Overcoming Stroop Interference: The Effects Of Practice On Distractor Potency

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-1-1980

Published In

Journal Of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception And Performance

Abstract

In 3 experiments, 40 undergraduates practiced counting digits, a task subject to Stroop-type interference, and then were tested in a variety of transfer conditions. Results indicate that digits lose their ability to distract as a result of practice but that this loss is highly specific; practice in ignoring 1 pair of distractors (2 and 4) did not improve later performance when ignoring a different pair (1 and 3). However, this practice effect did transfer to distractor stimuli having the same meaning as the stimuli ignored in practice ({two} and {four}, but not {to} and {for}). The results can be explained either in terms of active learning to suppress distraction or in terms of habituation of competing responses. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

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