonwiththe
[p.648]colortestwastobeprintedinblackitseemedwelltosubstituteanothercolorforblackasaninterfering
stimulus.Also,becauseofthedifficultyofprintingwordsinyellowthatwouldapproximatethestimulus
intensityoftheothercolorsused,yellowwasdiscarded.AfterconsultingwithDr.Peterson,blackandyellow
werereplacedbybrownandpurple.Hence,thecolorsusedwerered,blue,green,brown,andpurple.Thecolors
werearrangedsoastoavoidanyregularityofoccurrenceandsothateachcolorwouldappeartwiceineach
columnandineachrow,andthatnocolorwouldimmediatelysucceeditselfineithercolumnorrow.Thewords
werealsoarrangedsothatthenameofeachcolorwouldappeartwiceineachline.Nowordwasprintedinthe
coloritnamedbutanequalnumberoftimesineachoftheotherfourcolorsi.e.theword'red'wasprintedin
blue,green,brown,andpurpleinkstheword'blue'wasprintedinred,green,brown,andpurpleinkstheword
'blue'wasprintedinred,green,brown,andpurpleinksetc.Nowordimmediatelysucceededitselfineither
columnorrow.ThetestwasprintedfromfourteenpointFranklinlowercasetype.Thewordarrangementwas
duplicatedinblackprintfromsametype.Eachtestwasalsoprintedinthereverseorderwhichprovideda
secondform.Thetestswillbeknownas"Readingcolornameswherethecoloroftheprintandthewordare
different"(RCNd),[3]and"Readingcolornamesprintedinblack"(RCNb).

SubjectsandProcedure:

Seventycollegeundergraduates(14malesand56females)wereusedassubjects.Everysubjectreadtwowhole
sheets(thetwoforms)ofeachtestatonesitting.Onehalfofthesubjectsofeachsex,selectedatrandom,read
thetestsintheorderRCNb(form1),RCNd(form2),RCNd(form1)andRCNb(form2),whiletheotherhalf
reversedtheorderthusequatingforpracticeandfatigueoneachtestandform.Allsubjectswereseatedsoasto
havegooddaylightilluminationfromtheleftsideonly.Allsubjectswereintheexperimentalroomafew
minutesbeforebeginningworktoallowtheeyestoadjusttolightconditions.Thesubjectswerevolunteersand
apparentlythemotivationwasgood.

Atenwordsamplewasreadbeforethefirstreadingofeachtest.Theinstructionsweretoreadasquicklyas
possibleandtoleavenoerrorsuncorrected.Whenanerrorwasleftthesubject'sattentionwascalledtothatfact
assoonasthesheetwasfinished.Onthesignal"Ready!Go!"thesheetwhichthesubjectheldfacedownwas
turnedbythesubjectandreadaloud.Thewordswerefollowedonanothersheet(inblackprint)bythe
experimenterandthetimewastakenwithastopwatchtoafifthofasecond.Contrarytoinstructions14subjects
leftatotalof24errorsuncorrectedontheRCNdtest,4wasthemaximumforanysubject,and4othersubjects
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left1erroreachontheRCNbtest.Aseachsubjectmade200reactionsoneachtestthissmallnumberoferrors
wasconsiderednegligible.Theworkwasdoneundergooddaylightillumination.

Results:Table1givesthemeans(m),standarddeviations(),differences(D),probableerrorofthedifference
(PEd),andthereliabilityofthedifference(D/PEd)forthewholegroupandforeachsex.

Observationofthebottomlineonthetableshowsthatit[p.649]tookanaverageof2.3secondslongertoread
100colorsnamesprintedincolorsdifferentfromthatnamedbythewordthantoreadthesamenamesprintedin
black.ThisdifferenceisnotreliablewhichisinagreementwithPeterson'spredictionmadewhenthetestwas
firstproposed.

Themeansforthesexgroupsshownoparticulardifference.Anexaminationofthemeansandstandard
deviationsforthetwotestsshowsthattheinterferencefactorcausedaslightincreaseinthevariabilityforthe
wholegroupandforthefemalegroup,butaslightdecreaseforthemalegroup.

TableIIpresentsthesamedataarrangedonthebasisofcollegeclassification.Onlycollegeyearsoneandtwo
containasufficientnumberofcasesforcomparativepurposes.Theyshownodifferencesthatapproach
reliability.

EXPERIMENT2

TheEffectofInterferingWordStimuliuponNamingColorsSerially

Materials:

ForthisexperimentthecolorsofthewordsintheRCNdtest,describedinExperimentI,wereprintedinthe
sameorderbutintheformofsolidsquares()from24pointtypeinsteadofwords.Thissortofproblemwillbe
referredtoasthe[p.650]"Namingcolortest"(NC).TheRCNdtestwasemployedalsobutinaverydifferent
mannerfromthatinExperimentI.Inthisexperimentthecolorsoftheprintoftheseriesofnamesweretobe
calledinsuccessionignoringthecolorsnamedbythewordse.g.wheretheword'red'wasprintedinblueitwas
tobecalled'blue,'whereitwasprintedingreenitwastobecalled'green,'wheretheword'brown'wasprintedin
reditwastobecalled'red,'etc.Thuscoloroftheprintwastobethecontrollingstimulusandnotthenameof
thecolorspelledbytheword.Thisistobeknownasthe"Namingcolororwordtestwherethecoloroftheprint
andthewordaredifferent"(NCWd).(SeeAppendixB.[sicA?])

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SubjectsandProcedure:

Onehundredstudents(88collegeundergraduates,29malesand59females,and12graduatestudents,all
females)servedassubjects.Everysubjectreadtwowholesheets(thetwoforms)ofeachtestatonesitting.Half
ofthesubjectsreadintheorderNC,NCWd,NCWd,NC,andtheotherhalfintheorderNCWd,NC,NC,NCWd,
thusequatingforpracticeandfatigueonthetwotests.Allsubjectswereseated(intheirindividualtests)nearthe
windowsoastohavegooddaylightilluminationfromtheleftside.Everysubjectseemedtomakearealeffort.

Atenwordsampleofeachtestwasreadbeforereadingthetestthefirsttime.Theinstructionsweretonamethe
colorsastheyappearedinregularreadinglineasquicklyaspossibleandtocorrectallerrors.Themethodsof
starting,checkingerrors,andtimingwerethesameasthoseusedinExperiment1.Theerrorswererecordedand
foreacherrornotcorrected,twicetheaveragetimeperwordforthereadingofthesheetonwhichtheerrorwas
madewasaddedtothetimetakenbythestopwatch.Thisplanofcorrectionwasarbitrarybutseemedtobe
justifiedbythesituation.Thereweretwokindsoffailurestobeaccountedfor:first,thefailuretoseetheerror:
andsecond,thefailuretocorrectit.Eachphaseofthesituationgavethesubjectatimeadvantagewhich
deservedtakingnoteof.Sincenoaccurateobjectivemeasurewasobtainableandthenumberoferrorswassmall
thearbitraryplanwasadopted.Fiftyninepercentofthegroupleftanaverageof2.6errorsuncorrectedonthe
NCWdtest(200reactions)and32percentofthegroupleftanaverageof1.2errorsuncorrectedontheNCtest
(200reactions).ThecorrectionchangedthemeanontheNCWdtestfrom108.7to110.3andthemeanoftheNC
testfrom63.0to63.3.

Results:ThemeansofthetimesfortheNCandNCWdtestsforthewholegroupandforeachsexarepresented
inTableIIIalongwiththedifference,theprobableerrorofthe[p.651]difference,thereliabilityofthe
difference,anddifferencedividedbythemeantimeforthenamingcolortest.

ThecomparisonoftheresultsforthewholegroupontheNCandNCWdtestgiveninthebottomlineofthetable
indicatesthestrengthoftheinterferenceofthehabitofcallingwordsupontheactivityofnamingcolors.The
meantimefor100responsesisincreasedfrom63.3secondsto110.3secondsoranincreaseof74percent.(The
mediansonthetwotestsare61.9and110.4secondsrespectively.)Thestandarddeviationisincreasedin
approximatelythesameratiofrom10.8to18.8.Thecoefficientofvariabilityremainsthesametothethird
decimalplace(/m=.171).Thedifferencebetweenmeansmaybebetterevaluatedwhenexpressedinterms
ofthevariabilityofthegroup.Thedifferenceof47secondsis2.5standarddeviationunitsintermsoftheNCWd
testor4.35standarddeviationunitsontheNCtest.Theformershowsthat99percentofthegroupontheNCWd
testwasabovethemeanontheNCtest(tookmoretime)andthelattershowsthatthegroupasscoredonthe
NCtestwaswellbelowthemeanontheNCWdtest.TheseresultsareshowngraphicallyinFig.1where
histogramsandnormalcurves(obtainedbytheGaussianformula)ofthetwosetsofdataaresuperimposed.

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Thesmallareainwhichthecurvesoverlapandthe74percentincreaseinthemeantimefornamingcolors
causedbythepresenceofwordstimulishowthemarkedinterferenceeffectofthehabitualresponseofcalling
words.

[p.652]ThemeansforthesexgroupsontheNCWdtestshowadifferenceof3.6secondswhichisonly1.16
timesitsprobableerrorbutthemeansontheNCtesthaveadifferenceof8.2secondswhichis5.17timesits
probableerror.Thisreliablesexdifferencefavoringthefemalesinnamingcolorsagreeswiththefindingsof
WoodworthWells(1911),Brown(1915),Ligon(1932),etc.

ThesamedataarearrangedaccordingtocollegeclassificationinTableIV.Thereissomeindicationof
improvementofthespeedfactorforbothtestsasthecollegerankimproves.Therelativedifferencebetweenthe
twotests,however,remainsgenerallythesameexceptforfluctuationswhichareprobablyduetothevariationin
thenumberofcases.

EXPERIMENT3

TheEffectsofPracticeuponInterference

Materials:

ThetestsusedwerethesameincharacterasthosedescribedinExperiments1and2(RCNb,RCNd,NC,and
NCWd)withsomerevision.TheNCtestwasprintedinswastikas()insteadofsquares().Suchamodification
allowedwhitetoappearinthefigurewiththecolor,asisthecasewhenthecolorispresentedintheprinted
word.ThischangealsomadeitpossibletoprinttheNCtestinshadeswhichmorenearlymatchthoseinthe
NCWdtest.Theorderofcolorswasdeterminedunderonerestrictionotherthanthosegiveninsection2.Each
linecontainedonecolorwhosetwoappearanceswereseparatedbyonlyoneothercolor.Thiswasdoneto
equate,asmuchaspossible,thedifficultyofthedifferentlinesofthetestsothatanysectionoffivelineswould
approximatethedifficultyofanyothersectionoffivelines.Twoformsofthetestswereprintedinonetheorder
wastheinverseofthatintheother.

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[p.653]SubjectsandProcedure:

ThirtytwoundergraduatesintheUniversityofArizona(17malesand15females),whoofferedtheirservices,
werethesubjects.Ateachday'ssitting4halfsheetsofthesametestwereread,andtheaveragetime(after
correctionwasmadeforerrorsaccordingtotheplanoutlinedinExperiment2)wasrecordedastheday'sscore.
Onlyafewerrorswereleftuncorrected.Thelargestcorrectionmadeonthepracticetestchangedthemeanfrom
49.3to49.6.Theplanofexperimentationwasasfollows:

Onthe1stdaytheRCNbtestwasusedtoacquaintthesubjectswiththeexperimentalprocedureandimprovethe
reliabilityofthe2dday'stest.TheRCNdtestwasgiventhe2ddayandthe13thdaytoobtainameasureofthe
interferencedevelopedbypracticeontheNCandNCWdtests.TheRCNdtestwasgiventhe14thdaytogeta
measureoftheeffectofaday'spracticeuponthenewlydevelopedinterference.TheNCtestwasgiventhe3d
and12thdays,justbeforeandjustaftertherealpracticeseries,sothatactualchangeininterferenceonthe
NCWdtestmightbeknown.Thetestschedulewasfollowedinregulardailyorderwithtwoexceptions.There
weretwodaysbetweentestdays3and4,andalsotwobetweentestdays8and9,inwhichnoworkwasdone.
Theseirregularitieswereoccasionedbyweekends.Eachsubjectwasassignedaregulartimeofdayforhis
workthroughouttheexperiment.Allbuttwosubjectsfollowedtheschedulewithverylittleirregularity.These
twowerefinallydroppedfromthegroupandtheirdatarejected.

Allofthetestsweregivenindividuallybytheauthor.Thesubjectwasseatednearawindowsoastohavegood
daylightilluminationfromtheleftside.Therewasnoothersourceoflight.Everysubjectwasinthe
experimentalroomafewminutesbeforebeginningworktoallowhiseyestoadapttothelightconditions.To
aideyeadaptationandalsotocheckforclearnessofvisioneachsubjectreadseverallinesinacurrentmagazine.
EverysubjectwasgivenDr.Ishihara'stestforcolorvision.Onesubjectwasfoundtohavesometroublewith
redgreencolorvisionandherresultswerediscardedthoughtheydifferedfromothersofhersexonlyinthe
numberoferrorsmadeandcorrected.

Results:ThegeneralresultsforthewholeseriesoftestsareshowninTableVwhichpresentsthemeans,
standarddeviations,andcoefficientsofvariabilityforthewholegroupandforeachsexseparately,togetherwith
ameasureofsexdifferencesintermsoftheprobableerrorofthedifference.TableVI,whichisderivedfrom
TableV,summarizesthepracticeeffectsupontherespectivetests.Thegraphicalrepresentationoftheresultsin
thepracticeseriesgivesthelearningcurvepresentedinFig.2.
[p.654]

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TheEffectofPracticeontheNCWdTestuponItself

ThedatatobeconsideredherearethosegiveninthesectionofTableVunderthecaption"DaysofPracticeon
theNCWdTest."TheyarealsopresentedinsummaryintheleftsectionofTableVIandgraphicallyinFig.2.
Fromall[p.655]threepresentationsitisevidentthatthetimescoreisloweredconsiderablybypractice.

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ReferencetoTableVIshowsagainof16.8secondsor33.9percentofthemeanofthe1stday'spractice.The
practicecurveisfoundtoresembleverymuchthe'typical'learningcurvewhenconstructedon[p.656]time
units.

Thecoefficientofvariabilityisincreasedfrom.14&plusmn.012to.19&plusmn.015.Thisdifferencedivided
byitsprobableerrorgives2.60whichindicatesthatitisnotreliable.Theprobabilityofarealincreasein
variability,however,is24to1.Hence,practiceontheNCWdtestservestoincreaseindividualdifferences.

AnexaminationofthedataofthesexgroupsrevealsadifferencesinspeedontheNCWdtestwhichfavorsthe
females.Thisistobeexpectedasthereisadifferenceinfavoroffemalesinnamingcolors.Thoughthe
differenceisnotreliableinanyonecaseitexiststhroughoutthepracticeseriesindicatingthattherelative
improvementisapproximatelythesameforthetwogroups.Thislatterfactisalsoshownbytheratioofthe
differencebetweenthehalvesofpracticeseriestothefirsthalf.Itis.185forthemalesand.180forthefemales.

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TheEffectofPracticeontheNCWdTestupontheNCTest

ThemiddlesectionofTableVIshowsagainontheNCtestof4.0secondsor13.9percentoftheinitialscore.
Thisisonly23.7percentofthegainontheNCWdtestwhichmeansthatlessthanonefourthofthetotalgainon
theNCWdtestisduetoincreaseinspeedinnamingcolors.Theimprovementisgreaterforthemales,whichis
accountedforbythefactthatthereismoredifferencebetweennamingcolorsandreadingnamesofcolorsfor
themalesthanforthefemales.

TheEffectsintheRCNdTestofPracticeontheNCWdandNCTests

TherightsectionofTableVIshowsthatthepracticeontheNCWdandNCtestsresultedinheavylossinspeed
ontheRCNdtest.AcomparisonoftherightandleftsectionsofthetableshowsthatthelossontheRCNdtest,
whenmeasuredinabsoluteunits,ispracticallyequaltothegainontheNCWdtestwhenmeasuredinrelative
unitsitismuchgreater.Itisinterestingtofindthatintenshortpracticeperiodstherelativevaluesofopposing
stimulicanbemodifiedsogreatly.[p.657]Thereislittlerelation,however,betweenthegaininonecaseandthe
lossintheother.Thecorrelationbetweengainandlossinabsoluteunitsis.262&plusmn.11,whilethe
correlationbetweenpercentofgainandpercentoflossis.016&plusmn.17,orzero.Thisiswhatonemight
expect.

FromaconsiderationoftheresultsofthetwoapplicationsoftheRCNdtestgiveninthefinaltestsofTableV,it
isevidentthatthenewlydevelopedinterferencedisappearsveryrapidlywithpractice.Fromonedaytothenext
themeandecreasesfrom34.8to22.0seconds.Thisindicatesthatrenewingtheeffectivenessofoldassociations
whicharebeingopposedbynewlyformedonesiseasierthanstrengtheningnewassociationsinoppositionto
oldwellestablishedones.

ThevariabilityofthegroupisincreasedbytheincreaseininterferenceduetopracticeontheNCWdtest.The
coefficientofvariabilityincreasesfrom.15&plusmn.013to.34&plusmn.031,thedifferencedividedbyits
probableerrorbeing5.65.Thisisnotsurprisingasthedegreeoftheinterferencevarieswidelyfromdifferent
subjects.Itsdegreeisdeterminedbythelearningonthepracticeserieswhichisshownbytheindividualresults
tovaryconsiderably.Oneday'spracticeontheRCNdtestreducedthevariabilityfrom.34&plusmn.031to.25
&plusmn.022.Thedecreaseinvariabilityis2.3timesitsprobableerror.

Thedatafromthisexperimentpresentinterestingfindingsontheeffectofpracticeuponindividualdifferences.
TheresultswhichhavealreadybeendiscussedseparatelyarepresentedforcomparisoninTableVII.

[p.658]Theseresultsshowthatpracticeincreasesindividualdifferenceswhereastimulustowhichthesubjects
haveanhabitualreactionpatternisinterferingwithreactionstoastimulusforwhichthesubjectsdonothavean
habitualreactionpattern(thewordstimulusinterferingwithnamingcolors,NCWdtest)butdecreases
individualdifferenceswhereastimulustowhichthesubjectsdonothaveanhabitualreactionpatternis
interferingwithreactionstoastimulusforwhichthesubjectshaveanhabitualreactionpattern(thecolor
stimulusinterferingwithreadingwordsRCNdtest).Therearetwoothervariablesinvolved,however:initial
variabilityandlengthofpractice.ThusintheNCWdtesttheinitialvariabilitywasless,thedifficultygreater,and
thepracticegreaterthanintheRCNdtest.ThesefindingslendsomesupporttoPeterson'shypothesis,"Subjects

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ofnormalheterogeneitywouldbecomemorealikewithpracticeonthesimplerprocessesoractivities,butmore
differentonthemorecomplexactivities"(PetersonandBarlow,1928,p.228).

Asexdifferenceinnamingcolorshasbeenfoundbyallwhohavestudiedcolornamingandhasbeengenerally
attributedtothegreaterfacilityofwomeninverbalreactionsthanofmen.Thereissomeindicationinourdata
thatthissexdifferencemaybeduetothedifferenceintheaccustomedreactionofthetwosexestocolorsas
stimuli.Inotherwordsrespondingtoacolorstimulusbynamingthecolormaybemorecommonwithfemales
thanwithmales.Thisdifferenceisprobablybuiltupthrougheducation.Educationincolorismuchmoreintense
forgirlsthanforboysasobserving,naming,anddiscussingcolorsrelativetodressismuchmorecommon
amonggirlsthanamongboys.ThepracticeinnamingcolorsintheNCWdtestdecreasedthedifferencebetween
thesexgroupsontheNCtestfromadifference5.38timesitsprobableerrortoadifference2.99timesits
probableerror.Thisdecreaseinthedifferenceduetopracticefavorstheviewthatthedifferencehasbeen
acquiredandisthereforeaproductoftraining.

[p.659]SUMMARY

1.Interferenceinserialverbalreactionshasbeenstudiedbymeansofnewlydevisedexperimentalmaterials.
Thesourceoftheinterferenceisinthematerialsthemselves.Thewordsred,blue,green,brown,andpurpleare
usedonthetestsheet.Nowordisprintedinthecoloritnamesbutanequalnumberoftimesineachoftheother
fourcolorsi.e.theword'red'isprintedinblue,green,brown,andpurpleinkstheword'blue'isprintedinred,
green,brown,andpurpleinksetc.Thuseachwordpresentsthenameofonecolorprintedininkofanother
color.Hence,awordstimulusandacolorstimulusbotharepresentedsimultaneously.Thewordsofthetestare
duplicatedinblackprintandthecolorsofthetestareduplicatedinsquaresorswastikas.Thedifferenceinthe
timeforreadingthewordsprintedincolorsandthesamewordsprintedinblackisthemeasureofthe
interferenceofcolorstimuliuponreadingwords.Thedifferenceinthetimefornamingthecolorsinwhichthe
wordsareprintedandthesamecolorsprintedinsquares(orswastikas)isthemeasureoftheinterferenceof
conflictingwordstimuliuponnamingcolors.

2.Theinterferenceofconflictingcolorstimuliuponthetimeforreading100words(eachwordnamingacolor
unliketheinkcolorofitsprint)causedanincreaseofonly2.3secondsor5.6percentoverthenormaltimefor
readingthesamewordsprintedinblack.Thisincreaseisnotreliable.Buttheinterferenceofconflictingword
stimuliuponthetimefornaming100colors(eachcolorbeingtheprintofawordwhichnamesanothercolor)
causedanincreaseof47.0secondsor74.3percentofthenormaltimefornamingcolorsprintedinsquares.

Thesetestsprovideauniquebasis(theinterferencevalue)forcomparingtheeffectivenessofthetwotypesof
associations.Sincethepresenceofthecolorstimulicausednoreliableincreaseoverthenormaltimeforreading
words(D/PEd=3.64)andthepresenceofwordstimulicausedaconsiderableincreaseoverthenormaltimefor
namingcolors(4.35standarddeviationunits)theassociationsthathavebeen[p.660]formedbetweentheword
stimuliandthereadingresponseareevidentlymoreeffectivethanthosethathavebeenformedbetweenthe
colorstimuliandthenamingresponse.Sincetheseassociationsareproductsoftraining,andsincethedifference
intheirstrengthcorrespondsroughlytothedifferenceintraininginreadingwordsandnamingcolors,itseems
reasonabletoconcludethatthedifferenceinspeedinreadingnamesofcolorsandinnamingcolorsmaybe
satisfactorilyaccountedforbythedifferenceintraininginthetwoactivities.Thewordstimulushasbeen
associatedwiththespecificresponse'toread,'whilethecolorstimulushasbeenassociatedwithvarious
responses:'toadmire,''toname,''toreachfor,''toavoid,'etc.

3.Asatestofthepermanencyoftheinterferenceofconflictingwordstimulitonamingcolorseightdays
practice(200reactionsperday)weregiveninnamingthecolorsoftheprintofwords(eachwordnaminga
colorunliketheinkcolorofitsprint).Theeffectsofthispracticewereasfollows:1.Itdecreasedthe
interferenceofconflictingwordstimulitonamingcolorsbutdidnoteliminateit.2.Itproducedapracticecurve
comparabletothatobtainedinmanyotherlearningexperiments.3.Itincreasedthevariabilityofthegroup.4.It
shortenedthereactiontimetocolorspresentedincolorsquares.5.Itincreasedtheinterferenceofconflicting
colorstimuliuponreadingwords.

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4.Practicewasfoundeithertoincreaseortodecreasethevariabilityofthegroupdependinguponthenatureof
thematerialused.

5.Someindicationwasfoundthatthesexdifferenceinnamingcolorsisduetothedifferenceinthetrainingof
thetwosexes.

(ManuscriptreceivedAugust15,1934)

Footnotes

[1]Thewriterwishestoacknowledgethekindassistancereceivedinthepreparationofthisthesis.Heis
indebtedtoDr.JosephPetersonforencouragement,helpfulsuggestions,andcriticismofthemanuscriptto
MajorH.W.Fenker,agraduatestudentinpsychology,forhelpfulsuggestionsrelativetopreparationofthe
manuscripttoDrs.J.Peterson,S.C.Garrison,M.R.Schneck,J.E.Caster,O.A.Simley,W.F.Smith,andto
MissM.Nicholforaidinsecuringsubjectstosomethreehundredcollegestudentswhoservedassubjectsand
toWilliamFitzgeraldofThePeabodyPressforsubstantialassistanceintheprintingofthetestmaterials.

[2]Descoeudres(1914)andalsoGoodenoughandBrian(1929)presentedcolorandformsimultaneouslyin
studyingtheirrelativevaluesasstimuli.

[3]InAppendixAwillbefoundakeytoallsymbolsandabbreviationsusedinthispaper.

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AppendixA

AKeytoSymbolsandAbbreviations

NCNamingColors.
NCWdNamingtheColorsofthePrintofWordsWheretheColorofthePrintandtheWordareDifferent.
RCNbReadingColorNamesPrintedinBlackInk.
RCNdReadingColorNamesWheretheColorofthePrintandtheWordareDifferent.
DDifference.
D/PEdDifferencedividedbytheprobableerrorofthedifference.
M&FMalesandFemales.
PEdProbableerrorofthedifference.
Sigmaorstandarddeviation.
/mStandarddeviationdividedbythemean.

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