psychology experiment

Running head: UNIT 2 LAB 2

Lab 4 Assignment

Student Name

North Carolina Central University

Running head: UNIT 4 LAB 1

UNIT 4 LAB 6

Lab 4 Assignment

The Stroop Effect was discovered in 1935 by a researcher named J. R. Stroop (MacLeod, 1991). It is a fascinating phenomenon in which the way we automatically process the meaning of words interferes with our ability to identify colors (Stroop, 1992). In this lab, you will experience the Stroop Effect by performing word and color identification tasks under three different experimental conditions: Identifying colors, identifying the names of colors, and identifying the color of the ink that a color word is printed in. You will perform ten trials in each of the conditions described above, and you will have three practice trials in each condition before you begin.

Instructions for Collecting Data

1. Go to the following web address: https://www.psytoolkit.org/experiment-library/stroop.html [Click ‘Run the Demo’ on the left-hand side menu.] (PsyToolKit, 2018).

2. Position your fingers on the ‘r’ – red, ‘g’ – green, ‘b’ – blue and ‘y’ – yellow.

3. Once you press start, choose the letter for the color of the word (the color it is printed in). This may or may not be compatible/congruent with the actual work (e.g. the word red may be printed in red [compatible / congruent] – choose red or the word red may be printed in green [incompatible / incongruent] – choose green)

4. After 40 trials, it will tell you the average milliseconds for the congruent trails and for the incongruent trials (when you got it correct). Enter these numbers on the data sheet provided with this lab.

5. You should go through the entire process five times. Make sure to record the data for each of the five times you complete the task and you are now ready to write your lab report.

Instructions for Writing the Lab Report

1. The introduction should include background on the Stroop Effect, the background/purpose of the lab report and the hypothesis.

2. Complete the Table (see page 4).

3. Present your data in either a bar graph or a line graph. Be sure to clearly label the axes of your graph and display the data for the number correct and the time required on the same graph. You may draw this graph by hand or use a graphing program like Excel or SPSS.

4. Summarize the pattern of your results in a paragraph. In other words, what does your graph tell us?

5. In the discussion section, be sure to answer each of the following questions:

· What pattern of results would you expect to find if you exhibited the Stroop Effect? Is this what actually happened?

· If you did not show the typical Stroop pattern, do you have any hypotheses about why you didn’t?

· Did you find some conditions to be more subjectively difficult than others? Please elaborate.

· Did you notice any trade-off between speed and accuracy? In other words, did you do better if you took more time?

6. Write a few sentences explaining why the Stroop Effect occurs.

7. Be sure to include an abstract that is a full summary of the entire paper. The abstract should be able to stand alone and describe the entire paper.

8. Remember that the results section simply describes he observations and interpretations of the data are written up in the discussion section.

Include this exact table with your data in the Results section of your Lab Report

Table 1 Stroop Effect Lab Data
Condition	Congruent Average Speed	Incongruent Average Speed	Incongruent Minus Congruent
	Time (ms)	Time (ms)	Time (ms)
Take 1
Take 2
Take 3
Take 4
Take 5
Mean

(A MS Word file with this formatted table can be found on Blackboard with the directions.)

References

MacLeod, C. M. (1991). Half a century of research on the Stroop Effect: An integrative review. Psychological Bulletin, 109, 163-203.

Psy Toolkit. (2018). Stroop task. Retrieved from https://www.psytoolkit.org/experiment-library/stroop.html

Stroop, J. R. (1992). Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 121(1), 15-23.

Poss. PtsPts

Describes lab content concisely, adequately, appropriately 3

Conveys a sense of the full report concisely and effectively5

Successfully establishes the scientific concept of the lab

4

Effectively presents the objectives and purpose of the lab

4

States hypothesis and provides logical reasoning for it

4

Gives enough details to allow for replication of procedure

5

Opens with effective statement of overall observations

5

Presents visuals clearly and accurately

5

Presents verbal findings clearly and with sufficient support

5

Successfully integrates verbal and visual representations

5

Opens with effective statement of support of hypothesis

4

Backs up statement with reference to appropriate findings

4

Provides sufficient and logical explanation for the statement

4

Accurately measures and analyzes data for lab findings

4

Sufficiently addresses other issues pertinent to lab

4

Citations and references adhere to proper format

3

Format of tables and figures is correct

3

Report is written in scientific style: clear and to the point/Grammar/Spelling

3

Has successfully learned what the lab is designed to teach

3

Demonstrates clear and thoughtful scientific inquiry

3

Total

800

Discussion (20 points)

Format/Writing Standards (15 points)

Lab 4 - Stroop Task

Title (3 points)

Abstract (5 points)

Introduction (12 points)

Methods (5 points)

Results (20 points)