Placebo-suggestion modulates conflict resolution in the Stroop Task.

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Pedro A Magalhães De Saldanha da Gama

Full Text Available Here, we ask whether placebo-suggestion (without any form of hypnotic induction can modulate the resolution of cognitive conflict. Naïve participants performed a Stroop Task while wearing an EEG cap described as a "brain wave" machine. In Experiment 1, participants were made to believe that the EEG cap would either enhance or decrease their color perception and performance on the Stroop task. In Experiment 2, participants were explicitly asked to imagine that their color perception and performance would be enhanced or decreased (non-hypnotic imaginative suggestion. We observed effects of placebo-suggestion on Stroop interference on accuracy: interference was decreased with positive suggestion and increased with negative suggestion compared to baseline. Intra-individual variability was also increased under negative suggestion compared to baseline. Compliance with the instruction to imagine a modulation of performance, on the other hand, did not influence accuracy and only had a negative impact on response latencies and on intra-individual variability, especially in the congruent condition of the Stroop Task. Taken together, these results demonstrate that expectations induced by a placebo-suggestion can modulate our ability to resolve cognitive conflict, either facilitating or impairing response accuracy depending on the suggestion's contents. Our results also demonstrate a dissociation between placebo-suggestion and non-hypnotic imaginative suggestion.

Individual Differences in Verbal and Spatial Stroop Tasks: Interactive Role of Handedness and Domain

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Mariagrazia Capizzi

2017-11-01

Full Text Available A longstanding debate in psychology concerns the relation between handedness and cognitive functioning. The present study aimed to contribute to this debate by comparing performance of right- and non-right-handers on verbal and spatial Stroop tasks. Previous studies have shown that non-right-handers have better inter-hemispheric interaction and greater access to right hemisphere processes. On this ground, we expected performance of right- and non-right-handers to differ on verbal and spatial Stroop tasks. Specifically, relative to right-handers, non-right-handers should have greater Stroop effect in the color-word Stroop task, for which inter-hemispheric interaction does not seem to be advantageous to performance. By contrast, non-right-handers should be better able to overcome interference in the spatial Stroop task. This is for their preferential access to the right hemisphere dealing with spatial material and their greater inter-hemispheric interaction with the left hemisphere hosting Stroop task processes. Our results confirmed these predictions, showing that handedness and the underlying brain asymmetries may be a useful variable to partly explain individual differences in executive functions.

Effects of Emotional Experience for Abstract Words in the Stroop Task

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Siakaluk, Paul D.; Knol, Nathan; Pexman, Penny M.

2014-01-01

In this study, we examined the effects of emotional experience, a relatively new dimension of emotional knowledge that gauges the ease with which words evoke emotional experience, on abstract word processing in the Stroop task. In order to test the context-dependency of these effects, we accentuated the saliency of this dimension in Experiment 1A…

An integrated utility-based model of conflict evaluation and resolution in the Stroop task.

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Chuderski, Adam; Smolen, Tomasz

2016-04-01

Cognitive control allows humans to direct and coordinate their thoughts and actions in a flexible way, in order to reach internal goals regardless of interference and distraction. The hallmark test used to examine cognitive control is the Stroop task, which elicits both the weakly learned but goal-relevant and the strongly learned but goal-irrelevant response tendencies, and requires people to follow the former while ignoring the latter. After reviewing the existing computational models of cognitive control in the Stroop task, its novel, integrated utility-based model is proposed. The model uses 3 crucial control mechanisms: response utility reinforcement learning, utility-based conflict evaluation using the Festinger formula for assessing the conflict level, and top-down adaptation of response utility in service of conflict resolution. Their complex, dynamic interaction led to replication of 18 experimental effects, being the largest data set explained to date by 1 Stroop model. The simulations cover the basic congruency effects (including the response latency distributions), performance dynamics and adaptation (including EEG indices of conflict), as well as the effects resulting from manipulations applied to stimulation and responding, which are yielded by the extant Stroop literature. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

One Night of Sleep Deprivation Affects Reaction Time, but Not Interference or Facilitation in a Stroop Task

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Cain, Sean W.; Silva, Edward J.; Chang, Anne-Marie; Ronda, Joseph M.; Duffy, Jeanne F.

2011-01-01

The Stroop color-naming task is one of the most widely studied tasks involving the inhibition of a prepotent response, regarded as an executive function. Several studies have examined performance on versions of the Stroop task under conditions of acute sleep deprivation. Though these studies revealed effects on Stroop performance, the results…

Exploring relations between task conflict and informational conflict in the Stroop task.

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Entel, Olga; Tzelgov, Joseph; Bereby-Meyer, Yoella; Shahar, Nitzan

2015-11-01

In this study, we tested the proposal that the Stroop task involves two conflicts--task conflict and informational conflict. Task conflict was defined as the latency difference between color words and non-letter neutrals, and manipulated by varying the proportion of color words versus non-letter neutrals. Informational conflict was defined as the latency difference between incongruent and congruent trials and manipulated by varying the congruent-to-incongruent trial ratio. We replicated previous findings showing that increasing the ratio of incongruent-to-congruent trials reduces the latency difference between the incongruent and congruent condition (i.e., informational conflict), as does increasing the proportion of color words (i.e., task conflict). A significant under-additive interaction between the two proportion manipulations (congruent vs. incongruent and color words vs. neutrals) indicated that the effects of task conflict and informational conflict were not additive. By assessing task conflict as the contrast between color words and neutrals, we found that task conflict existed in all of our experimental conditions. Under specific conditions, when task conflict dominated behavior by explaining most of the variability between congruency conditions, we also found negative facilitation, thus demonstrating that this effect is a special case of task conflict.

Stroop performance in pathological gamblers.

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Kertzman, Semion; Lowengrub, Katherine; Aizer, Anat; Nahum, Zeev Ben; Kotler, Moshe; Dannon, Pinhas N

2006-05-30

Pathological gambling is a relatively prevalent psychiatric disorder that typically leads to severe family, social, legal, and occupational problems and is associated with a high rate of suicide attempts. Understanding the neurobiological basis of pathological gambling is a current focus of research, and emerging data have demonstrated that pathological gamblers may have impaired decision-making because of an inability to inhibit irrelevant information. In this study, we examined pathological gamblers by using the Stroop Color-Word Test, a neurocognitive task used to assess interference control. The "reverse" variant of the Stroop Color-Word Test was administered to a cohort of medication-free pathological gamblers (n=62) and a cohort of age-matched controls (n=83). In the reverse variant of the Stroop task, subjects are asked to read the meaning of the word rather than name the ink color. The reverse Stroop task was chosen because it highly discriminates ability to inhibit interference in a population of psychiatric patients. In our study, performance on the reverse Stroop task in the pathological gamblers was significantly slower and less accurate than in the healthy subjects. A new finding in our study was that for pathological gamblers, the average reaction time in the neutral condition (where the color names are displayed in black letters) was slower than the average reaction time in the incongruent condition (where the meaning of the color name and the color of the printed letters are different). This controlled study extends previous findings by showing that performance on the Stroop task is impaired in a sample of medication-free pathological gamblers.

Validity of the Virtual Reality Stroop Task (VRST) in active duty military.

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Armstrong, Christina M; Reger, Greg M; Edwards, Joseph; Rizzo, Albert A; Courtney, Christopher G; Parsons, Thomas D

2013-01-01

Virtual environments provide the ability to systematically deliver test stimuli in simulated contexts relevant to real world behavior. The current study evaluated the validity of the Virtual Reality Stroop Task (VRST), which presents test stimuli during a virtual reality military convoy with simulated combat threats. Active duty Army personnel (N = 49) took the VRST, a customized version of the Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics (ANAM)-Fourth Edition TBI Battery (2007) that included the addition of the ANAM Stroop and Tower tests, and traditional neuropsychological measures, including the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System version of the Color-Word Interference Test. Preliminary convergent and discriminant validity was established, and performance on the VRST was significantly associated with computerized and traditional tests of attention and executive functioning. Valid virtual reality cognitive assessments open new lines of inquiry into the impact of environmental stimuli on performance and offer promise for the future of neuropsychological assessments used with military personnel.

A Reverse Stroop Task with Mouse Tracking

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Yamamoto, Naohide; Incera, Sara; McLennan, Conor T.

2016-01-01

In a reverse Stroop task, observers respond to the meaning of a color word irrespective of the color in which the word is printed—for example, the word red may be printed in the congruent color (red), an incongruent color (e.g., blue), or a neutral color (e.g., white). Although reading of color words in this task is often thought to be neither facilitated by congruent print colors nor interfered with incongruent print colors, this interference has been detected by using a response method that...

Electrophysiological measures of conflict detection and resolution in the Stroop task.

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Coderre, Emily; Conklin, Kathy; van Heuven, Walter J B

2011-09-21

Conflict detection and resolution is crucial in a cognitive task like the Stroop task. Previous studies have identified an early negativity component (N(inc)) as a prominent marker of Stroop conflict in event-related potentials (ERPs). However, to what extent this ERP component reflects conflict detection and/or resolution is still unclear. Here, we report a Stroop task in which the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) of color and word stimuli presentation was manipulated in order to disentangle the roles of conflict detection and conflict resolution in generating Stroop-related ERP components. Separating the word from the color information gives us precise control over the timing of conflict. If the N(inc) is related with conflict resolution it should be absent when the word appears during response preparation, as in a long-latency positive SOA. Our data shows that the N(inc) occurs in all SOAs, even after a response has been made, supporting its role in the detection of stimulus conflict rather than conflict resolution. The use of SOA manipulation therefore allows for the examination of a wider temporal spectrum of interference in order to specify the functions of this conflict-related component. These results provide insight into the neural signatures of conflict processes, and have implications for models of cognitive control mechanisms in the brain. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

EEG Frequency Changes Prior to Making Errors in an Easy Stroop Task

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Rachel Atchley

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Background: Mind-wandering is a form of off-task attention that has been associated with negative affect and rumination. The goal of this study was to assess potential electroencephalographic markers of task-unrelated thought, or mind-wandering state, as related to error rates during a specialized cognitive task. We used EEG to record frontal frequency band activity while participants completed a Stroop task that was modified to induce boredom, task-unrelated thought, and therefore mind-wandering.Methods: A convenience sample of 27 older adults (50–80 years completed a computerized Stroop matching task. Half of the Stroop trials were congruent (word/color match, and the other half were incongruent (mismatched. Behavioral data and EEG recordings were assessed. EEG analysis focused on the 1-s epochs prior to stimulus presentation in order to compare trials followed by correct versus incorrect responses.Results: Participants made errors on 9% of incongruent trials. There were no errors on congruent trials. There was a decrease in alpha and theta band activity during the epochs followed by error responses.Conclusion: Although replication of these results is necessary, these findings suggest that potential mind-wandering, as evidenced by errors, can be characterized by a decrease in alpha and theta activity compared to on-task, accurate performance periods.

Effect of Caffeine on Information Processing: Evidence from Stroop Task

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Dixit, Abhinav; Goyal, Abhishek; Thawani, Rajat; Vaney, Neelam

2012-01-01

Background: Caffeine is a pyschostimulant present in various beverages and known to alter alertness and performance by acting on the central nervous system. Its effects on central nervous system have been studied using EEG, evoked potentials, fMRI, and neuropsychological tests. The Stroop task is a widely used tool in psychophysiology to understand the attention processes and is based on the principle that processing of two different kinds of information (like the word or colour) is parallel ...

When Stroop helps Piaget: An inter-task positive priming paradigm in 9-year-old children.

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Linzarini, A; Houdé, O; Borst, G

2015-11-01

To determine whether inhibitory control is domain general or domain specific in school children, we asked 40 9-year-old children to perform an inter-task priming paradigm in which they responded to Stroop items on the primes and to Piaget number conservation items on the probes. The children were more efficient in the inhibition of a misleading "length-equals-number" heuristic in the number conservation task if they had successfully inhibited a previous prepotent reading response in the Stroop task. This study provides evidence that the inhibitory control ability of school children generalizes to distinct cognitive domains, that is, verbal for the Stroop task and logico-mathematical for Piaget's number conservation task. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Resposta cardiovascular ao Stroop: comparação entre teste computadorizado e verbal Respuesta cardiovascular al Stroop: comparación entre test computarizado y verbal Cardiovascular response to Stroop test: comparison between the computerized and verbal tests

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Daniel Fernandes Barbosa

2010-04-01

Full Text Available FUNDAMENTO: O teste de Stroop requer que o indivíduo responda a elementos específicos de um estímulo enquanto inibe processos mais automatizados. OBJETIVO: Comparar a reatividade cardiovascular induzida pela versão computadorizada do teste palavra-cor de Stroop - TESTINPACS® com versão tradicional baseada na leitura de palavras impressas. MÉTODOS: A amostra de conveniência foi constituída por 20 mulheres (22,4 ± 4,1 anos. Análises de variância com medidas repetidas foram utilizadas para comparar efeitos principais entre testes (computadorizado, verbal, assim como entre etapas do teste (linha de base, Stroop 1, Stroop 3 das variáveis fisiológicas (pressão arterial, arritmia sinusal respiratória, frequência cardíaca e frequência respiratória. Testes t para amostras pareadas foram utilizados para comparar as médias pressóricas entre o Stroop 3 e a linha de base. Ademais, a magnitude dos efeitos (d' foi estimada a fim avaliar o impacto das diferenças entre as medidas fisiológicas relativas ao Stroop 3 e a linha de base. RESULTADOS: As duas versões do instrumento produziram elevação significativa em frequência cardíaca (pFUNDAMENTO: El test de Stroop requiere que el individuo responda a elementos específicos de un estímulo mientras inhibe procesos más automatizados. OBJETIVO: Comparar la reactividad cardiovascular inducida por la versión computarizada del test de colores y palabras Stroop - TESTINPACS® con la versión tradicional basada en la lectura de palabras impresas. MÉTODOS: La muestra de conveniencia estuvo constituida por 20 mujeres (22,4 ± 4,1 años. Se utilizaron análisis de varianza con medidas repetidas para comparar efectos principales entre ambos test (computarizado, verbal, así como entre etapas del test (línea de base, Stroop1, Stroop 3 de las variables fisiológicas (presión arterial, arritmia sinusal respiratoria, frecuencia cardiaca y frecuencia respiratoria. Para comparar los promedios pres

Developmental change in cognitive organization underlying stroop tasks of Japanese orthographies.

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Toma, C; Toshima, T

1989-01-01

Cognitive processes underlying Stroop interference tasks of two Japanese orthographies, hiragana (a phonetic orthography) and kanji (a logographic orthography) were studied from the developmental point of view. Four age groups (first, second, third graders, and university students) were employed as subjects. Significant interference was yielded both in the hiragana and in the kanji version. Performance time on interference task decreased with age. For elementary school children, the error frequency on the interference task was higher than that on the task of naming patch colors or on the task of reading words printed in black ink, but the error frequencies did not differ among tasks for university students. In the interference task more word reading errors were yielded in the kanji version than in the hiragana version during and after third grade. The findings suggested that (1) the recognition system of hiragana and of kanji becomes qualitatively different during and after third grade, (2) the integrative system, which organizes cognitive processes underlying Stroop task, develops with age, and (3) efficiency of the organization increases with age.

Subjective Significance Shapes Arousal Effects on Modified Stroop Task Performance: A Duality of Activation Mechanisms Account.

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Imbir, Kamil K

2016-01-01

Activation mechanisms such as arousal are known to be responsible for slowdown observed in the Emotional Stroop and modified Stroop tasks. Using the duality of mind perspective, we may conclude that both ways of processing information (automatic or controlled) should have their own mechanisms of activation, namely, arousal for an experiential mind, and subjective significance for a rational mind. To investigate the consequences of both, factorial manipulation was prepared. Other factors that influence Stroop task processing such as valence, concreteness, frequency, and word length were controlled. Subjective significance was expected to influence arousal effects. In the first study, the task was to name the color of font for activation charged words. In the second study, activation charged words were, at the same time, combined with an incongruent condition of the classical Stroop task around a fixation point. The task was to indicate the font color for color-meaning words. In both studies, subjective significance was found to shape the arousal impact on performance in terms of the slowdown reduction for words charged with subjective significance.

Subjective Significance Shapes Arousal Effects on Modified Stroop Task Performance: a Duality of Activation Mechanisms Account

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Kamil Konrad Imbir

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Activation mechanisms such as arousal are known to be responsible for slowdown observed in the Emotional Stroop (EST and modified Stroop tasks. Using the duality of mind perspective, we may conclude that both ways of processing information (automatic or controlled should have their own mechanisms of activation, namely, arousal for an experiential mind, and subjective significance for a rational mind. To investigate the consequences of both, factorial manipulation was prepared. Other factors that influence Stroop task processing such as valence, concreteness, frequency and word length were controlled. Subjective significance was expected to influence arousal effects. In the first study, the task was to name the color of font for activation charged words. In the second study, activation charged words were, at the same time, combined with an incongruent condition of the classical Stroop task around a fixation point. The task was to indicate the font color for color-meaning words. In both studies, subjective significance was found to shape the arousal impact on performance in terms of the slowdown reduction for words charged with subjective significance.

Event-related near-infrared spectroscopy detects conflict in the motor cortex in a Stroop task.

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Szűcs, Dénes; Killikelly, Clare; Cutini, Simone

2012-10-05

The Stroop effect is one of the most popular models of conflict processing in neuroscience and psychology. The response conflict theory of the Stroop effect explains decreased performance in the incongruent condition of Stroop tasks by assuming that the task-relevant and the task-irrelevant stimulus features elicit conflicting response tendencies. However, to date, there is not much explicit neural evidence supporting this theory. Here we used functional near-infrared imaging (fNIRS) to examine whether conflict at the level of the motor cortex can be detected in the incongruent relative to the congruent condition of a Stroop task. Response conflict was determined by comparing the activity of the hemisphere ipsilateral to the response hand in the congruent and incongruent conditions. First, results provided explicit hemodynamic evidence supporting the response conflict theory of the Stroop effect: there was greater motor cortex activation in the hemisphere ipsilateral to the response hand in the incongruent than in the congruent condition during the initial stage of the hemodynamic response. Second, as fNIRS is still a relatively novel technology, it is methodologically significant that our data shows that fNIRS is able to detect a brief and transient increase in hemodynamic activity localized to the motor cortex, which in this study is related to subthreshold motor response activation. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Influence of Reward Associations on Conflict Processing in the Stroop Task

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Krebs, Ruth M.; Boehler, Carsten N.; Woldorff, Marty G.

2010-01-01

Performance in a behavioral task can be facilitated by associating stimulus properties with reward. In contrast, conflicting information is known to impede task performance. Here we investigated how reward associations influence the within-trial processing of conflicting information using a color-naming Stroop task in which a subset of ink colors…

Callosal involvement in a lateralized stroop task in alcoholic and healthy subjects.

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Schulte, T; Müller-Oehring, E M; Salo, R; Pfefferbaum, A; Sullivan, E V

2006-11-01

To investigate the role of interhemispheric attentional processes, 25 alcoholic and 28 control subjects were tested with a Stroop match-to-sample task and callosal areas were measured with magnetic resonance imaging. Stroop color-word stimuli were presented to the left or right visual field (VF) and were preceded by a color cue that did or did not match the word's color. For matching colors, both groups showed a right VF advantage; for nonmatching colors, controls showed a left VF advantage, whereas alcoholic subjects showed no VF advantage. For nonmatch trials, VF advantage correlated with callosal splenium area in controls but not alcoholic subjects, supporting the position that information presented to the nonpreferred hemisphere is transmitted via the splenium to the hemisphere specialized for efficient processing. The authors speculate that alcoholism-associated callosal thinning disrupts this processing route.

Is conflict monitoring supramodal? Spatiotemporal dynamics of cognitive control processes in an auditory Stroop task

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Donohue, Sarah E.; Liotti, Mario; Perez, Rick; Woldorff, Marty G.

2011-01-01

The electrophysiological correlates of conflict processing and cognitive control have been well characterized for the visual modality in paradigms such as the Stroop task. Much less is known about corresponding processes in the auditory modality. Here, electroencephalographic recordings of brain activity were measured during an auditory Stroop task, using three different forms of behavioral response (Overt verbal, Covert verbal, and Manual), that closely paralleled our previous visual-Stroop study. As expected, behavioral responses were slower and less accurate for incongruent compared to congruent trials. Neurally, incongruent trials showed an enhanced fronto-central negative-polarity wave (Ninc), similar to the N450 in visual-Stroop tasks, with similar variations as a function of behavioral response mode, but peaking ~150 ms earlier, followed by an enhanced positive posterior wave. In addition, sequential behavioral and neural effects were observed that supported the conflict-monitoring and cognitive-adjustment hypothesis. Thus, while some aspects of the conflict detection processes, such as timing, may be modality-dependent, the general mechanisms would appear to be supramodal. PMID:21964643

Postural control during the Stroop test in dyslexic and non dyslexic teenagers.

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Zoï Kapoula

Full Text Available Postural control in quiet stance although simple still requires some cognitive resources; dual cognitive tasks influence further postural control. The present study examines whether or not dyslexic teenagers experience postural instability when performing a Stroop dual task for which their performances are known to be poor. Fifteen dyslexics and twelve non-dyslexics (14 to 17 years old were recruited from the same school. They were asked to perform three tasks: (1 fixate a target, (2 perform an interference Stroop test (naming the colour or the word rather than reading the word, (3 performing flexibility Stroop task: the subject performed the interference task as in (2 except when the word was in a box, in which case he had to read the word. Postural performances were measured with a force platform. The results showed a main task effect on the variance of speed of body sway only: such variance was higher in the flexibility task than for the other two tasks. No group effect was found for any of the parameters of posture (surface, mediolateral and anteroposterior sway, variance of speed. Further wavelet analysis in the time-frequency domain revealed an increase in the spectral power of the medium frequency range believed to be related to cerebellum control; an accompanying increase in the cancellation time of the high frequency band related to reflexive loops occurred for non-dyslexics only. These effects occurred for the flexibility task and could be due to its high cognitive difficulty. Dyslexics displayed shorter cancellation time for the medium frequency band for all tasks, suggesting less efficient cerebellar control, perhaps of eye fixation and attention influencing body sway. We conclude that there is no evidence for a primary posture deficit in 15 year old teenagers who come from the general population and who were recruited in schools.

Prefrontal responses to Stroop tasks in subjects with post-traumatic stress disorder assessed by functional near infrared spectroscopy

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Yennu, Amarnath; Tian, Fenghua; Smith-Osborne, Alexa; J. Gatchel, Robert; Woon, Fu Lye; Liu, Hanli

2016-07-01

Studies on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) showing attentional deficits have implicated abnormal activities in the frontal lobe. In this study, we utilized multichannel functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to investigate selective attention-related hemodynamic activity in the prefrontal cortex among 15 combat-exposed war-zone veterans with PTSD and 13 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. While performing the incongruent Stroop task, healthy controls showed significant activations in the left lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) compared to baseline readings. This observation is consistent with previously reported results. In comparison, subjects with PTSD failed to activate left LPFC during the same Stroop task. Our observations may implicate that subjects with PTSD experienced difficulty in overcoming Stroop interference. We also observed significant negative correlation between task reaction times and hemodynamic responses from left LPFC during the incongruent Stroop task in the PTSD group. Regarding the methodology used in this study, we have learned that an appropriate design of Stroop paradigms is important for meeting an optimal cognitive load which can lead to better brain image contrasts in response to Stroop interference between healthy versus PTSD subjects. Overall, the feasibility of fNIRS for studying and mapping neural correlates of selective attention and interference in subjects with PTSD is reported.

Stroop Interference in a Delayed Match-to-Sample Task: Evidence for Semantic Competition

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Bradley R. Sturz

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Discussions of the source of the Stroop interference effect continue to pervade the literature. Semantic competition posits that interference results from competing semantic activation of word and color dimensions of the stimulus prior to response selection. Response competition posits that interference results from competing responses for articulating the word dimension versus the color dimension at the time of response selection. We embedded Stroop stimuli into a delayed match-to-sample task in an attempt to test semantic and response competition accounts of the interference effect. Participants viewed a sample color word in black or colored fonts that were congruent or incongruent with respect to the color word itself. After a 5s delay, participants were presented with two targets (i.e., a match and a foil and were instructed to select the correct match. We probed each dimension independently during target presentations via color targets (i.e., two colors or word targets (i.e., two words and manipulated whether the semantic content of the foil was related to the semantic content of the irrelevant sample dimension (e.g., word sample red in blue font with the word red as the match and the word blue as the foil. We provide evidence for Stroop interference such that response times increased for incongruent trials even in the presence of a response option with semantic content unrelated to the semantic content of the irrelevant sample dimension. Accuracy also deteriorated during the related foil trials. A follow-up experiment with a 10s delay between sample and targets replicated the results. Results appear to provide converging evidence for Stroop interference in a delayed match-to-sample task in a manner that is consistent with an explanation based upon semantic competition and inconsistent with an explanation based upon response competition.

Depressive symptoms and poorer performance on the Stroop Task are associated with weight gain.

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Stinson, Emma J; Krakoff, Jonathan; Gluck, Marci E

2018-03-15

Executive function impairments and depression are associated with obesity but whether they predict weight gain is unclear. Forty-six individuals (35m, 37±10y) completed the Stroop Task, Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST), Inventory for Depressive Symptomatology (IDS-SR), Physical Anhedonia Scale (PAS), and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Body composition (DXA) and fasting glucose were also measured. Data from return visits were used to assess changes in weight. Poorer Stroop and WCST performance associated with higher BMI whereas poorer IGT and WCST performance associated with higher body fat (%; all p's≤0.05). Stroop interference (p=0.04; p=0.05) and IDS-SR (p=0.06; p=0.02) associated with increased BMI and weight gain (%/yr). In a multivariate linear model Stroop interference (β=0.40, p<0.01; β=0.35, p<0.01) and IDS-SR (β=0.38, p<0.01; β=0.37, p<0.01) independently predicted increased BMI and weight gain (%/yr) even after controlling for baseline weight and glucose levels. Poorer response inhibition and depressive symptoms, but not glucose levels, predicted weight gain. Evaluating neurocognitive and mood deficits could improve current treatment strategies for weight loss. Clinical Trial Registration Numbers NCT00523627, NCT00342732, NCT01224704. clinicaltrials.gov. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Attentional biases in body dysmorphic disorder (BDD): Eye-tracking using the emotional Stroop task.

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Toh, Wei Lin; Castle, David J; Rossell, Susan L

2017-04-01

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is characterised by repetitive behaviours and/or mental acts occurring in response to preoccupations with perceived defects or flaws in physical appearance. This study aimed to examine attentional biases in BDD via the emotional Stroop task with two modifications: i) incorporating an eye-tracking paradigm, and ii) employing an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) control group. Twenty-one BDD, 19 OCD and 21 HC participants, who were age-, sex-, and IQ-matched, were included. A card version of the emotional Stroop task was employed based on seven 10-word lists: (i) BDD-positive, (ii) BDD-negative, (iii) OCD-checking, (iv) OCD-washing, (v) general positive, (vi) general threat, and (vii) neutral (as baseline). Participants were asked to read aloud words and word colours consecutively, thereby yielding accuracy and latency scores. Eye-tracking parameters were also measured. Participants with BDD exhibited significant Stroop interference for BDD-negative words relative to HC participants, as shown by extended colour-naming latencies. In contrast, the OCD group did not exhibit Stroop interference for OCD-related nor general threat words. Only mild eye-tracking anomalies were uncovered in clinical groups. Inspection of individual scanning styles and fixation heat maps however revealed that viewing strategies adopted by clinical groups were generally disorganised, with avoidance of certain disorder-relevant words and considerable visual attention devoted to non-salient card regions. The operation of attentional biases to negative disorder-specific words was corroborated in BDD. Future replication studies using other paradigms are vital, given potential ambiguities inherent in emotional Stroop task interpretation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Reduced prefrontal cortex activation in the color-word Stroop task for Chinese dyslexic children: a near-infrared spectroscopy study

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Sun Jinyan; Zhai Jiahuan; Gong Hui; Song Ranran; Zou Li

2011-01-01

Behavioral studies have investigated the performance of children with developmental dyslexia in conflict resolution, a function connected with the prefrontal cortex (PFC) closely. However, little is known about the prefrontal activation in conflict resolution for dyslexic children. In the present study, the involvement of the PFC in resolving conflict was evaluated for Chinese dyslexic children by means of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). The NIRS instrument is a portable, continuous-wave system and can measure concentration changes of hemodynamic parameters (including oxy-, deoxy-, and total hemoglobin). Considering better sensitivity, the oxy-hemoglobin (oxy-Hb) was chosen to indicate the prefrontal activation. Ten dyslexic children and 11 normal children were recruited to perform the Chinese-character color-word Stroop task, which included the neutral and color (incongruent) tasks. In behavioral performance, both groups showed significant Stroop effect, longer response time or higher error rate for the color task. In particular, the Stroop interference effect was marginally larger for dyslexic children than normal children in response time. What's more, the two groups showed distinct pattern of oxy-Hb activation during the Stroop tasks. The normal group recruited the bilateral PFC to perform the tasks, while the dyslexic group couldn't activate the bilateral PFC in the difficult color task. Moreover, significantly less color Stroop effect was found in the left PFC for the dyslexic group, showing their disability in coping with the Stroop interference. These findings suggest that the PFC is dysfunctional in conflict resolution for Chinese dyslexic children and that NIRS can be an effective tool in neurological research and clinical application.

Reduced prefrontal cortex activation in the color-word Stroop task for Chinese dyslexic children: a near-infrared spectroscopy study

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Sun Jinyan; Zhai Jiahuan; Gong Hui [Britton Chance Center for Biomedical Photonics, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics-Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074 (China); Song Ranran; Zou Li, E-mail: huigong@mail.hust.edu.cn [Department of Child and Adolescent Health and Maternal Care, School of Public Health, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074 (China)

2011-01-01

Behavioral studies have investigated the performance of children with developmental dyslexia in conflict resolution, a function connected with the prefrontal cortex (PFC) closely. However, little is known about the prefrontal activation in conflict resolution for dyslexic children. In the present study, the involvement of the PFC in resolving conflict was evaluated for Chinese dyslexic children by means of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). The NIRS instrument is a portable, continuous-wave system and can measure concentration changes of hemodynamic parameters (including oxy-, deoxy-, and total hemoglobin). Considering better sensitivity, the oxy-hemoglobin (oxy-Hb) was chosen to indicate the prefrontal activation. Ten dyslexic children and 11 normal children were recruited to perform the Chinese-character color-word Stroop task, which included the neutral and color (incongruent) tasks. In behavioral performance, both groups showed significant Stroop effect, longer response time or higher error rate for the color task. In particular, the Stroop interference effect was marginally larger for dyslexic children than normal children in response time. What's more, the two groups showed distinct pattern of oxy-Hb activation during the Stroop tasks. The normal group recruited the bilateral PFC to perform the tasks, while the dyslexic group couldn't activate the bilateral PFC in the difficult color task. Moreover, significantly less color Stroop effect was found in the left PFC for the dyslexic group, showing their disability in coping with the Stroop interference. These findings suggest that the PFC is dysfunctional in conflict resolution for Chinese dyslexic children and that NIRS can be an effective tool in neurological research and clinical application.

Age As Moderator of Emotional Stroop Task Performance in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

OpenAIRE

Bielecki, Maksymilian; Popiel, Agnieszka; Zawadzki, Bogdan; Sedek, Grzegorz

2017-01-01

Emotional Stroop task (EST) has been extensively used to investigate attentional processes in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Even though aging significantly changes the dynamics of emotion-cognition interactions, very little is known about its role in shaping EST performance in PTSD patients. In the present study we tested a uniquely large sample of motor vehicle accident victims. Data of 194 participants (75.3% female; mean age = 36.64 years, SD = 12.3) were included in the analysis, ...

Stroop test software. The Tastiva proposal (Software para pruebas Stroop. La propuesta de Tastiva

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María Claudia Scurtu

2016-08-01

Full Text Available There has been a great deal of research on emotional information processing within the field of clinical psychology. Many tests have been developed and the emotional Stroop test is one of the most used. However, some versions of the Stroop test have methodological issues when used to study word-colour interferences, especially when the words are emotionally charged. We present a computer-assisted version of the emotional Stroop test called Tastiva, which is highly versatile, useful, and accessible, in addition to being easy to use and widely applicable. The Tastiva software and User Manual is available on the University of Seville website: http://grupo.us.es/recursos/Tastiva/index.htm. We also present a case study using neutral and sexual content words, in which the program calculates the word exposure time by analysing the behaviour of the respondent. One of its novel contributions is the graphic presentation of measures: response time, errors, and non-response to stimuli.

Stroop Color-Word Interference Test: Normative data for Spanish-speaking pediatric population.

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Rivera, D; Morlett-Paredes, A; Peñalver Guia, A I; Irías Escher, M J; Soto-Añari, M; Aguayo Arelis, A; Rute-Pérez, S; Rodríguez-Lorenzana, A; Rodríguez-Agudelo, Y; Albaladejo-Blázquez, N; García de la Cadena, C; Ibáñez-Alfonso, J A; Rodriguez-Irizarry, W; García-Guerrero, C E; Delgado-Mejía, I D; Padilla-López, A; Vergara-Moragues, E; Barrios Nevado, M D; Saracostti Schwartzman, M; Arango-Lasprilla, J C

2017-01-01

To generate normative data for the Stroop Word-Color Interference test in Spanish-speaking pediatric populations. The sample consisted of 4,373 healthy children from nine countries in Latin America (Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Puerto Rico) and Spain. Each participant was administered the Stroop Word-Color Interference test as part of a larger neuropsychological battery. The Stroop Word, Stroop Color, Stroop Word-Color, and Stroop Interference scores were normed using multiple linear regressions and standard deviations of residual values. Age, age2, sex, and mean level of parental education (MLPE) were included as predictors in the analyses. The final multiple linear regression models showed main effects for age on all scores, except on Stroop Interference for Guatemala, such that scores increased linearly as a function of age. Age2 affected Stroop Word scores for all countries, Stroop Color scores for Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Spain; Stroop Word-Color scores for Ecuador, Mexico, and Paraguay; and Stroop Interference scores for Cuba, Guatemala, and Spain. MLPE affected Stroop Word scores for Chile, Mexico, and Puerto Rico; Stroop Color scores for Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Spain; Stroop Word-Color scores for Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Spain; and Stroop-Interference scores for Ecuador, Mexico, and Spain. Sex affected Stroop Word scores for Spain, Stroop Color scores for Mexico, and Stroop Interference for Honduras. This is the largest Spanish-speaking pediatric normative study in the world, and it will allow neuropsychologists from these countries to have a more accurate approach to interpret the Stroop Word-Color Interference test in pediatric populations.

Stroop task among patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and pathological gambling (PG) in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT).

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Peles, Einat; Weinstein, Aviv; Sason, Anat; Adelson, Miriam; Schreiber, Shaul

2014-12-01

To evaluate the impaired attention selection (Stroop interference effect) and general performance [reaction times (RTs)] on the Stroop task among methadone maintenance treatment (MMT) patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), pathological gambling (PG), both PG/OCD or none, and the influence if having ADHD. Eighty-six patients and 15 control subjects underwent the Stroop task, which measured RTs of condition-related words (color, obsessive compulsive disorder, pathological gambling, addiction) and neutral words. MMT patients had longer RTs on the Stroop task compared with controls. RTs were longer among patients with OCD and in those who abused drugs on the study day. The combined PG/OCD group had the longest RTs, but they were also characterized as abusing more drugs, being older, and having worse cognitive status. Stroop color interference differed only among MMT patients with ADHD, and it was higher among those with OCD than those without OCD. The modified condition-related Stroop did not show any interference effect of OCD, addiction, or gambling words. MMT patients had generally poorer performance, as indicated by longer RTs, that were related to clinical OCD, drug abuse, poor cognitive state, and older age. Patients with both clinical OCD and ADHD had a higher Stroop interference effect, which is a reflection of an attention deficit. In order to improve clinical approach and treatment of MMT patients, OCD and ADHD should be evaluated (and treated as needed).

Oxytocin impedes the effect of the word blindness post-hypnotic suggestion on Stroop task performance.

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Parris, Benjamin A; Dienes, Zoltan; Bate, Sarah; Gothard, Stace

2014-07-01

The ability to enhance sensitivity to relevant (post)hypnotic suggestions has implications for creating clinically informed analogues of psychological and neuropsychological conditions and for the use of hypnotic interventions in psychological and medical conditions. The aim of this study was to test the effect of oxytocin inhalation on a post-hypnotic suggestion that previously has been shown to improve the selectivity of attention in the Stroop task. In a double-blind placebo-controlled between-subjects study, medium hypnotizable individuals performed the Stroop task under normal conditions and when they had been given a post-hypnotic suggestion that they would perceive words as meaningless symbols. In line with previous research, Stroop interference was substantially reduced by the suggestion in the placebo condition. However, contrary to expectations, oxytocin impeded the effect of the word blindness suggestion on performance. The results are explained in terms of the requirement for the re-implementation of the word blindness suggestion on a trial-by-trial basis and the need to sustain activation of the suggestion between trials. The findings contrast with a recent study showing a beneficial effect of oxytocin on sensitivity to (post)hypnotic suggestions but are consistent with findings showing a detrimental effect of oxytocin on memory processes. © The Author (2013). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

STROOP EFFECT AND ITS LIMITATIONS IN PRACTICE EXECUTIVE NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL CHILD.

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Yaser Ramírez-Benitez

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Introduction: The test of Stroop on line modality word / color is of limited application in the clinical child population. A digital adaptation of the test demands the infant's quick answer and at the same time that the processes used in the test have an interference in the boy. If the boy doesn't adapt to the digital demands it doesn't happen the interference between the processes and the test he doesn't have effect. Material and Method: The investigation seeks to determine if the results of the test Stroop, modality word / color, they are related with the results of other tests that evaluate the executive functions. The Dpto. of Neuropsychology he intended to revise all the results of the test SESH in the population from 7 to 15 years of the 2009 - 2011. The analyzed tests were: Stroop, Wisconsin, Time of complex reaction and the simple sustained Attention. Result: The clinical histories demonstrated that of the 207 evaluated children 59 present punctuations above the superior norm in the Stroop. However, the results in the Wisconsin, the time of reaction and the attention reports that the 59 children have a pathological index. The investigation shows that the punctuations risen in the Stroop are not sign of good acting in the other tests. Conclusions: The task Stroop is not effective in all the analyzed children. The problems in the prosecution speed and atencionales are a negative condition to execute with success the on-line task Stroop modality word / color in the infantile population.

The Stroop matching task presents conflict at both the response and nonresponse levels: an event-related potential and electromyography study.

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Caldas, A L; Machado-Pinheiro, W; Souza, L B; Motta-Ribeiro, G C; David, I A

2012-09-01

In the Stroop matching task, a Stroop word is compared to a colored bar. The origin of the conflict presented by this task is a topic of current debate. In an effort to disentangle nonresponse and response conflicts, we recorded electromyography (EMG) and event-related potentials (ERPs) while participants performed the task. The N450 component was sensitive to the relationship of color surfaces, regardless of the response, suggesting the participation of nonresponse conflict. Incompatible arrays (e.g., incongruent Stroop stimuli during "same" responses) presented a substantial amount of double EMG activation and slower EMG latencies, suggesting the participation of response conflict. We propose that both response and nonresponse conflicts are sources of these effects. The combined use of the EMG and ERP techniques played an important role in elucidating the conflicts immersed in the Stroop matching task. Copyright © 2012 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Poor Stroop performances in 15-year-old dyslexic teenagers.

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Kapoula, Zoï; Lê, Thanh-Thuan; Bonnet, Audrey; Bourtoire, Pauline; Demule, Emilie; Fauvel, Caroline; Quilicci, Catherine; Yang, Qing

2010-06-01

The Stroop test enables interference between color naming and reading to be studied. Protopapas et al. (2007) reported more errors in an interference task and longer reaction times in 12.5-year-old dyslexics; also more Stroop interference with lower reading skills. The present study uses a version of the Stroop with four color cards and aims to test interference and flexibility in older dyslexic teenagers. The four cards are: color naming, reading, interference and flexibility. In the latter, subjects have to name the color of the word inhibiting reading except when the word is inside a box. This flexibility task enables the testing of the capacity for cognitive switching between tasks. Ten dyslexics (15.1 +/- 0.7 years old) and fourteen controls (14.3 +/- 1.6 years old) participated in the study. All performed the color naming, the reading, the interference and the flexibility tasks in the same order. Subsequently, they performed a sequence of 60 saccades left-right followed by the interference task. Generally, dyslexic teenagers behaved similarly to non-dyslexics as they showed fewer errors in reading and color than in the interference and flexibility tasks. However, they made more errors and needed more time to accomplish each task than non-dyslexics. The results suggest that the inhibitory and attention processes required by the Stroop test are dysfunctioning even in older dyslexics. In contrast, the study shows no evidence for particular difficulty in the flexibility task, which would constitute an argument against problems with mental switching. Following the execution of saccades, errors in the interference test were significantly reduced for dyslexics, while the time was reduced for both groups. The effects are attributed to visual attention training via saccades.

The Influence of Working Memory Load on Expectancy-Based Strategic Processes in the Stroop-Priming Task.

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Ortells, Juan J; Álvarez, Dolores; Noguera, Carmen; Carmona, Encarna; de Fockert, Jan W

2017-01-01

The present study investigated whether a differential availability of cognitive control resources as a result of varying working memory (WM) load could affect the capacity for expectancy-based strategic actions. Participants performed a Stroop-priming task in which a prime word (GREEN or RED) was followed by a colored target (red vs. green) that participants had to identify. The prime was incongruent or congruent with the target color on 80 and 20% of the trials, respectively, and participants were informed about the differential proportion of congruent vs. incongruent trials. This task was interleaved with a WM task, such that the prime word was preceded by a sequence of either a same digit repeated five times (low load) or five different random digits (high load), which should be retained by participants. After two, three, or four Stroop trials, they had to decide whether or not a probe digit was a part of the memory set. The key finding was a significant interaction between prime-target congruency and WM load: Whereas a strategy-dependent (reversed Stroop) effect was found under low WM load, a standard Stroop interference effect was observed under high WM load. These findings demonstrate that the availability of WM is crucial for implementing expectancy-based strategic actions.

The roles of sensory function and cognitive load in age differences in inhibition: Evidence from the Stroop task.

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Peng, Huamao; Gao, Yue; Mao, Xiaofei

2017-02-01

To explore the roles of visual function and cognitive load in aging of inhibition, the present study adopted a 2 (visual perceptual stress: noise, nonnoise) × 2 (cognitive load: low, high) × 2 (age: young, old) mixed design. The Stroop task was adopted to measure inhibition. The task presentation was masked with Gaussian noise according to the visual function of each individual in order to match visual perceptual stress between age groups. The results indicated that age differences in the Stroop effect were influenced by visual function and cognitive load. When the cognitive load was low, older adults exhibited a larger Stroop effect than did younger adults in the nonnoise condition, and this age difference disappeared when the visual noise of the 2 age groups was matched. Conversely, in the high cognitive load condition, we observed significant age differences in the Stroop effect in both the nonnoise and noise conditions. The additional cognitive load made the age differences in the Stroop task reappear even when visual perceptual stress was equivalent. These results demonstrate that visual function plays an important role in the aging of inhibition and its role is moderated by cognitive load. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Stroop effects from newly learned color words: effects of memory consolidation and episodic context.

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Geukes, Sebastian; Gaskell, M Gareth; Zwitserlood, Pienie

2015-01-01

The Stroop task is an excellent tool to test whether reading a word automatically activates its associated meaning, and it has been widely used in mono- and bilingual contexts. Despite of its ubiquity, the task has not yet been employed to test the automaticity of recently established word-concept links in novel-word-learning studies, under strict experimental control of learning and testing conditions. In three experiments, we thus paired novel words with native language (German) color words via lexical association and subsequently tested these words in a manual version of the Stroop task. Two crucial findings emerged: When novel word Stroop trials appeared intermixed among native-word trials, the novel-word Stroop effect was observed immediately after the learning phase. If no native color words were present in a Stroop block, the novel-word Stroop effect only emerged 24 h later. These results suggest that the automatic availability of a novel word's meaning depends either on supportive context from the learning episode and/or on sufficient time for memory consolidation. We discuss how these results can be reconciled with the complementary learning systems account of word learning.

Stroop effects from newly learned color words: Effects of memory consolidation and episodic context

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Sebastian eGeukes

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The Stroop task is an excellent tool to test whether reading a word automatically activates its associated meaning, and it has been widely used in mono- and bilingual contexts. Despite of its ubiquity, the task has not yet been employed to test the automaticity of recently established word-concept links in novel-word-learning studies, under strict experimental control of learning and testing conditions. In three experiments, we thus paired novel words with native language (German color words via lexical association and subsequently tested these words in a manual version of the Stroop task. Two crucial findings emerged: When novel word Stroop trials appeared intermixed among native-word trials, the novel-word Stroop effect was observed immediately after the learning phase. If no native color words were present in a Stroop block, the novel-word Stroop effect only emerged 24 hours later. These results suggest that the automatic availability of a novel word’s meaning depends either on supportive context from the learning episode and/or on sufficient time for memory consolidation. We discuss how these results can be reconciled with the complementary learning systems account of word learning.

Stroop effects from newly learned color words: effects of memory consolidation and episodic context

Science.gov (United States)

Geukes, Sebastian; Gaskell, M. Gareth; Zwitserlood, Pienie

2015-01-01

The Stroop task is an excellent tool to test whether reading a word automatically activates its associated meaning, and it has been widely used in mono- and bilingual contexts. Despite of its ubiquity, the task has not yet been employed to test the automaticity of recently established word-concept links in novel-word-learning studies, under strict experimental control of learning and testing conditions. In three experiments, we thus paired novel words with native language (German) color words via lexical association and subsequently tested these words in a manual version of the Stroop task. Two crucial findings emerged: When novel word Stroop trials appeared intermixed among native-word trials, the novel-word Stroop effect was observed immediately after the learning phase. If no native color words were present in a Stroop block, the novel-word Stroop effect only emerged 24 h later. These results suggest that the automatic availability of a novel word's meaning depends either on supportive context from the learning episode and/or on sufficient time for memory consolidation. We discuss how these results can be reconciled with the complementary learning systems account of word learning. PMID:25814973

A Rational Look at the Emotional Stroop Phenomenon: A Generic Slowdown, Not a Stroop Effect

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Algom, Daniel; Chajut, Eran; Lev, Shlomo

2004-01-01

The role of Stroop processes in the emotional Stroop effect was subjected to a conceptual scrutiny augmented by a series of experiments entailing reading or lexical decision as well as color naming. The analysis showed that the Stroop effect is not defined in the emotional Stroop task. The experiments showed that reading, lexical decision, and…

Heritability of Stroop and flanker performance in 12-year old children

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Polderman Tinca JC

2004-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background There is great interest in appropriate phenotypes that serve as indicator of genetically transmitted frontal (dysfunction, such as ADHD. Here we investigate the ability to deal with response conflict, and we ask to what extent performance variation on response interference tasks is caused by genetic variation. We tested a large sample of 12-year old monozygotic and dizygotic twins on two well-known and closely related response interference tasks; the color Stroop task and the Eriksen flanker task. Using structural equation modelling we assessed the heritability of several performance indices derived from those tasks. Results In the Stroop task we found high heritabilities of overall reaction time and – more important – Stroop interference (h2 = nearly 50 %. In contrast, we found little evidence of heritability on flanker performance. For both tasks no effects of sex on performance variation were found. Conclusions These results suggest that normal variation in Stroop performance is influenced by underlying genetic variation. Given that Stroop performance is often hampered not only in people suffering from frontal dysfunction, but also in their unaffected relatives, we conclude that this variable may constitute a suitable endophenotype for future genetic studies. We discuss several reasons for the absence of genetic effects on the flanker task.

Investigating the Neural Correlates of Emotion–Cognition Interaction Using an Affective Stroop Task

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Nora M. Raschle

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The human brain has the capacity to integrate various sources of information and continuously adapts our behavior according to situational needs in order to allow a healthy functioning. Emotion–cognition interactions are a key example for such integrative processing. However, the neuronal correlates investigating the effects of emotion on cognition remain to be explored and replication studies are needed. Previous neuroimaging studies have indicated an involvement of emotion and cognition related brain structures including parietal and prefrontal cortices and limbic brain regions. Here, we employed whole brain event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI during an affective number Stroop task and aimed at replicating previous findings using an adaptation of an existing task design in 30 healthy young adults. The Stroop task is an indicator of cognitive control and enables the quantification of interference in relation to variations in cognitive load. By the use of emotional primes (negative/neutral prior to Stroop task performance, an emotional variation is added as well. Behavioral in-scanner data showed that negative primes delayed and disrupted cognitive processing. Trials with high cognitive demand furthermore negatively influenced cognitive control mechanisms. Neuronally, the emotional primes consistently activated emotion-related brain regions (e.g., amygdala, insula, and prefrontal brain regions while Stroop task performance lead to activations in cognition networks of the brain (prefrontal cortices, superior temporal lobe, and insula. When assessing the effect of emotion on cognition, increased cognitive demand led to decreases in neural activation in response to emotional stimuli (negative > neutral within prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and insular cortex. Overall, these results suggest that emotional primes significantly impact cognitive performance and increasing cognitive demand leads to reduced neuronal activation in

A rational look at the emotional stroop phenomenon: a generic slowdown, not a stroop effect.

Science.gov (United States)

Algom, Daniel; Chajut, Eran; Lev, Shlomo

2004-09-01

The role of Stroop processes in the emotional Stroop effect was subjected to a conceptual scrutiny augmented by a series of experiments entailing reading or lexical decision as well as color naming. The analysis showed that the Stroop effect is not defined in the emotional Stroop task. The experiments showed that reading, lexical decision, and color naming all are slower with emotional words and that this delay is immune to task-irrelevant variation and to changes in the relative salience of the words and the colors. The delay was absent when emotional and neutral words appeared in a single block. A threat-driven generic slowdown is implicated, not a selective attention mechanism associated with the classic Stroop effect. ((c) 2004 APA, all rights reserved)

Attention and Facilitation: Converging Information Versus Inadvertent Reading in Stroop Task Performance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Roelofs, A.P.A.

2010-01-01

Disagreement exists about whether color-word Stroop facilitation is caused by converging information (e.g.. Cohen et al.. 1990: Roelofs, 2003) or inadvertent reading (MacLeod & MacDonald, 2000). Four experiments tested between these hypotheses by examining Stroop effects oil response time (RT) both

Age-related trends of inhibitory control in Stroop-like big–small task in 3- to 12-year-old children and young adults

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Yoshifumi eIkeda

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Inhibitory control is the ability to suppress competing, dominant, automatic or prepotent cognitive processing at perceptual, intermediate, and output stages. Inhibitory control is a key cognitive function of typical and atypical child development. This study examined age-related trends of Stroop-like interference in 3–12-year-old children and young adults by administration of a computerized Stroop-like big–small task with reduced working memory demand. This task used a set of pictures displaying a big and small circle in black and included the same condition and the opposite condition. In the same condition, each participant was instructed to say ‘big’ when viewing the big circle and to say ‘small’ when viewing the small circle. In the opposite condition, each participant was instructed to say ‘small’ when viewing the big circle and to say ‘big’ when viewing the small circle. The opposite condition required participants to inhibit the prepotent response of saying the same, a familiar response to a perceptual stimulus. Results of this study showed that Stroop-like interference decreased markedly in children in terms of error rates and correct RT. There was no deterioration of performance occurring between the early trials and the late trials in the sessions of the day–night task. Moreover, pre-test failure rate was relatively low in this study. The Stroop-like big–small task is a useful tool to assess the development of inhibitory control in young children in that the task is easy to understand and has small working memory demand.

Contingency learning is not affected by conflict experience: Evidence from a task conflict-free, item-specific Stroop paradigm.

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Levin, Yulia; Tzelgov, Joseph

2016-02-01

A contingency learning account of the item-specific proportion congruent effect has been described as an associative stimulus-response learning process that has nothing to do with controlling the Stroop conflict. As supportive evidence, contingency learning has been demonstrated with response conflict-free stimuli, such as neutral words. However, what gives rise to response conflict and to Stroop interference in general is task conflict. The present study investigated whether task conflict can constitute a trigger or, alternatively, a booster to the contingency learning process. This was done by employing a "task conflict-free" condition (i.e., geometric shapes) and comparing it with a "task conflict" condition (i.e., neutral words). The results showed a significant contingency learning effect in both conditions, refuting the possibility that contingency learning is triggered by the presence of a task conflict. Contingency learning was also not enhanced by the task conflict experience, indicating its complete insensitivity to Stroop conflict(s). Thus, the results showed no evidence that performance optimization as a result of contingency learning is greater under conflict, implying that contingency learning is not recruited to assist the control system to overcome conflict. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Attention and Facilitation: Converging Information versus Inadvertent Reading in Stroop Task Performance

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Roelofs, Ardi

2010-01-01

Disagreement exists about whether color-word Stroop facilitation is caused by converging information (e.g., Cohen et al., 1990; Roelofs, 2003) or inadvertent reading (MacLeod & MacDonald, 2000). Four experiments tested between these hypotheses by examining Stroop effects on response time (RT) both within and between languages. Words cannot be…

Attention bias towards personally relevant stimuli: the individual emotional Stroop task.

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Wingenfeld, Katja; Bullig, Renate; Mensebach, Christoph; Hartje, Wolfgang; Driessen, Martin; Beblo, Thomas

2006-12-01

The emotional Stroop task is a widely used method for investigating attentional bias towards stimuli due to mood or affect. In general, standardized stimuli are used, which might not be appropriate when investigating individual contextual frameworks. It was investigated whether words chosen to be related to individuals' personal life events would produce more pronounced Stroop interference (as an indicator of attentional bias) than stimuli without any personal relevance. Twenty-six nonclinical subjects, 20 female and 6 male, participated in the study. Mean age was 36.1 yr. (SD = 18.1). All were recruited by means of local advertising. Stimulus material consisted of four word types: personal words related to negative life events with and without current personal relevance, and negative and neutral words without any personal relevance. Words were presented in three blocks. Analysis of variance showed main effects for word type and blocks, with slower reactions in the personally relevant conditions than in the negative, or neutral conditions, and in response to the first blocks as opposed to the last. These findings indicate that regardless of the word valence, personally relevant stimuli evoke more pronounced Stroop interference than do stimuli without personal relevance.

Executive Functions are not Affected by 24 Hours of Sleep Deprivation: A Color-Word Stroop Task Study.

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Dixit, Abhinav; Mittal, Tushar

2015-01-01

Sleep is an important factor affecting cognitive performance. Sleep deprivation results in fatigue, lack of concentration, confusion and sleepiness along with anxiety, depression and irritability. Sleep deprivation can have serious consequences in professions like armed forces and medicine where quick decisions and actions need to be taken. Color-Word Stroop task is one of the reliable tests to assess attention and it analyzes the processing of information in two dimensions i.e., reading of words and naming of colour. The evidence regarding the effect of sleep deprivation on Stroop interference is conflicting. The present study evaluated the effect of 24 hours of sleep deprivation on reaction time and interference in Stroop task. The present study was done on 30 healthy male medical student volunteers in the age group of 18-25 years after taking their consent and clearance from Institute Ethics Committee. Recordings of Stroop task were at three times: baseline (between 7-9 am), after 12 hours (7-9 pm) and after 24 hours (7-9 am, next day). The subjects were allowed to perform normal daily activities. The study revealed a significant increase in reaction time after 24 hours of sleep deprivation in comparison to baseline and after 12 hours of sleep deprivation. There was no significant change in interference and facilitation after sleep deprivation in comparison to baseline. The number of errors also did not show any significant change after sleep deprivation. The study indicated that there was slowing of responses without change in executive functions after 24 hours of sleep deprivation. It is probable that 24 hours of sleep deprivation does not bring about change in areas of brain affecting executive functions in healthy individuals who have normal sleep cycle. The present study indicated that in professions like armed forces and medicine working 24 hours at a stretch can lead to decrease in motor responses without affecting information processing and judgment

Working memory capacity and Stroop interference: global versus local indices of executive control.

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Meier, Matt E; Kane, Michael J

2013-05-01

Two experiments examined the relations among working memory capacity (WMC), congruency-sequence effects, proportion-congruency effects, and the color-word Stroop effect to test whether congruency-sequence effects might inform theoretical claims regarding WMC's prediction of Stroop interference. In Experiment 1, subjects completed either a high-congruency or low-congruency Stroop task that restricted trial-to-trial repetitions of stimulus dimensions to examine WMC's relation to congruency-sequence effects while minimizing bottom-up, stimulus-driven contributions. Congruency-sequence effects and congruency-proportion effects were significant but did not interact. WMC predicted global Stroop interference under low-congruency conditions but neither local congruency-sequence effects nor global Stroop interference under high-congruency conditions, contrary to previous studies (e.g., Kane & Engle, 2003). A high-congruency Stroop task in Experiment 2 removed the Experiment 1 task constraints, and, here, we obtained the typical, global association between WMC and Stroop interference but still no relation between WMC and congruency-sequence effects. We thus examined the methodological differences between Experiments 1 and 2 to determine whether any of these were locally responsible for the global WMC-related differences. They were not, suggesting that the changes between Experiments 1 and 2 created a general task context that engaged (or disengaged) the executive processes associated with WMC.

Identification of prefrontal cortex (BA10) activation while performing Stroop test using diffuse optical tomography

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Khadka, Sabin; Chityala, Srujan R.; Tian, Fenghua; Liu, Hanli

2011-03-01

Stroop test is commonly used as a behavior-testing tool for psychological examinations that are related to attention and cognitive control of the human brain. Studies have shown activations in Broadmann area 10 (BA10) of prefrontal cortex (PFC) during attention and cognitive process. The use of diffuse optical tomography (DOT) for human brain mapping is becoming more prevalent. In this study we expect to find neural correlates between the performed cognitive tasks and hemodynamic signals detected by a DOT system. Our initial observation showed activation of oxy-hemoglobin concentration in BA 10, which is consistent with some results seen by positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Our study demonstrates the possibility of combining DOT with Stroop test to quantitatively investigate cognitive functions of the human brain at the prefrontal cortex.

Attentional bias in high math-anxious individuals: evidence from an emotional Stroop task

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Suárez-Pellicioni, Macarena; Núñez-Peña, Maria Isabel; Colomé, Àngels

2015-01-01

Attentional bias toward threatening or emotional information is considered a cognitive marker of anxiety, and it has been described in various clinical and subclinical populations. This study used an emotional Stroop task to investigate whether math anxiety is characterized by an attentional bias toward math-related words. Two previous studies failed to observe such an effect in math-anxious individuals, although the authors acknowledged certain methodological limitations that the present study seeks to avoid. Twenty high math-anxious (HMA) and 20 low math-anxious (LMA) individuals were presented with an emotional Stroop task including math-related and neutral words. Participants in the two groups did not differ in trait anxiety or depression. We found that the HMA group showed slower response times to math-related words than to neutral words, as well as a greater attentional bias (math-related – neutral difference score) than the LMA one, which constitutes the first demonstration of an attentional bias toward math-related words in HMA individuals. PMID:26539137

Attentional bias in high math-anxious individuals: evidence from an emotional Stroop task

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MACARENA eSUÁREZ PELLICIONI

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Attentional bias towards threatening or emotional information is considered a cognitive marker of anxiety, and it has been described in various clinical and subclinical populations. This study used an emotional Stroop task to investigate whether math anxiety is characterized by an attentional bias towards math-related words. Two previous studies failed to observe such an effect in math-anxious individuals, although the authors acknowledged certain methodological limitations that the present study seeks to avoid. Twenty high math-anxious (HMA and 20 low math-anxious (LMA individuals were presented with an emotional Stroop task including math-related and neutral words. Participants in the two groups did not differ in trait anxiety or depression. We found that the HMA group showed slower response times to math-related words than to neutral words, as well as a greater attentional bias (math-related – neutral difference score than the LMA one, which constitutes the first demonstration of an attentional bias towards math-related words in HMA individuals.

Stroop interference and the timing of selective response activation.

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Lansbergen, M.M.; Kenemans, J.L.

2008-01-01

OBJECTIVE: To examine the exact timing of selective response activation in a manual color-word Stroop task. METHODS: Healthy individuals performed two versions of a manual color-word Stroop task, varying in the probability of incongruent color-words, while EEG was recorded. RESULTS: Stroop

Verbal and facial-emotional Stroop tasks reveal specific attentional interferences in sad mood.

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Isaac, Linda; Vrijsen, Janna N; Eling, Paul; van Oostrom, Iris; Speckens, Anne; Becker, Eni S

2012-01-01

Mood congruence refers to the tendency of individuals to attend to information more readily when it has the same emotional content as their current mood state. The aim of the present study was to ascertain whether attentional interference occurred for participants in sad mood states for emotionally relevant stimuli (mood-congruence), and to determine whether this interference occurred for both valenced words and valenced faces. A mood induction procedure was administered to 116 undergraduate females divided into two equal groups for the sad and happy mood condition. This study employed three versions of the Stroop task: color, verbal-emotional, and a facial-emotional Stroop. The two mood groups did not differ on the color Stroop. Significant group differences were found on the verbal-emotional Stroop for sad words with longer latencies for sad-induced participants. Main findings for the facial-emotional Stroop were that sad mood is associated with attentional interference for angry-threatening faces as well as longer latencies for neutral faces. Group differences were not found for positive stimuli. These findings confirm that sad mood is associated with attentional interference for mood-congruent stimuli in the verbal domain (sad words), but this mood-congruent effect does not necessarily apply to the visual domain (sad faces). Attentional interference for neutral faces suggests sad mood participants did not necessarily see valence-free faces. Attentional interference for threatening stimuli is often associated with anxiety; however, the current results show that threat is not an attentional interference observed exclusively in states of anxiety but also in sad mood.

Attention, spatial integration, and the tail of response time distributions in Stroop task performance

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Roelofs, A.P.A.

2012-01-01

A few studies have examined selective attention in Stroop task performance through ex-Gaussian analyses of response time (RT) distributions. It has remained unclear whether the tail of the RT distribution in vocal responding reflects spatial integration of relevant and irrelevant attributes, as

Executive Functions are not Affected by 24 Hours of Sleep Deprivation: A Color-Word Stroop Task Study

OpenAIRE

Dixit, Abhinav; Mittal, Tushar

2015-01-01

Background: Sleep is an important factor affecting cognitive performance. Sleep deprivation results in fatigue, lack of concentration, confusion and sleepiness along with anxiety, depression and irritability. Sleep deprivation can have serious consequences in professions like armed forces and medicine where quick decisions and actions need to be taken. Color-Word Stroop task is one of the reliable tests to assess attention and it analyzes the processing of information in two dimensions i.e., ...

Dissociating stimulus-stimulus and response-response effects in the Stroop task

OpenAIRE

Schmidt, James; Cheesman, J

2005-01-01

The separate semantic and response competition interactions between colour and word processing in a manual Stroop task were evaluated by comparing three trial types. Identity trials are both semantically compatible and response compatible (e.g., BLUE in the colour blue), different response trials are both semantically incompatible and response incompatible (e.g., BLUE in the colour green, where blue and green have different response keys), and same response trials are semantically incompatibl...

A slow component of classic Stroop interference

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Phaf, R. Hans; Horsman, Hark H.; van der Moolen, Bas; Roos, Yvo B. W. E. M.; Schmand, Ben

2010-01-01

The interference in colour naming may extend beyond critical Stroop trials. This "slow'' effect was first discovered in emotional Stroop tasks, but is extended here to classical Stroop. In two experiments, meaningless coloured letter strings followed a colour word or neutral word. Student

Electrodermal complexity during the Stroop colour word test.

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Svetlak, Miroslav; Bob, Petr; Cernik, Michal; Kukleta, Miloslav

2010-01-15

Several recent studies suggest that quantitative description of signal complexity using algorithms of nonlinear analysis could uncover new information about the autonomic system that is not reflected using common methods applied to measures of autonomic activity. With this aim we have performed complexity analysis of electrodermal activity (EDA) assessed in 106 healthy university students during rest conditions and non-conflicting and conflicting Stroop task. Complexity analysis applied to EDA was performed using Skinner's algorithm for pointwise correlation dimension (PD2). Results have shown that EDA responses during the Stroop Colour Word test are related to significantly increased or decreased complexity. Particularly significant result is that PD2 has a unique ability to predict to an extent the change in EDA response to stress i.e. that subjects with low initial PD2 tended to respond to experimental stress by its increase and subjects with high initial PD2 values tended to respond by its decrease. This response was not found in EDA measures where increase of the EDA presented predominant response to experimental stress in majority of the subjects. These findings suggest that PD2 is more sensitive to subtle aspects of functionally and spatially distributed modulatory influences of various parts of the brain that are involved in the EDA modulation and provides novel information in comparison to traditional methods.

Differential facilitative effects of glucose administration on Stroop task conditions.

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Brandt, Karen R; Gibson, E Leigh; Rackie, James M

2013-12-01

Previous research has demonstrated that glucose administration improves memory performance. These glucose facilitation effects have been most reliably demonstrated in medial temporal lobe tasks with the greatest effects found for cognitively demanding tasks. The aim of the proposed research was to first explore whether such effects might be demonstrated in a frontal lobe task. A second aim was to investigate whether any beneficial effects of glucose may arise more prominently under tasks of increasing cognitive demand. To achieve these aims, the Stroop Task was administered to participants and effects of a drink of glucose (25 g) were compared with an aspartame-sweetened control drink on performance in young adults. Results demonstrated that glucose ingestion significantly reduced RTs in the congruent and incongruent conditions. No effect on error rates was observed. Of most importance was the finding that this glucose facilitative effect was significantly greatest in the most cognitively demanding task, that is, the incongruent condition. The present results support the contention that the glucose facilitation effect is most robust under conditions of enhanced task difficulty and demonstrate that such benefits extend to frontal lobe function.

Selective Inhibition and Naming Performance in Semantic Blocking, Picture-Word Interference, and Color-Word Stroop Tasks

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Shao, Zeshu; Roelofs, Ardi; Martin, Randi C.; Meyer, Antje S.

2015-01-01

In 2 studies, we examined whether explicit distractors are necessary and sufficient to evoke selective inhibition in 3 naming tasks: the semantic blocking, picture-word interference, and color-word Stroop task. Delta plots were used to quantify the size of the interference effects as a function of reaction time (RT). Selective inhibition was…

Effectiveness of the Comalli Stroop Test as a measure of negative response bias.

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Arentsen, Timothy J; Boone, Kyle Brauer; Lo, Tracy T Y; Goldberg, Hope E; Cottingham, Maria E; Victor, Tara L; Ziegler, Elizabeth; Zeller, Michelle A

2013-01-01

Practice guidelines recommend the use of multiple performance validity tests (PVTs) to detect noncredible performance during neuropsychological evaluations, and PVTs embedded in standard cognitive tests achieve this goal most efficiently. The present study examined the utility of the Comalli version of the Stroop Test as a measure of response bias in a large sample of "real world" noncredible patients (n = 129) as compared with credible neuropsychology clinic patients (n=233). The credible group performed significantly better than the noncredible group on all trials, but particularly on word-reading (Stroop A) and color-naming (Stroop B); cut-scores for Stroop A and Stroop B trials were associated with moderate sensitivity (49-53%) as compared to the low sensitivity found for the color interference trial (29%). Some types of diagnoses (including learning disability, severe traumatic brain injury, psychosis, and depression), very advanced age (⩾80), and lowered IQ were associated with increased rates of false positive identifications, suggesting the need for some adjustments to cut-offs in these subgroups. Despite some previous reports of an inverted Stroop effect (i.e., color-naming worse than color interference) in noncredible subjects, individual Stroop word reading and color naming trials were much more effective in identifying response bias.

Social priming of dyslexia and reduction of the Stroop effect: what component of the Stroop effect is actually reduced?

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Augustinova, Maria; Ferrand, Ludovic

2014-03-01

Recently, Goldfarb, Aisenberg, and Henik (2011) showed that in a manual format of the Stroop task, dyslexia priming eliminates the normal magnitude of the interference-based Stroop-like findings otherwise exhibited by individuals participating in such research. Goldfarb et al. (2011) consequently concluded that the effect of word reading in a Stroop task (i.e., one automatic behavior) can be effectively controlled through an automatic instruction "do not read" (i.e., another automatic behavior). The present study further investigated these ideas by examining when and how dyslexia priming controls different processes involved in a Stroop task. To this end, the original finding was first replicated (Experiment 1) and subsequently extended to the vocal (instead of manual) response modality to examine whether previously reported eliminations of the Stroop effect persist with this response format (i.e., format producing larger Stroop effects). Since past work (e.g., Augustinova & Ferrand, 2012a; Brown, Joneleit et al., 2002; Ferrand & Augustinova, 2013) had suggested that various interventions were likely to reduce (rather than eliminate) the interference-based Stroop-like findings with vocal responses, a further aim of these experiments was to identify the component of these findings that dyslexia priming actually reduces. To this end, the effects of this intervention were examined in a more fine-grained variant of the Stroop task that distinguished between interference resulting from task-irrelevant processes involved in computing the lexical and semantic representations of the word (i.e., a written distractor to ignore) and task-relevant processes involved in the selection of a response (i.e., a color target to name) that are both involved in this task. In line with our past work (e.g., Augustinova & Ferrand, 2012a; Ferrand & Augustinova, 2013), the results of two experiments (Experiments 2 and 3) showed that in the vocal format, dyslexia priming reduces but does not

Modulations of the executive control network by stimulus onset asynchrony in a Stroop task

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2013-01-01

Background Manipulating task difficulty is a useful way of elucidating the functional recruitment of the brain’s executive control network. In a Stroop task, pre-exposing the irrelevant word using varying stimulus onset asynchronies (‘negative’ SOAs) modulates the amount of behavioural interference and facilitation, suggesting disparate mechanisms of cognitive processing in each SOA. The current study employed a Stroop task with three SOAs (−400, -200, 0 ms), using functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate for the first time the neural effects of SOA manipulation. Of specific interest were 1) how SOA affects the neural representation of interference and facilitation; 2) response priming effects in negative SOAs; and 3) attentional effects of blocked SOA presentation. Results The results revealed three regions of the executive control network that were sensitive to SOA during Stroop interference; the 0 ms SOA elicited the greatest activation of these areas but experienced relatively smaller behavioural interference, suggesting that the enhanced recruitment led to more efficient conflict processing. Response priming effects were localized to the right inferior frontal gyrus, which is consistent with the idea that this region performed response inhibition in incongruent conditions to overcome the incorrectly-primed response, as well as more general action updating and response preparation. Finally, the right superior parietal lobe was sensitive to blocked SOA presentation and was most active for the 0 ms SOA, suggesting that this region is involved in attentional control. Conclusions SOA exerted both trial-specific and block-wide effects on executive processing, providing a unique paradigm for functional investigations of the cognitive control network. PMID:23902451

Effects of aversive odour presentation on inhibitory control in the Stroop colour-word interference task.

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Finkelmeyer, Andreas; Kellermann, Thilo; Bude, Daniela; Niessen, Thomas; Schwenzer, Michael; Mathiak, Klaus; Reske, Martina

2010-10-18

Due to the unique neural projections of the olfactory system, odours have the ability to directly influence affective processes. Furthermore, it has been shown that emotional states can influence various non-emotional cognitive tasks, such as memory and planning. However, the link between emotional and cognitive processes is still not fully understood. The present study used the olfactory pathway to induce a negative emotional state in humans to investigate its effect on inhibitory control performance in a standard, single-trial manual Stroop colour-word interference task. An unpleasant (H2S) and an emotionally neutral (Eugenol) odorant were presented in two separate experimental runs, both in blocks alternating with ambient air, to 25 healthy volunteers, while they performed the cognitive task. Presentation of the unpleasant odorant reduced Stroop interference by reducing the reaction times for incongruent stimuli, while the presentation of the neutral odorant had no effect on task performance. The odour-induced negative emotional state appears to facilitate cognitive processing in the task used in the present study, possibly by increasing the amount of cognitive control that is being exerted. This stands in contrast to other findings that showed impaired cognitive performance under odour-induced negative emotional states, but is consistent with models of mood-congruent processing.

Effects of aversive odour presentation on inhibitory control in the Stroop colour-word interference task

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Nießen Thomas

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Due to the unique neural projections of the olfactory system, odours have the ability to directly influence affective processes. Furthermore, it has been shown that emotional states can influence various non-emotional cognitive tasks, such as memory and planning. However, the link between emotional and cognitive processes is still not fully understood. The present study used the olfactory pathway to induce a negative emotional state in humans to investigate its effect on inhibitory control performance in a standard, single-trial manual Stroop colour-word interference task. An unpleasant (H2S and an emotionally neutral (Eugenol odorant were presented in two separate experimental runs, both in blocks alternating with ambient air, to 25 healthy volunteers, while they performed the cognitive task. Results Presentation of the unpleasant odorant reduced Stroop interference by reducing the reaction times for incongruent stimuli, while the presentation of the neutral odorant had no effect on task performance. Conclusions The odour-induced negative emotional state appears to facilitate cognitive processing in the task used in the present study, possibly by increasing the amount of cognitive control that is being exerted. This stands in contrast to other findings that showed impaired cognitive performance under odour-induced negative emotional states, but is consistent with models of mood-congruent processing.

Viewing-position effects in the Stroop task: Initial fixation position modulates Stroop effects in fully colored words.

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Perret, Patrick; Ducrot, Stéphanie

2010-08-01

In two experiments that we conducted with adult (Experiment 1) and child (Experiment 2) participants, we experimentally controlled the eyes' first fixation in the word using a variable viewing-position technique in a classical all-letter-coloring Stroop procedure. We explored the impact of initial-fixation position (optimal viewing position [OVP] vs. end of the word) on the magnitude of Stroop effects (both interference and facilitation). The results showed that both interference and facilitation effects were reduced when the first fixation was located at the end of the word rather than at the OVP. These data make a new contribution to the study of the role of low-level processes in Stroop effects and add support to the growing body of research indicating that oculomotor processes can act as moderators of cognitive processes in the determination of Stroop effects.

Studying hemispheric lateralization during a Stroop task through near-infrared spectroscopy-based connectivity

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Zhang, Lei; Sun, Jinyan; Sun, Bailei; Luo, Qingming; Gong, Hui

2014-05-01

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a developing and promising functional brain imaging technology. Developing data analysis methods to effectively extract meaningful information from collected data is the major bottleneck in popularizing this technology. In this study, we measured hemodynamic activity of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) during a color-word matching Stroop task using NIRS. Hemispheric lateralization was examined by employing traditional activation and novel NIRS-based connectivity analyses simultaneously. Wavelet transform coherence was used to assess intrahemispheric functional connectivity. Spearman correlation analysis was used to examine the relationship between behavioral performance and activation/functional connectivity, respectively. In agreement with activation analysis, functional connectivity analysis revealed leftward lateralization for the Stroop effect and correlation with behavioral performance. However, functional connectivity was more sensitive than activation for identifying hemispheric lateralization. Granger causality was used to evaluate the effective connectivity between hemispheres. The results showed increased information flow from the left to the right hemispheres for the incongruent versus the neutral task, indicating a leading role of the left PFC. This study demonstrates that the NIRS-based connectivity can reveal the functional architecture of the brain more comprehensively than traditional activation, helping to better utilize the advantages of NIRS.

Association between central obesity and executive function as assessed by stroop task performance: A functional near-infrared spectroscopy study

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Zhangyan Deng

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Recent studies have suggested a link between executive function (EF and obesity. Studies often adopt body mass index (BMI, which reflects the distribution of subcutaneous fat, as the sole marker of obesity; however, BMI is inappropriate to distinguish central obesity, which indicates the centralized distribution of visceral fat. Visceral fat compared with subcutaneous fat represents greater relative lipid turnover and may increase the risk of cognitive decline in older adults. However, the relationship between EF and central obesity is largely unknown, particularly in young adults. Therefore, we used waist circumference (WC as a marker of central obesity and investigated different sensitivities between BMI and WC in the brain function. A total of 26 healthy young adults (aged 18–25 years; 42% female underwent functional near-infrared spectroscopy assessments. EF was assessed using the Stroop task, which is a classical measurement of EF. A significant Stroop effect was observed in the behavioral and hemodynamic data. In addition, we observed that behavioral interference on the Stroop task varied much more in subjects with higher BMI and WC than those subjects with lower. Elevated BMI and WC were associated with a decreased hemodynamic response during the Stroop task specifically in the prefrontal cortex (PFC. Compared to BMI, WC was more closely connected with inhibitory control and revealed right lateralized PFC activation. Our findings suggest that WC is a reliable indicator of brain function in young adults and propose a relationship between EF and central obesity.

A computerized stroop test for the evaluation of psychotropic drugs in healthy participants.

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Pilli, Raveendranadh; Naidu, Mur; Pingali, Usha Rani; Shobha, J C; Reddy, A Praveen

2013-04-01

The Stroop paradigm evaluates susceptibility to interference and is sensitive to dysfunction in frontal lobes and drug effects. The aim of the present study was to establish a simple and reliable computerized version of Stroop color-word test, which can be used for screening of various psychotropic drugs. The standardized method was followed in all cases, by recording the reaction time (RT) in msec in 24 healthy participants using computerized version of Stroop color-word test. Reproducibility of the test procedure was evaluated by recording the RTs by a single experimenter on two sessions (interday reproducibility). Validity of the model was further tested by evaluating the psychotropic effect of Zolpidem 5 mg, Caffeine 500 mg, or Placebo on 24 healthy subjects in a randomized, double blind three-way crossover design. The method was found to produce low variability with coefficient of variation less than 10%. Interday reproducibility was very good as shown by Bland-Altman plot with most of the values within ±2SD. There was a significant increase in RTs in Stroop performance with Zolpidem at 1 hr and 2 hrs; in contrast, caffeine significantly decreased RTs in Stroop performance at 1 hr only compared to placebo. The Stroop color-word recording and analysis system is simple, sensitive to centrally acting drug effects, and has potential for future experimental psychomotor assessment studies.

Interaction between Neural and Cardiac Systems during the Execution of the Stroop Task by Young Adults: Electroencephalographic Activity and Heart Rate Variability

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Soraya L. Sá Canabarro

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Executive processes and heart rate variability (HRV are supposedly regulated by an integrated inhibitory neurovisceral network mainly coordinated by the prefrontal cortex. Inhibitory control, a core executive function, is demanded by the Stroop task. This study aimed to assess the interaction between electroencephalographic activity and HRV of 50 healthy undergraduate students while performing a computerized version of the Stroop task with three stages (paradigmatic congruent – CS – and incongruent – IS – stages in addition to a stage in which words were phonetically similar to color names – PSS. Behavioral results suggested a Stroop interference effect among the stages, with greater difficulty in IS followed by PSS. A pattern of cortical activation in a frontoparietal gradient with left lateralization and involvement of the prefrontal, temporal and occipital cortices was found especially in IS and PSS, which might be correlated to executive control of behavior, inhibitory control, mental representation of words, preparation of the verbal response, and processing of visual stimuli. Mean power of brain activity (μV was higher for IS and PSS for all tested frequency oscillations. HRV parameters of SDNN and pNN50 were smaller in PSS compared to the other stages, while rMSSD was higher for CS, suggesting higher mental stress for IS and PSS. During PSS, LF/HF ratio was negatively correlated with EEG power in frontal, central and temporal regions whilst rMSSD was positively correlated with activity in frontal and parietal regions. Therefore, marked prefrontal cortex activity was associated with parasympathetic dominance, which is in line with the integrated inhibitory neural network model. In summation, the execution of the Stroop task required increased recruitment of prefrontal cortical areas and led to high mental stress, but, as it was associated with parasympathetic dominance of HRV control, conflict was solved and subjects behaved

The Pictorial Fire Stroop: A Measure of Processing Bias for Fire-Related Stimuli

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Gallagher-Duffy, Joanne; MacKay, Sherri; Duffy, Jim; Sullivan-Thomas, Meara; Peterson-Badali, Michele

2009-01-01

Fire interest is a risk factor for firesetting. This study tested whether a fire-specific emotional Stroop task can effectively measure an information-processing bias for fire-related stimuli. Clinic-referred and nonreferred adolescents (aged 13-16 years) completed a pictorial "Fire Stroop," as well as a self-report fire interest questionnaire and…

Hypervigilance or avoidance of trigger related cues in migraineurs? - A case-control study using the emotional stroop task

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Puschmann Anne-Katrin

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background "Negative affect" is one of the major migraine triggers. The aim of the study was to assess attentional biases for negative affective stimuli that might be related to migraine triggers in migraine patients with either few or frequent migraine and healthy controls. Methods Thirty-three subjects with frequent migraine (FM or with less frequent episodic migraine, and 20 healthy controls conducted two emotional Stroop tasks in the interictal period. In task 1, general affective words and in task 2, pictures of affective faces (angry, neutral, happy were used. For each task we calculated two emotional Stroop indices. Groups were compared using one-way ANOVAs. Results The expected attentional bias in migraine patients was not found. However, in task 2 the controls showed a significant attentional bias to negative faces, whereas the FM group showed indices near zero. Thus, the FM group responded faster to negative than to positive stimuli. The difference between the groups was statistically significant. Conclusions The findings in the FM group may reflect a learned avoidance mechanism away from affective migraine triggers.

Brazilian preliminary norms and investigation of age and education effects on the Modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Stroop Color and Word test and Digit Span test in adults

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Zimmermann, Nicolle; Cardoso, Caroline de Oliveira; Trentini, Clarissa Marceli; Grassi-Oliveira, Rodrigo; Fonseca, Rochele Paz

2015-01-01

Executive functions are involved in a series of human neurological and psychiatric disorders. For this reason, appropriate assessment tools with age and education adjusted norms for symptom diagnosis are necessary. Objective To present normative data for adults (19-75 year-olds; with five years of education or more) on the Modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (MWCST), Stroop color and word test and Digit Span test. Age and education effects were investigated. Methods Three samples were formed after inclusion criteria and data analysis: MWCST (n=124); Digit Span (n=123), and Stroop test (n=158). Groups were divided into young (19-39), middle-aged (40-59) and older (60-75) participants with five to eight years of education and nine years of education or more. Two-way ANOVA and ANCOVA analyses were used. Results Education effects were found in most variables of the three tasks. An age effect was only found on color naming and color-word naming speed from the Stroop test. No interactions were detected. Conclusion In countries with heterogeneous educational backgrounds, the use of stratified norms by education to assess at least some components of executive functions is essential for an ethical and accurate cognitive diagnosis. PMID:29213953

Stroop Color-Word Interference Test: Normative data for the Latin American Spanish speaking adult population.

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Rivera, D; Perrin, P B; Stevens, L F; Garza, M T; Weil, C; Saracho, C P; Rodríguez, W; Rodríguez-Agudelo, Y; Rábago, B; Weiler, G; García de la Cadena, C; Longoni, M; Martínez, C; Ocampo-Barba, N; Aliaga, A; Galarza-Del-Angel, J; Guerra, A; Esenarro, L; Arango-Lasprilla, J C

2015-01-01

To generate normative data on the Stroop Test across 11 countries in Latin America, with country-specific adjustments for gender, age, and education, where appropriate. The sample consisted of 3,977 healthy adults who were recruited from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and, Puerto Rico. Each subject was administered the Stroop Test, as part of a larger neuropsychological battery. A standardized five-step statistical procedure was used to generate the norms. The final multiple linear regression models explained 14-36% of the variance in Stroop Word scores, 12-41% of the variance in the Stoop Color, 14-36% of the variance in the Stroop Word-Color scores, and 4-15% of variance in Stroop Interference scores. Although t-tests showed significant differences between men and women on the Stroop test, none of the countries had an effect size larger than 0.3. As a result, gender-adjusted norms were not generated. This is the first normative multicenter study conducted in Latin America to create norms for the Stoop Test in a Spanish-Speaking sample. This study will therefore have important implications for the future of neuropsychology research and practice throughout the region.

Attentional bias in high math-anxious individuals: evidence from an emotional Stroop task

OpenAIRE

Su?rez-Pellicioni, Macarena; N??ez-Pe?a, Maria Isabel; Colom?, ?ngels

2015-01-01

Attentional bias towards threatening or emotional information is considered a cognitive marker of anxiety, and it has been described in various clinical and subclinical populations. This study used an emotional Stroop task to investigate whether math anxiety is characterized by an attentional bias towards math-related words. Two previous studies failed to observe such an effect in math-anxious individuals, although the authors acknowledged certain methodological limitations that the present s...

Validación de la versión española del Test Stroop de Alcohol

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Alvaro Sánchez-López

2015-05-01

Full Text Available El sesgo atencional para el alcohol se ha mostrado útil para identificar a personas con consumo patológico así como a personas dependientes con altas probabilidades de recaída. El objetivo de este trabajo fue validar la versión española del Test Stroop de Alcohol diseñado para evaluar el sesgo atencional en pacientes dependientes del alcohol. La muestra estuvo compuesta por 173 participantes divididos en dos grupos: Un grupo de pacientes (n = 88 cumpliendo criterios de dependencia alcohólica y un grupo control (n = 85 con riesgo bajo de consumo de alcohol, que realizaron el Test de palabras y colores de Stroop (Stroop clásico, el Test de Stroop neutro y el Test de Stroop de Alcohol. Se observaron diferencias estadísticamente significativas en las interferencias para el Stroop Clásico y el Stroop de Alcohol. Los pacientes con dependencia, en comparación a los participantes control, mostraron mayores interferencias para estímulos de contenido alcohólico que para estímulos de contenido neutro. Este efecto fue explicado por un sesgo atencional para información relacionada con el alcohol en pacientes con dependencia. Se calcularon curvas COR, observándose áreas bajo la curva estadísticamente significativas para las interferencias del Stroop clásico y del Stroop de alcohol. Este trabajo sirvió para validar la versión española del Test Stroop de Alcohol para evaluar sesgos atencionales hacia el alcohol en personas con problemas de consumo y dependencia alcohólica.

Neurophysiological correlates of post-hypnotic alexia: a controlled study with Stroop test.

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Casiglia, Edoardo; Schiff, Sami; Facco, Enrico; Gabbana, Amos; Tikhonoff, Valérie; Schiavon, Laura; Bascelli, Anna; Avdia, Marsel; Tosello, Maria Teresa; Rossi, Augusto Mario; Haxhi Nasto, Hilda; Guidotti, Federica; Giacomello, Margherita; Amodio, Piero

2010-01-01

To clarify whether hypnotically-induced alexia was able to reduce the Stroop effect due to color/word interference, 12 volunteers (6 with high and 6 with low hypnotizability according to Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale Form C) underwent a Stroop test consisting of measuring, both in basal conditions and during post-hypnotic alexia, the reaction times (RT) at appearance of a colored word indicating a color. In basal conditions, RT were greater in case of incongruence. In highly hypnotizable participants, the interference was less pronounced during post-hypnotic alexia (-34%, p = 0.03). During alexia, late positive complexamplitude was also greater for congruent than incongruent conditions (p stress was less pronounced as well. In participants showing low hypnotizability, no reduction of Stroop effect was detected during post-hypnotic alexia. Posthypnotic alexia is therefore a real and measurable phenomenon, capable of reducing the color-word interference and the haemodynamic effects of the Stroop test.

Cognitive control explored by linear modelling behaviour and fMRI data during Stroop tasks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Jiacheng; Bai, Jing; Zhang, Dexuan

2008-01-01

Most previous neuroimaging studies of Stroop paradigms have not provided sufficient information about the relationship between response times (RTs) and imaging signals. The objective of the present study is to build a linear model to explore the relationship between RTs and imaging signals. Neural information in Stroop tasks under the preconditions of high conflict and adjustment was extracted by using a method of modifying the ratio of congruent trials to incongruent trials in blocks. It was shown that the signals of the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) were negatively associated with the RTs for high-ratio trials in both blocks, and the signals of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) were negatively associated with the RTs for incongruence in high-conflict blocks. These results suggest that the DLPFC and ACC have more effects on executive modification and conflict monitoring, respectively

Examining a supramodal network for conflict processing: a systematic review and novel functional magnetic resonance imaging data for related visual and auditory stroop tasks.

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Roberts, Katherine L; Hall, Deborah A

2008-06-01

Cognitive control over conflicting information has been studied extensively using tasks such as the color-word Stroop, flanker, and spatial conflict task. Neuroimaging studies typically identify a fronto-parietal network engaged in conflict processing, but numerous additional regions are also reported. Ascribing putative functional roles to these regions is problematic because some may have less to do with conflict processing per se, but could be engaged in specific processes related to the chosen stimulus modality, stimulus feature, or type of conflict task. In addition, some studies contrast activation on incongruent and congruent trials, even though a neutral baseline is needed to separate the effect of inhibition from that of facilitation. In the first part of this article, we report a systematic review of 34 neuroimaging publications, which reveals that conflict-related activity is reliably reported in the anterior cingulate cortex and bilaterally in the lateral prefrontal cortex, the anterior insula, and the parietal lobe. In the second part, we further explore these candidate "conflict" regions through a novel functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment, in which the same group of subjects perform related visual and auditory Stroop tasks. By carefully controlling for the same task (Stroop), the same to-be-ignored stimulus dimension (word meaning), and by separating out inhibitory processes from those of facilitation, we attempt to minimize the potential differences between the two tasks. The results provide converging evidence that the regions identified by the systematic review are reliably engaged in conflict processing. Despite carefully matching the Stroop tasks, some regions of differential activity remained, particularly in the parietal cortex. We discuss some of the task-specific processes which might account for this finding.

Beyond interference control impairment in ADHD: Evidence from increased intraindividual variability in the color-stroop test

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BORELLA ERIKA; DE RIBAUPIERRE ANIK; CORNOLDI CESARE; CHICHERIO CHRISTIAN

2012-01-01

The present study investigates intraindividual variability (IIV) in the Color Stroop test and in a simple reaction time (SRT) task. Performance level and variability in reaction times (RTs)—quantified with different measures such as individual standard deviation (ISD) and coefficient of variation (ICV) as well as ex Gaussian parameters (mu sigma tau)—were analyzed in 24 children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and 24 typically developing children (TDC). Children with ADHD...

Visual determinants of reduced performance on the Stroop color-word test in normal aging individuals.

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van Boxtel, M P; ten Tusscher, M P; Metsemakers, J F; Willems, B; Jolles, J

2001-10-01

It is unknown to what extent the performance on the Stroop color-word test is affected by reduced visual function in older individuals. We tested the impact of common deficiencies in visual function (reduced distant and close acuity, reduced contrast sensitivity, and color weakness) on Stroop performance among 821 normal individuals aged 53 and older. After adjustment for age, sex, and educational level, low contrast sensitivity was associated with more time needed on card I (word naming), red/green color weakness with slower card 2 performance (color naming), and reduced distant acuity with slower performance on card 3 (interference). Half of the age-related variance in speed performance was shared with visual function. The actual impact of reduced visual function may be underestimated in this study when some of this age-related variance in Stroop performance is mediated by visual function decrements. It is suggested that reduced visual function has differential effects on Stroop performance which need to be accounted for when the Stroop test is used both in research and in clinical settings. Stroop performance measured from older individuals with unknown visual status should be interpreted with caution.

Investigation of attention via the counting Stroop task in patients with functional constipation.

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Sun, Yi; Li, Xiao-Yi; Yao, Lin-Yan; Zhao, Lan; Dai, Ning; Wu, Hao

2012-02-01

The etiology and pathology of functional constipation (FC) is unclear. Some researches suggest that psychological factors may be related to this common problem. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between attention processing and emotional status in FC patients compared with healthy controls. We investigated selective attention and emotional status in patients with FC using the counting Stroop task. Thirty-five FC patients (FCP group) and 24 healthy controls (HCs) underwent an event-related potential (ERP) study while performing the task. Response time, latency and amplitude of P300 were collected and compared between the two groups. The Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-17), Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAMA), Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) and Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) were administered prior to the counting Stroop task. Scores for the FCP group differed significantly from those for the HCs on the HAMD-17, HAMA, SCL-90 (Global Severity Index, Positive Symptoms Total, dimensions of somatization, obsessive-compulsive, depression, anxiety, and psychosis), as well as extraversion and neurosis dimensions of the EPQ (P 0.05). ERP results showed prolonged latency at F4, additionally found enhanced activation at F3, FC1 and T8, and decreased activation at sites FC6 and P7 in the patients with FC. Statistically, significant differences of P300 latency at site F4 (P well as somatization, obsessive-compulsive tendencies and other neurotic personality characteristics. Patients may employ psychological defense mechanisms to avoid the pain of depression and anxiety. ERP results imply there may be some brain dysfunction and attention deficits in patients with FC.

Aging, Emotion, Attention, and Binding in the Taboo Stroop Task: Data and Theories

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MacKay, Donald G.; Johnson, Laura W.; Graham, Elizabeth R.; Burke, Deborah M.

2015-01-01

How does aging impact relations between emotion, memory, and attention? To address this question, young and older adults named the font colors of taboo and neutral words, some of which recurred in the same font color or screen location throughout two color-naming experiments. The results indicated longer color-naming response times (RTs) for taboo than neutral base-words (taboo Stroop interference); better incidental recognition of colors and locations consistently associated with taboo versus neutral words (taboo context-memory enhancement); and greater speed-up in color-naming RTs with repetition of color-consistent than color-inconsistent taboo words, but no analogous speed-up with repetition of location-consistent or location-inconsistent taboo words (the consistency type by repetition interaction for taboo words). All three phenomena remained constant with aging, consistent with the transmission deficit hypothesis and binding theory, where familiar emotional words trigger age-invariant reactions for prioritizing the binding of contextual features to the source of emotion. Binding theory also accurately predicted the interaction between consistency type and repetition for taboo words. However, one or more aspects of these phenomena failed to support the inhibition deficit hypothesis, resource capacity theory, or socio-emotional selectivity theory. We conclude that binding theory warrants further test in a range of paradigms, and that relations between aging and emotion, memory, and attention may depend on whether the task and stimuli trigger fast-reaction, involuntary binding processes, as in the taboo Stroop paradigm. PMID:26473909

Aging, Emotion, Attention, and Binding in the Taboo Stroop Task: Data and Theories

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Donald G. MacKay

2015-10-01

Full Text Available How does aging impact relations between emotion, memory, and attention? To address this question, young and older adults named the font colors of taboo and neutral words, some of which recurred in the same font color or screen location throughout two color-naming experiments. The results indicated longer color-naming response times (RTs for taboo than neutral base-words (taboo Stroop interference; better incidental recognition of colors and locations consistently associated with taboo versus neutral words (taboo context-memory enhancement; and greater speed-up in color-naming RTs with repetition of color-consistent than color-inconsistent taboo words, but no analogous speed-up with repetition of location-consistent or location-inconsistent taboo words (the consistency type by repetition interaction for taboo words. All three phenomena remained constant with aging, consistent with the transmission deficit hypothesis and binding theory, where familiar emotional words trigger age-invariant reactions for prioritizing the binding of contextual features to the source of emotion. Binding theory also accurately predicted the interaction between consistency type and repetition for taboo words. However, one or more aspects of these phenomena failed to support the inhibition deficit hypothesis, resource capacity theory, or socio-emotional selectivity theory. We conclude that binding theory warrants further test in a range of paradigms, and that relations between aging and emotion, memory, and attention may depend on whether the task and stimuli trigger fast-reaction, involuntary binding processes, as in the taboo Stroop paradigm.

Aging, Emotion, Attention, and Binding in the Taboo Stroop Task: Data and Theories.

Science.gov (United States)

MacKay, Donald G; Johnson, Laura W; Graham, Elizabeth R; Burke, Deborah M

2015-10-14

How does aging impact relations between emotion, memory, and attention? To address this question, young and older adults named the font colors of taboo and neutral words, some of which recurred in the same font color or screen location throughout two color-naming experiments. The results indicated longer color-naming response times (RTs) for taboo than neutral base-words (taboo Stroop interference); better incidental recognition of colors and locations consistently associated with taboo versus neutral words (taboo context-memory enhancement); and greater speed-up in color-naming RTs with repetition of color-consistent than color-inconsistent taboo words, but no analogous speed-up with repetition of location-consistent or location-inconsistent taboo words (the consistency type by repetition interaction for taboo words). All three phenomena remained constant with aging, consistent with the transmission deficit hypothesis and binding theory, where familiar emotional words trigger age-invariant reactions for prioritizing the binding of contextual features to the source of emotion. Binding theory also accurately predicted the interaction between consistency type and repetition for taboo words. However, one or more aspects of these phenomena failed to support the inhibition deficit hypothesis, resource capacity theory, or socio-emotional selectivity theory. We conclude that binding theory warrants further test in a range of paradigms, and that relations between aging and emotion, memory, and attention may depend on whether the task and stimuli trigger fast-reaction, involuntary binding processes, as in the taboo Stroop paradigm.

Investigating a computerised test of the Stroop effect extended by inclusion of a third, more difficult task.

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Federmann, Rolf; Goldsmith, Robert; Bäckström, Martin

2007-04-01

A validation study of a computerised test recently developed involving the Stroop effect, extended here by inclusion of a third, more difficult test series, is presented. Three groups of men belonging to the Swedish armed forces and adjudged to differ in their qualifications (20, 32, and 19 men of levels 1, 2, and 3, respectively) and a fourth group of 18 men convicted of serious crimes of violence were given this test, termed the Stress Strategy Test. Discriminant analysis of the test's 12 variables (four for each of the three test series) yielded a discriminant power of 65% for the total group, highest for the level 1 group (80%) and for the nonmilitary group (72%), results substantially better than obtained for the original version of the test with use of similar subject groups.

Two-to-one colour-response mapping and the presence of semantic conflict in the Stroop task

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Nabil eHasshim

2014-10-01

Full Text Available A series of recent studies have utilised the two-to-one mapping paradigm in the Stroop task. In this paradigm, the word red might be presented in blue when both red and blue share the same response key (same-response trials. This manipulation has been used to show the separate contributions of (within semantic category conflict and response conflict to Stroop interference. Such results evidencing semantic category conflict are incompatible with models of the Stroop task that are based on response conflict only. However, the nature of the same-response trials is unclear since they are also likely to involve response facilitation given that both dimensions of the stimulus provide evidence towards the same response key. In this study we explored this possibility by comparing them with three other trial types. We report strong (Bayesian evidence for no statistical difference between same-response and non-colour word neutral trials, faster responses to same-response trials than to non-response set incongruent trials, and no differences between same-response vs. congruent trials when contingency is controlled. Our results suggest that when RT is the dependent variable, same-response trials are not different from neutral trials indicating that they cannot be used reliably to determine the presence or absence of semantic category conflict. In light of these results, the interpretation of a series of recent studies might have to be reassessed.

A controlled approach to the emotional dilution of the Stroop effect.

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Kathryn Fackrell

Full Text Available We re-examined a modified emotional Stroop task that included an additional colour-word alongside the emotional word, providing the response conflict of the traditional Stroop task. Negative emotionally salient (i.e. unpleasant' words are claimed to capture attention, producing a smaller Stroop effect for negative words compared to neutral words; this phenomenon is called the emotional dilution of the Stroop effect. To address previous limitations, this study compared negative words with lexically matched neutral words in a powered sample of 45 participants. Results demonstrated an emotional Stroop effect (slower colour-naming responses for negative words and a traditional Stroop effect but not an emotional dilution of the Stroop effect. This finding is at odds with claims that other processing resources are diminished through the failure to disengage attention from emotional information. No matter how attention towards emotional information builds up over time, our findings indicate that attentional resources are not fully captured by negative words.

Adaptation to Recent Conflict in the Classical Color-Word Stroop-Task Mainly Involves Facilitation of Processing of Task-Relevant Information

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Sascha ePurmann

2015-03-01

Full Text Available To process information selectively and to continuously fine-tune selectivity of information processing are important abilities for successful goal-directed behavior. One phenomenon thought to represent this fine-tuning are conflict adaptation effects in interference tasks, i.e. reduction of interference after an incompatible trial and when incompatible trials are frequent. The neurocognitive mechanisms of these effects are currently only partly understood and results from brainimaging studies so far are mixed. In our study we validate and extend recent findings by examining adaption to recent conflict in the classical Stroop task using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Consistent with previous research we found increased activity in a fronto-parietal network comprising the medial prefrontal cortex, ventro-lateral prefrontal cortex, and posterior parietal cortex when contrasting incompatible with compatible trials. These areas have been associated with attentional processes and might reflect increased cognitive conflict and resolution thereof during incompatible trials. While carefully controlling for non-attentional sequential effects we found smaller Stroop interference after an incompatible trial (conflict adaptation effect. These behavioral conflict adaptation effects were accompanied by changes in activity in visual color-selective areas (V4, V4α, while there was no modulation by previous trial compatibility in a visual word-selective area (VWFA. Our results provide further evidence for the notion, that adaptation to recent conflict seems to be based mainly on enhancement of processing of the task-relevant information.

Adaptation to recent conflict in the classical color-word Stroop-task mainly involves facilitation of processing of task-relevant information.

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Purmann, Sascha; Pollmann, Stefan

2015-01-01

To process information selectively and to continuously fine-tune selectivity of information processing are important abilities for successful goal-directed behavior. One phenomenon thought to represent this fine-tuning are conflict adaptation effects in interference tasks, i.e., reduction of interference after an incompatible trial and when incompatible trials are frequent. The neurocognitive mechanisms of these effects are currently only partly understood and results from brainimaging studies so far are mixed. In our study we validate and extend recent findings by examining adaption to recent conflict in the classical Stroop task using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Consistent with previous research we found increased activity in a fronto-parietal network comprising the medial prefrontal cortex, ventro-lateral prefrontal cortex, and posterior parietal cortex when contrasting incompatible with compatible trials. These areas have been associated with attentional processes and might reflect increased cognitive conflict and resolution thereof during incompatible trials. While carefully controlling for non-attentional sequential effects we found smaller Stroop interference after an incompatible trial (conflict adaptation effect). These behavioral conflict adaptation effects were accompanied by changes in activity in visual color-selective areas (V4, V4α), while there was no modulation by previous trial compatibility in a visual word-selective area (VWFA). Our results provide further evidence for the notion, that adaptation to recent conflict seems to be based mainly on enhancement of processing of the task-relevant information.

What Klein’s semantic gradient does and does not really show: decomposing Stroop interference into task and informational conflict components

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Yulia eLevin

2016-02-01

Full Text Available The present study suggests that the idea that Stroop interference originates from multiple components may gain theoretically from integrating two independent frameworks. The first framework is represented by the well-known notion of semantic gradient of interference and the second one is the distinction between two types of conflict – the task and the informational conflict – giving rise to the interference (Goldfarb & Henik, 2007; McLeod & MacDonald, 2000. The proposed integration led to the conclusion that two (i.e., orthographic and lexical components of the four theoretically distinct components represent task conflict, and the other two (i.e., indirect and direct informational conflict components represent informational conflict. The four components were independently estimated in a series of experiments. The results confirmed the contribution of task conflict (estimated by a robust orthographic component and of informational conflict (estimated by a strong direct informational conflict component to Stroop interference. However, the performed critical review of the relevant literature (see General Discussion, as well as the results of the experiments reported, showed that the other two components expressing each type of conflict (i.e., the lexical component of task conflict and the indirect informational conflict were small, and unstable. The present analysis refines our knowledge of the origins of Stroop interference by providing evidence that each type of conflict has its major and minor contributions. The implications for cognitive control of an automatic reading process are also discussed.

Test-Retest Reliability of Dual-Task Outcome Measures in People With Parkinson Disease.

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Strouwen, Carolien; Molenaar, Esther A L M; Keus, Samyra H J; Münks, Liesbeth; Bloem, Bastiaan R; Nieuwboer, Alice

2016-08-01

Dual-task (DT) training is gaining ground as a physical therapy intervention in people with Parkinson disease (PD). Future studies evaluating the effect of such interventions need reliable outcome measures. To date, the test-retest reliability of DT measures in patients with PD remains largely unknown. The purpose of this study was to assess the reliability of DT outcome measures in patients with PD. A repeated-measures design was used. Patients with PD ("on" medication, Mini-Mental State Examination score ≥24) performed 2 cognitive tasks (ie, backward digit span task and auditory Stroop task) and 1 functional task (ie, mobile phone task) in combination with walking. Tasks were assessed at 2 time points (same hour) with an interval of 6 weeks. Test-retest reliability was assessed for gait while performing each secondary task (DT gait) for both cognitive tasks while walking (DT cognitive) and for the functional task while walking (DT functional). Sixty-two patients with PD (age=39-89 years, Hoehn and Yahr stages II-III) were included in the study. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) showed excellent reliability for DT gait measures, ranging between .86 and .95 when combined with the digit span task, between .86 and .95 when combined with the auditory Stroop task, and between .72 and .90 when combined with the mobile phone task. The standard error of measurements for DT gait speed varied between 0.06 and 0.08 m/s, leading to minimal detectable changes between 0.16 and 0.22 m/s. With regard to DT cognitive measures, reaction times showed good-to-excellent reliability (digit span task: ICC=.75; auditory Stroop task: ICC=.82). The results cannot be generalized to patients with advanced disease or to other DT measures. In people with PD, DT measures proved to be reliable for use in clinical studies and look promising for use in clinical practice to assess improvements after DT training. Large effects, however, are needed to obtain meaningful effect sizes. �

Second language proficiency modulates conflict-monitoring in an oculomotor Stroop task: evidence from Hindi-English bilinguals.

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Niharika eSingh

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Many studies have confirmed the presence of a bilingual advantage which is manifested as enhanced cognitive and attention control. However, very few studies have investigated the role of second language proficiency on the modulation of conflict-monitoring in bilinguals. We investigated this by comparing high and low proficient Hindi-English bilinguals on a modified saccadic arrow Stroop task under different monitoring conditions, and tested the predictions of the bilingual executive control advantage proposal. The task of the participants was to make an eye movement towards the colour patch in the same colour as the central arrow, ignoring the patch to which the arrow was pointing. High-proficient bilinguals had overall faster saccade latency on all types of trials as compared to the low proficient bilinguals. The overall saccadic latency for high proficiency bilinguals was similarly affected by the different types of monitoring conditions, whereas conflict resolution advantage was found only for high monitoring demanding condition. The results support a conflict-monitoring account in a novel oculomotor task and also suggest that language proficiency could modulate executive control in bilinguals.

Lax decision criteria lead to negativity bias: evidence from the emotional stroop task.

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Liu, Guofang; Xin, Ziqiang; Lin, Chongde

2014-06-01

Negativity bias means that negative information is usually given more emphasis than comparable positive information. Under signal detection theory, recent research found that people more frequently and incorrectly identify negative task-related words as having been presented originally than positive words, even when they were not presented. That is, people have lax decision criteria for negative words. However, the response biases for task-unrelated negative words and for emotionally important words are still unclear. This study investigated response bias for these two kinds of words. Study 1 examined the response bias for task-unrelated negative words using an emotional Stroop task. Proportions of correct recognition to negative and positive words were assessed by non-parametric signal detection analysis. Participants have lower (i.e., more lax) decision criteria for task-unrelated negative words than for positive words. Study 2 supported and expanded this result by investigating participants' response bias for highly emotional words. Participants have lower decision criteria for highly emotional words than for less emotional words. Finally, possible evolutionary sources of the response bias were discussed.

Goal-referenced selection of verbal action : Modeling attentional control in the Stroop task

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Roelofs, A.P.A.

2003-01-01

This article presents a new account of the Stroop phenomenon (J. R. Stroop, 1935) based on an implemented model of word production, WEAVER++ (W. J. M. Levelt, A. Roelofs, & A. S. Meyer, 1999b; A. Roelofs, 1992, 1997c). Stroop effects are claimed to arise from processing interactions within the

Assessment of Selective Attention with CSCWT (Computerized Stroop Color-Word Test) among Children and Adults

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Afsaneh, Zarghi; Alireza, Zali; Mehdi, Tehranidost; Farzad, Ashrafi; Reza, Zarindast Mohammad; Mehdi, Moazzezi; Mojtaba, Khodadadi Seyed

2012-01-01

The SCWT (Stroop Color-Word Test) is a quick and frequently used measure for assessing selective attention and cognitive flexibility. This study determines age, sex and education level influence on attention and cognitive flexibility by CSCWT (Computerized Stroop Color-Word Test) among healthy Iranian children and adults. There were 78 healthy…

The Magic of Words Reconsidered: Investigating the Automaticity of Reading Color-Neutral Words in the Stroop Task

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Kinoshita, Sachiko; De Wit, Bianca; Norris, Dennis

2017-01-01

In 2 variants of the color-word Stroop task, we compared 5 types of color-neutral distractors--real words (e.g., "HAT"), pseudowords (e.g., "HIX"), consonant strings (e.g., "HDK"), symbol strings (e.g., #$%), and a row of Xs (e.g., "XXX")--as well as incongruent color words (e.g., "GREEN" displayed…

Stroop performance in multiple sclerosis: information processing, selective attention, or executive functioning?

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Macniven, J A B; Davis, C; Ho, M-Y; Bradshaw, C M; Szabadi, E; Constantinescu, C S

2008-09-01

Cognitive impairments in information processing speed, attention and executive functioning are widely reported in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Several studies have identified impaired performance on the Stroop test in people with MS, yet uncertainty remains over the cause of this phenomenon. In this study, 25 patients with MS were assessed with a neuropsychological test battery including a computerized Stroop test and a computerized test of information processing speed, the Graded Conditional Discrimination Tasks (GCDT). The patient group was compared with an individually age, sex and estimated premorbid IQ-matched healthy control group. The patients' reaction times (RTs) were significantly longer than those of the controls on all Stroop test trials and there was a significantly enhanced absolute (RT(incongruent)-RT(neutral)) and relative (100 x [RT(incongruent)-RT(neutral)]/RT(neutral)) Stroop interference effect for the MS group. The linear function relating RT to stimulus complexity in the GCDT was significantly steeper in the patient group, indicating slowed information processing. The results are discussed with reference to the difference engine model, a theory of diversity in speeded cognition. It is concluded that, in the assessment of people with MS, great caution must be used in the interpretation of performance on neuropsychological tests which rely on RT as the primary measure.

Goal-neglect links Stroop interference with working memory capacity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Morey, C.C.; Elliott, E.M.; Wiggers, J.; Eaves, S.L.; Shelton, J.T.; Mall, Jonathan

2012-01-01

Relationships between Stroop interference and working memory capacity may reflect individual differences in resolving conflict, susceptibility to goal neglect, or both of these factors. We compared relationships between working memory capacity and three Stroop tasks: a classic, printed color-word

The visual-auditory color-word Stroop asymmetry and its time course

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Roelofs, A.P.A.

2005-01-01

Four experiments examined crossmodal versions of the Stroop task in order (1) to look for Stroop asymmetries in color naming, spoken-word naming, and written-word naming and to evaluate the time course of these asymmetries, and (2) to compare these findings to current models of the Stroop effect.

Two Aspects of Activation: Arousal and Subjective Significance – Behavioral and Event-Related Potential Correlates Investigated by Means of a Modified Emotional Stroop Task

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Kamil Imbir

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The arousal level of words presented in a Stroop task was found to affect their interference on the required naming of the words’ color. Based on a dual-processes approach, we propose that there are two aspects to activation: arousal and subjective significance. Arousal is crucial for automatic processing. Subjective significance is specific to controlled processing. Based on this conceptual model, we predicted that arousal would enhance interference in a Stroop task, as attention would be allocated to the meaning of the inhibited word. High subjective significance should have the opposite effect, i.e., it should enhance the controlled and explicit part of Stroop task processing, which is color naming. We found that response latencies were modulated by the interaction between the arousal and subjective significance levels of words. The longest reaction times were observed for highly arousing words of medium subjective significance level. Arousal shaped event related potentials in the 150–290 ms time range, while effects of subjective significance were found for 50–150, 150–290, and 290–530 ms time ranges.

An FMRI study of the effects of psychostimulants on default-mode processing during Stroop task performance in youths with ADHD

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Peterson, Bradley S; Potenza, Marc N; Wang, Zhishun

2009-01-01

OBJECTIVE: The authors examined the effect of psychostimulants on brain activity in children and adolescents with ADHD performing the Stroop Color and Word Test. METHOD: The authors acquired 52 functional MRI scans in 16 youths with ADHD who were known responders to stimulant medication and 20...... cingulate and posterior cingulate cortices, components of a circuit in which activity has been shown to correlate with the degree of mind-wandering during attentional tasks. Stimulants seem to improve symptoms in youths with ADHD by normalizing activity within this circuit and improving its functional...

Incremental rate of prefrontal oxygenation determines performance speed during cognitive Stroop test: the effect of ageing.

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Endo, Kana; Liang, Nan; Idesako, Mitsuhiro; Ishii, Kei; Matsukawa, Kanji

2018-02-19

Cognitive function declines with age. The underlying mechanisms responsible for the deterioration of cognitive performance, however, remain poorly understood. We hypothesized that an incremental rate of prefrontal oxygenation during a cognitive Stroop test decreases in progress of ageing, resulting in a slowdown of cognitive performance. To test this hypothesis, we identified, using multichannel near-infrared spectroscopy, the characteristics of the oxygenated-hemoglobin concentration (Oxy-Hb) responses of the prefrontal cortex to both incongruent Stroop and congruent word-reading test. Spatial distributions of the significant changes in the three components (initial slope, peak amplitude, and area under the curve) of the Oxy-Hb response were compared between young and elderly subjects. The Stroop interference time (as a difference in total periods for executing Stroop and word-reading test, respectively) approximately doubled in elderly as compared to young subjects. The Oxy-Hb in the rostrolateral, but not caudal, prefrontal cortex increased during the Stroop test in both age groups. The initial slope of the Oxy-Hb response, rather than the peak and area under the curve, had a strong correlation with cognitive performance speed. Taken together, it is likely that the incremental rate of prefrontal oxygenation may decrease in progress of ageing, resulting in a decline in cognitive performance.

Investigating the effects of caffeine on executive functions using traditional Stroop and a new ecologically-valid virtual reality task, the Jansari assessment of Executive Functions (JEF(©)).

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Soar, K; Chapman, E; Lavan, N; Jansari, A S; Turner, J J D

2016-10-01

Caffeine has been shown to have effects on certain areas of cognition, but in executive functioning the research is limited and also inconsistent. One reason could be the need for a more sensitive measure to detect the effects of caffeine on executive function. This study used a new non-immersive virtual reality assessment of executive functions known as JEF(©) (the Jansari Assessment of Executive Function) alongside the 'classic' Stroop Colour-Word task to assess the effects of a normal dose of caffeinated coffee on executive function. Using a double-blind, counterbalanced within participants procedure 43 participants were administered either a caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee and completed the 'JEF(©)' and Stroop tasks, as well as a subjective mood scale and blood pressure pre- and post condition on two separate occasions a week apart. JEF(©) yields measures for eight separate aspects of executive functions, in addition to a total average score. Findings indicate that performance was significantly improved on the planning, creative thinking, event-, time- and action-based prospective memory, as well as total JEF(©) score following caffeinated coffee relative to the decaffeinated coffee. The caffeinated beverage significantly decreased reaction times on the Stroop task, but there was no effect on Stroop interference. The results provide further support for the effects of a caffeinated beverage on cognitive functioning. In particular, it has demonstrated the ability of JEF(©) to detect the effects of caffeine across a number of executive functioning constructs, which weren't shown in the Stroop task, suggesting executive functioning improvements as a result of a 'typical' dose of caffeine may only be detected by the use of more real-world, ecologically valid tasks. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cognitive impairment after traumatic brain injury: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study using the Stroop task

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soeda, Akio; Iwama, Toru; Nakashima, Toshihiko; Okumura, Ayumi; Shinoda, Jun; Kuwata, Kazuo

2005-01-01

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) plays a key role in cognition, motor function, and emotion processing. However, little is known about how traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects the ACC system. Our purpose was to compare, by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies, the patterns of cortical activation in patients with cognitive impairment after TBI and those of normal subjects. Cortical activation maps of 11 right-handed healthy control subjects and five TBI patients with cognitive impairment were recorded in response to a Stroop task during a block-designed fMRI experiment. Statistical parametric mapping (SPM99) was used for individual subjects and group analysis. In TBI patients and controls, cortical activation, found in similar regions of the frontal, occipital, and parietal lobes, resembled patterns of activation documented in previous neuroimaging studies of the Stroop task in healthy controls. However, the TBI patients showed a relative decrease in ACC activity compared with the controls. Cognitive impairment in TBI patients seems to be associated with alterations in functional cerebral activity, especially less activation of the ACC. These changes are probably the result of destruction of neural networks after diffuse axonal injury and may reflect cortical disinhibition attributable to disconnection or compensation for an inefficient cognitive process. (orig.)

Cognitive impairment after traumatic brain injury: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study using the Stroop task

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Soeda, Akio; Iwama, Toru [Gifu University School of Medicine, Department of Neurosurgery, Gifu City (Japan); Nakashima, Toshihiko; Okumura, Ayumi; Shinoda, Jun [Kizawa Memorial Hospital, Chubu Medical Center for Prolonged Traumatic Brain Dysfunction, Department of Neurosurgery, Minokamo (Japan); Kuwata, Kazuo [Gifu University School of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Gifu (Japan)

2005-07-01

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) plays a key role in cognition, motor function, and emotion processing. However, little is known about how traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects the ACC system. Our purpose was to compare, by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies, the patterns of cortical activation in patients with cognitive impairment after TBI and those of normal subjects. Cortical activation maps of 11 right-handed healthy control subjects and five TBI patients with cognitive impairment were recorded in response to a Stroop task during a block-designed fMRI experiment. Statistical parametric mapping (SPM99) was used for individual subjects and group analysis. In TBI patients and controls, cortical activation, found in similar regions of the frontal, occipital, and parietal lobes, resembled patterns of activation documented in previous neuroimaging studies of the Stroop task in healthy controls. However, the TBI patients showed a relative decrease in ACC activity compared with the controls. Cognitive impairment in TBI patients seems to be associated with alterations in functional cerebral activity, especially less activation of the ACC. These changes are probably the result of destruction of neural networks after diffuse axonal injury and may reflect cortical disinhibition attributable to disconnection or compensation for an inefficient cognitive process. (orig.)

The human body odor compound androstadienone leads to anger-dependent effects in an emotional Stroop but not dot-probe task using human faces.

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Hornung, Jonas; Kogler, Lydia; Wolpert, Stephan; Freiherr, Jessica; Derntl, Birgit

2017-01-01

The androgen derivative androstadienone is a substance found in human sweat and thus is a putative human chemosignal. Androstadienone has been studied with respect to effects on mood states, attractiveness ratings, physiological and neural activation. With the current experiment, we aimed to explore in which way androstadienone affects attention to social cues (human faces). Moreover, we wanted to test whether effects depend on specific emotions, the participants' sex and individual sensitivity to smell androstadienone. To do so, we investigated 56 healthy individuals (thereof 29 females taking oral contraceptives) with two attention tasks on two consecutive days (once under androstadienone, once under placebo exposure in pseudorandomized order). With an emotional dot-probe task we measured visuo-spatial cueing while an emotional Stroop task allowed us to investigate interference control. Our results suggest that androstadienone acts in a sex, task and emotion-specific manner as a reduction in interference processes in the emotional Stroop task was only apparent for angry faces in men under androstadienone exposure. More specifically, men showed a smaller difference in reaction times for congruent compared to incongruent trials. At the same time also women were slightly affected by smelling androstadienone as they classified angry faces more often correctly under androstadienone. For the emotional dot-probe task no modulation by androstadienone was observed. Furthermore, in both attention paradigms individual sensitivity to androstadienone was neither correlated with reaction times nor error rates in men and women. To conclude, exposure to androstadienone seems to potentiate the relevance of angry faces in both men and women in connection with interference control, while processes of visuo-spatial cueing remain unaffected.

The neural mechanisms of semantic and response conflicts: an fMRI study of practice-related effects in the Stroop task.

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Chen, Zhencai; Lei, Xu; Ding, Cody; Li, Hong; Chen, Antao

2013-02-01

Previous studies have demonstrated that there are separate neural mechanisms underlying semantic and response conflicts in the Stroop task. However, the practice effects of these conflicts need to be elucidated and the possible involvements of common neural mechanisms are yet to be established. We employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a 4-2 mapping practice-related Stroop task to determine the neural substrates under these conflicts. Results showed that different patterns of brain activations are associated with practice in the attentional networks (e.g., dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and posterior parietal cortex (PPC)) for both conflicts, response control regions (e.g., inferior frontal junction (IFJ), inferior frontal gyrus (IFG)/insula, and pre-supplementary motor areas (pre-SMA)) for semantic conflict, and posterior cortex for response conflict. We also found areas of common activation in the left hemisphere within the attentional networks, for the early practice stage in semantic conflict and the late stage in "pure" response conflict using conjunction analysis. The different practice effects indicate that there are distinct mechanisms underlying these two conflict types: semantic conflict practice effects are attributable to the automation of stimulus processing, conflict and response control; response conflict practice effects are attributable to the proportional increase of conflict-related cognitive resources. In addition, the areas of common activation suggest that the semantic conflict effect may contain a partial response conflict effect, particularly at the beginning of the task. These findings indicate that there are two kinds of response conflicts contained in the key-pressing Stroop task: the vocal-level (mainly in the early stage) and key-pressing (mainly in the late stage) response conflicts; thus, the use of the subtraction method for the exploration of semantic and response conflicts

Cognitive and neuropathologic correlates of Stroop Color-Word Test performance in Alzheimer's disease.

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Bondi, Mark W; Serody, Adam B; Chan, Agnes S; Eberson-Shumate, Sonja C; Delis, Dean C; Hansen, Lawrence A; Salmon, David P

2002-07-01

The Stroop Color-Word Test (SCWT; C. Golden, 1978) was examined in 59 patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) and in 51 demographically comparable normal control (NC) participants. AD patients produced significantly larger Stroop interference effects than NC participants, and level of dementia severity significantly influenced SCWT performance. Principal-components analyses demonstrated a dissociation in the factor structure of the Stroop trials between NC participants and AD patients, suggesting that disruption of semantic knowledge and speeded verbal processing in AD may be a major contributor to impairment on the incongruent trial. Results of clinicopathologic correlations in an autopsy-confirmed AD subgroup further suggest the invocation of a broad network of integrated cortical regions and executive and language processes underlying successful SCWT performance.

Performances on Symbol Digit Modalities Test, Color Trails Test, and modified Stroop test in a healthy, elderly Danish sample

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Vogel, Asmus; Stokholm, Jette; Jørgensen, Kasper

2013-01-01

This study presents Danish data for the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), Color Trails Test (CTT), and a modified Stroop test from 100 subjects aged 60-87 years. Among the included demographic variables, age had the highest impact on test performances. Thus, the study presents separate data...

[Different patterns of brain activation between patients of Alzheimer's disease with and without depression: a functional MRI study during emotion Stroop task].

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Wang, Hai-tao; Jia, Jian-ping

2007-04-03

To examine whether emotional factor influences the depression onset in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Twenty mild AD patients conforming to the of DSM-IV criteria with a clinical dementia rating score of 1.0 were divided into 2 groups: 11 patients without depression (AD group), and 9 patients with depression confirming to the National Institute of Mental Health-dAD criteria with a Cornell scale for depression in dementia score>12 (dAD group), without significant differences in age, gender, educational level, onset duration, and MMSE scores between these 2 groups. Ten age-and gender ratio-matched healthy elderly subjects were used as controls. Emotion Stroop task was performed to these 3 groups: emotion Stroop task images were presented with colored positive or negative emotion words (such as HAPPY or SUICIDE, etc.) at the left part of the image to induce emotional responses and with pure color at the right part of the image. The subjects were asked to press the right button when the ink color of the emotion word was congruent with the color at the right part, and press the left button when the ink color of the word was not congruent with the color at the right part. Neutral words were used in the test of general word task. The reaction time, false ratio, and missing ratio were recorded. Functional MRI (fMRI) was conducted. The behavioral data were analyzed with SPSS 11.0 software and the fMRI data were analyzed with SPM2 software. The emotion Stroop task showed that the reaction time of the normal control group was 848 ms+/-320 ms, significantly shorter than those of the dAD and AD groups (1528 ms+/-302 ms and 1173 ms+/-237 ms respectively, both Pdifference between the latter 2 groups (P=0.22). The missing ratio of the normal control group was 0, significantly lower than those of the AD and dAD groups (3.1% and 2.5% respectively, both Pdifference between the latter 2 groups (P=0.29). The fMRI results showed that the bilateral amygdala, left parietal lobe, and left

Increased engagement of the cognitive control network associated with music training in children during an fMRI Stroop task.

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Matthew Sachs

Full Text Available Playing a musical instrument engages various sensorimotor processes and draws on cognitive capacities collectively termed executive functions. However, while music training is believed to associated with enhancements in certain cognitive and language abilities, studies that have explored the specific relationship between music and executive function have yielded conflicting results. As part of an ongoing longitudinal study, we investigated the effects of music training on executive function using fMRI and several behavioral tasks, including the Color-Word Stroop task. Children involved in ongoing music training (N = 14, mean age = 8.67 were compared with two groups of comparable general cognitive abilities and socioeconomic status, one involved in sports ("sports" group, N = 13, mean age = 8.85 and another not involved in music or sports ("control" group, N = 17, mean age = 9.05. During the Color-Word Stroop task, children with music training showed significantly greater bilateral activation in the pre-SMA/SMA, ACC, IFG, and insula in trials that required cognitive control compared to the control group, despite no differences in performance on behavioral measures of executive function. No significant differences in brain activation or in task performance were found between the music and sports groups. The results suggest that systematic extracurricular training, particularly music-based training, is associated with changes in the cognitive control network in the brain even in the absence of changes in behavioral performance.

Increased engagement of the cognitive control network associated with music training in children during an fMRI Stroop task.

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Sachs, Matthew; Kaplan, Jonas; Der Sarkissian, Alissa; Habibi, Assal

2017-01-01

Playing a musical instrument engages various sensorimotor processes and draws on cognitive capacities collectively termed executive functions. However, while music training is believed to associated with enhancements in certain cognitive and language abilities, studies that have explored the specific relationship between music and executive function have yielded conflicting results. As part of an ongoing longitudinal study, we investigated the effects of music training on executive function using fMRI and several behavioral tasks, including the Color-Word Stroop task. Children involved in ongoing music training (N = 14, mean age = 8.67) were compared with two groups of comparable general cognitive abilities and socioeconomic status, one involved in sports ("sports" group, N = 13, mean age = 8.85) and another not involved in music or sports ("control" group, N = 17, mean age = 9.05). During the Color-Word Stroop task, children with music training showed significantly greater bilateral activation in the pre-SMA/SMA, ACC, IFG, and insula in trials that required cognitive control compared to the control group, despite no differences in performance on behavioral measures of executive function. No significant differences in brain activation or in task performance were found between the music and sports groups. The results suggest that systematic extracurricular training, particularly music-based training, is associated with changes in the cognitive control network in the brain even in the absence of changes in behavioral performance.

Priming can affect naming colours using the study-test procedure. Revealing the role of task conflict.

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Sharma, Dinkar

2016-11-14

The Stroop paradigm has been widely used to study attention whilst its use to explore implicit memory have been mixed. Using the non-colour word Stroop task we tested contrasting predictions from the proactive-control/task-conflict model (Kalanthroff, Avnit, Henik, Davelaar & Usher, 2015) that implicate response conflict and task conflict for the priming effects. Using the study-test procedure 60 native English speakers were tested to determine whether priming effects from words that had previously been studied would cause interference when presented in a colour naming task. The results replicate a finding by MacLeod (1996) who showed no differences between the response latencies to studied and unstudied words. However, this pattern was predominately in the first half of the study where it was also found that both studied and unstudied words in a mixed block were slower to respond to than a block of pure unstudied words. The second half of the study showed stronger priming interference effects as well as a sequential modulation effect in which studied words slowed down the responses of studied words on the next trial. We discuss the role of proactive and reactive control processes and conclude that task conflict best explains the pattern of priming effects reported. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Neural Correlates of Task-Irrelevant First and Second Language Emotion Words — Evidence from the Face-Word Stroop Task

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Lin Fan

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Emotionally valenced words have thus far not been empirically examined in a bilingual population with the emotional face-word Stroop paradigm. Chinese-English bilinguals were asked to identify the facial expressions of emotion with their first (L1 or second (L2 language task-irrelevant emotion words superimposed on the face pictures. We attempted to examine how the emotional content of words modulates behavioral performance and cerebral functioning in the bilinguals’ two languages. The results indicated that there were significant congruency effects for both L1 and L2 emotion words, and that identifiable differences in the magnitude of Stroop effect between the two languages were also observed, suggesting L1 is more capable of activating the emotional response to word stimuli. For event-related potentials (ERPs data, an N350-550 effect was observed only in L1 task with greater negativity for incongruent than congruent trials. The size of N350-550 effect differed across languages, whereas no identifiable language distinction was observed in the effect of conflict slow potential (conflict SP. Finally, more pronounced negative amplitude at 230-330 ms was observed in L1 than in L2, but only for incongruent trials. This negativity, likened to an orthographic decoding N250, may reflect the extent of attention to emotion word processing at word-form level, while N350-550 reflects a complicated set of processes in the conflict processing. Overall, the face-word congruency effect has reflected identifiable language distinction at 230-330 and 350-550 ms, which provides supporting evidence for the theoretical proposals assuming attenuated emotionality of L2 processing.

The facilitating effect of positive emotions during an emotional Stroop task.

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Liu, Xingyu; Yang, Yisheng; Jiang, Songxiu; Li, Jie

2018-05-08

Prior research has shown that negative emotions, even though task irrelevant, are capable of delaying a participant's response to the color in which a negative emotional word is presented, a phenomenon known as the 'emotional Stroop effect'. However, relatively little is known about whether positive emotions have a similar or an opposite effect. The current study sets out to confirm the facilitating effect of positive emotions on color naming, which is predicted by Barbara Fredrickson's 'broaden and build' theory. Our results indicate that positive emotions did facilitate such processing in both of the study's experiments. We also found a significant difference in early posterior negativity amplitudes between positive and neutral stimuli, which was related to the 'fast effect'. Overall, the study's findings suggest that positive emotions can be detected quickly and automatically, and that this kind of prioritizing facilitates the ongoing cognitive processing.

Attachment and selective attention: disorganization and emotional Stroop reaction time.

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Atkinson, Leslie; Leung, Eman; Goldberg, Susan; Benoit, Diane; Poulton, Lori; Myhal, Natalie; Blokland, Kirsten; Kerr, Sheila

2009-01-01

Although central to attachment theory, internal working models remain a useful heuristic in need of concretization. We compared the selective attention of organized and disorganized mothers using the emotional Stroop task. Both disorganized attachment and emotional Stroop response involve the coordination of strongly conflicting motivations under conditions of emotional arousal. Furthermore, much is known about the cognitive and neuromodulatory correlates of the Stroop that may inform attempts to substantiate the internal working model construct. We assessed 47 community mothers with the Adult Attachment Interview and the Working Model of the Child Interview in the third trimester of pregnancy. At 6 and 12 months postpartum, we assessed mothers with emotional Stroop tasks involving neutral, attachment, and emotion conditions. At 12 months, we observed their infants in the Strange Situation. Results showed that: disorganized attachment is related to relative Stroop reaction time, that is, unlike organized mothers, disorganized mothers respond to negative attachment/emotion stimuli more slowly than to neutral stimuli; relative speed of response is positively related to number of times the dyad was classified disorganized, and change in relative Stroop response time from 6 to 12 months is related to the match-mismatch status of mother and infant attachment classifications. We discuss implications in terms of automatic and controlled processing and, more specifically, cognitive threat tags, parallel distributed processing, and neuromodulation through norepinephrine and dopamine.

Stroop effects from newly learned color words : effects of memory consolidation and episodic context

OpenAIRE

Geukes, Sebastian; Gaskell, M Gareth; Zwitserlood, Pienie

2015-01-01

The Stroop task is an excellent tool to test whether reading a word automatically activates its associated meaning, and it has been widely used in mono- and bilingual contexts. Despite of its ubiquity, the task has not yet been employed to test the automaticity of recently established word-concept links in novel-word-learning studies, under strict experimental control of learning and testing conditions. In three experiments, we thus paired novel words with native language (German) color words...

Reaction time in Stroop test in Nepalese Medical Students

OpenAIRE

Ghimire, Nisha; Paudel, Bishnu Hari; Khadka, Rita; Singh, P. N.

2014-01-01

Background: Stroop test is one of the widely used tests in cognitive psychology. It is used both in healthy population and also in patients to assess the selective attention. The selective attention as assessed by it is also found to be altered in bilinguals. In Nepal, most of the students are bilingual since most of the courses are in English language. Thus, they learn English language along with their native languages. This study is aimed to assess the selective attention in healthy Nepales...

Sleep deprivation selectively disrupts top-down adaptation to cognitive conflict in the Stroop test.

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Gevers, Wim; Deliens, Gaetane; Hoffmann, Sophie; Notebaert, Wim; Peigneux, Philippe

2015-12-01

Sleep deprivation is known to exert detrimental effects on various cognitive domains, including attention, vigilance and working memory. Seemingly at odds with these findings, prior studies repeatedly failed to evidence an impact of prior sleep deprivation on cognitive interference in the Stroop test, a hallmark paradigm in the study of cognitive control abilities. The present study investigated further the effect of sleep deprivation on cognitive control using an adapted version of the Stroop test that allows to segregate top-down (attentional reconfiguration on incongruent items) and bottom-up (facilitated processing after repetitions in responses and/or features of stimuli) components of performance. Participants underwent a regular night of sleep or a night of total sleep deprivation before cognitive testing. Results disclosed that sleep deprivation selectively impairs top-down adaptation mechanisms: cognitive control no longer increased upon detection of response conflict at the preceding trial. In parallel, bottom-up abilities were found unaffected by sleep deprivation: beneficial effects of stimulus and response repetitions persisted. Changes in vigilance states due to sleep deprivation selectively impact on cognitive control in the Stroop test by affecting top-down, but not bottom-up, mechanisms that guide adaptive behaviours. © 2015 European Sleep Research Society.

Stroop interference and disorders of selective attention

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kingma, A.; LaHeij, W.; Fasotti, L.; Eling, P.

1996-01-01

Fourteen patients with a right-hemisphere CVA and 8 patients with a left-hemisphere CVA were examined for selective attention deficits using a variant of the Stroop color-word task: the picture-word interference task. Experiments 1 and 2 first compared the performance of the two patient groups and a

Prefrontal responses to Stroop tasks in subjects with post-traumatic stress disorder assessed by functional near infrared spectroscopy

OpenAIRE

Yennu, Amarnath; Tian, Fenghua; Smith-Osborne, Alexa; J. Gatchel, Robert; Woon, Fu Lye; Liu, Hanli

2016-01-01

Studies on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) showing attentional deficits have implicated abnormal activities in the frontal lobe. In this study, we utilized multichannel functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to investigate selective attention-related hemodynamic activity in the prefrontal cortex among 15 combat-exposed war-zone veterans with PTSD and 13 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. While performing the incongruent Stroop task, healthy controls showed significant activ...

Age As Moderator of Emotional Stroop Task Performance in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD

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Maksymilian Bielecki

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Emotional Stroop task (EST has been extensively used to investigate attentional processes in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD. Even though aging significantly changes the dynamics of emotion-cognition interactions, very little is known about its role in shaping EST performance in PTSD patients. In the present study we tested a uniquely large sample of motor vehicle accident victims. Data of 194 participants (75.3% female; mean age = 36.64 years, SD = 12.3 were included in the analysis, out of which 136 (70.1% were diagnosed with PTSD. Prior to the psychiatric assessment, participants completed the pictorial version of EST (neutral, positive, negative, and accidents photos were presented. Comparison of the PTSD and control groups revealed a specific increase in reaction times (RTs related to the exposure of trauma-related material. At the same time, previously unreported, moderating effects of age were also discovered. Older participants, in contrast to the younger group, showed no increase in RTs and interference scores in trials where accident photos were presented. Our study points to the key role of age as a previously understudied factor modifying EST performance in PTSD patients.

Age As Moderator of Emotional Stroop Task Performance in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

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Bielecki, Maksymilian; Popiel, Agnieszka; Zawadzki, Bogdan; Sedek, Grzegorz

2017-01-01

Emotional Stroop task (EST) has been extensively used to investigate attentional processes in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Even though aging significantly changes the dynamics of emotion-cognition interactions, very little is known about its role in shaping EST performance in PTSD patients. In the present study we tested a uniquely large sample of motor vehicle accident victims. Data of 194 participants (75.3% female; mean age = 36.64 years, SD = 12.3) were included in the analysis, out of which 136 (70.1%) were diagnosed with PTSD. Prior to the psychiatric assessment, participants completed the pictorial version of EST (neutral, positive, negative, and accidents photos were presented). Comparison of the PTSD and control groups revealed a specific increase in reaction times (RTs) related to the exposure of trauma-related material. At the same time, previously unreported, moderating effects of age were also discovered. Older participants, in contrast to the younger group, showed no increase in RTs and interference scores in trials where accident photos were presented. Our study points to the key role of age as a previously understudied factor modifying EST performance in PTSD patients.

Performance of an adult Brazilian sample on the Trail Making Test and Stroop Test

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Kenia Repiso Campanholo

Full Text Available ABSTRACT Objective: The Trail Making Test (TMT and Stroop Test (ST are attention tests widely used in clinical practice and research. The aim of this study was to provide normative data for the adult Brazilian population and to study the influence of gender, age and education on the TMT parts A and B, and ST cards A, B and C. Methods: We recruited 1447 healthy subjects aged ≥18 years with an educational level of 0-25 years who were native speakers of Portuguese (Brazilian. The subjects were evaluated by the Matrix Reasoning and Vocabulary subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III, along with the TMTA, TMTB and ST A, B and C. Results: Among the participants, mean intellectual efficiency was 103.20 (SD: 12.0, age 41.0 (SD: 16.4 years and education 11.9 (SD: 5.6 years. There were significant differences between genders on the TMTA (p=0.002, TMTB (p=0.017 and STC (p=0.024. Age showed a positive correlation with all attention tests, whereas education showed a negative correlation. Gender was not found to be significant on the multiple linear regression model, but age and education maintained their interference. Conclusion: Gender did not have the major impact on attentional tasks observed for age and education, both of which should be considered in the stratification of normative samples.

The working memory stroop effect: when internal representations clash with external stimuli.

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Kiyonaga, Anastasia; Egner, Tobias

2014-08-01

Working memory (WM) has recently been described as internally directed attention, which implies that WM content should affect behavior exactly like an externally perceived and attended stimulus. We tested whether holding a color word in WM, rather than attending to it in the external environment, can produce interference in a color-discrimination task, which would mimic the classic Stroop effect. Over three experiments, the WM Stroop effect recapitulated core properties of the classic attentional Stroop effect, displaying equivalent congruency effects, additive contributions from stimulus- and response-level congruency, and susceptibility to modulation by the percentage of congruent and incongruent trials. Moreover, WM maintenance was inversely related to attentional demands during the WM delay between stimulus presentation and recall, with poorer memory performance following incongruent than congruent trials. Together, these results suggest that WM and attention rely on the same resources and operate over the same representations. © The Author(s) 2014.

Hypnotic color blindness and performance on the Stroop test.

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Mallard, D; Bryant, R A

2001-10-01

A suggestion for hypnotic color blindness was investigated by administering a reverse Stroop color-naming task. Prior to the suggestion for color blindness, participants learned associations between color names and shapes. Following the color blindness suggestion, participants were required to name the shapes when they appeared in colors that were either congruent or incongruent with the learned associations. The 18 high hypnotizable participants who passed the suggestion were slower to name (a) shapes in which the color name was incongruent with the color in which it was printed, (b) "unseen" rather than "seen" shapes, and (c) color-incongruent shapes that were printed in the color in which they were "color-blind." These patterns are discussed in terms of potential cognitive and social mechanisms that may mediate responses to hypnotic color blindness.

Stroop Color-Word Test: A Screening Measure of Selective Attention to Differentiate LD From Non LD Children.

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Lazarus, Philip J.; And Others

1984-01-01

Used the Stroop Color-Word Test to measure selective attention in learning disabled (N=45) and nonLD (N=50) children. Results indicated that LD children have a significant weakness in the process of selective attention compared to the nonLD children. Findings suggested that the Stroop is an effective screening measure. (JAC)

Long-term habitual physical activity is associated with lower distractibility in a Stroop interference task in aging: Behavioral and ERP evidence.

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Gajewski, Patrick D; Falkenstein, Michael

2015-08-01

Aging is associated with compromised executive control functions. Several lines of evidence point to beneficial effects of physical activity on cognition which indicate that regular physical activity may counteract the age-related decline of some executive functions. Here, we investigate the effects of lifelong physical activity (about 50 years) on interference processing in two matched groups of 20 physically high active and 20 low active healthy older men using event-related potentials (ERPs). In a low interference block of the Stroop task, participants had to indicate the meaning of color-words, while color was either compatible or incompatible with the meaning. In the high interference block, participants were asked to respond according to the ink color of the word and to ignore its meaning. Physically active seniors showed faster reaction times, lower individual variability in reaction times, and higher accuracy compared to low active seniors, particularly in the high interference block. This result was confirmed in the classic paper-and-pencil version of the Stroop task showing higher interference score in the low active than high active individuals. ERPs revealed a shorter latency of the P2 and generally more negative amplitudes of the fronto-central N2 and N450 components in the high active group compared to the low active group. The amount of interference was negatively correlated with objectively measured fitness and self-reported physical activity. The positive effect of physical fitness on interference processing in the behavioral data was related to N2 and N450 amplitudes. Taken together, this suggests that seniors reporting long-term physical activity may exhibit generally enhanced activity in the frontal cortex which enables more efficient interference resolution in the Stroop task. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Word wins over Face: Emotional Stroop effect activates the frontal cortical network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shima Ovaysikia

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The prefrontal cortex (PFC has been implicated in higher order cognitive control of behaviour. Sometimes such control is executed through suppression of an unwanted response in order to avoid conflict. Conflict occurs when two simultaneously competing processes lead to different behavioral outcomes, as seen in tasks such as the anti-saccade, go/no-go and the Stroop task. We set out to examine whether different types of stimuli in a modified emotional Stroop task would cause similar interference effects as the original Stroop-colour/word, and whether the required suppression mechanism(s would recruit similar regions of the medial PFC (mPFC. By using emotional words and emotional faces in this Stroop experiment, we examined the two well-learned automatic behaviours of word reading and recognition of face expressions. In our emotional Stroop paradigm, words were processed faster than face expressions with incongruent trials yielding longer reaction times (RT and larger number of errors compared to the congruent trials. This novel Stroop effect activated the anterior and inferior regions of the mPFC, namely the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC, inferior frontal gyrus (IFG as well as the superior frontal gyrus. Our results suggest that prepotent behaviours such as reading and recognition of face expressions are stimulus-dependent and perhaps hierarchical, hence recruiting distinct regions of the mPFC. Moreover, the faster processing of word reading compared to reporting face expressions is indicative of the formation of stronger stimulus-response (SR associations of an over-learned behaviour compared to an instinctive one, which could alternatively be explained through the distinction between awareness and selective attention.

Stroop effects in Alzheimer's disease: selective attention speed of processing, or color-naming? A meta-analysis.

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Ben-David, Boaz M; Tewari, Anita; Shakuf, Vered; Van Lieshout, Pascal H H M

2014-01-01

Selective attention, an essential part of daily activity, is often impaired in people with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Usually, it is measured by the color-word Stroop test. However, there is no universal agreement whether performance on the Stroop task changes significantly in AD patients; or if so, whether an increase in Stroop effects reflects a decrease in selective attention, a slowing in generalized speed of processing (SOP), or is the result of degraded color-vision. The current study investigated the impact of AD on Stroop performance and its potential sources in a meta-analysis and mathematical modeling of 18 studies, comparing 637 AD patients with 977 healthy age-matched participants. We found a significant increase in Stroop effects for AD patients, across studies. This AD-related change was associated with a slowing in SOP. However, after correcting for a bias in the distribution of latencies, SOP could only explain a moderate portion of the total variance (25%). Moreover, we found strong evidence for an AD-related increase in the latency difference between naming the font-color and reading color-neutral stimuli (r2 = 0.98). This increase in the dimensional imbalance between color-naming and word-reading was found to explain a significant portion of the AD-related increase in Stroop effects (r2 = 0.87), hinting on a possible sensory source. In conclusion, our analysis highlights the importance of controlling for sensory degradation and SOP when testing cognitive performance and, specifically, selective attention in AD patients. We also suggest possible measures and tools to better test for selective attention in AD.

The influence of emotional interference on cognitive control: A meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies using the emotional Stroop task

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Song, Sensen; Zilverstand, Anna; Song, Hongwen; d?Oleire Uquillas, Federico; Wang, Yongming; Xie, Chao; Cheng, Li; Zou, Zhiling

2017-01-01

The neural correlates underlying the influence of emotional interference on cognitive control remain a topic of discussion. Here, we assessed 16 neuroimaging studies that used an emotional Stroop task and that reported a significant interaction effect between emotion (stimulus type) and cognitive conflict. There were a total of 330 participants, equaling 132 foci for an activation likelihood estimation (ALE) analysis. Results revealed consistent brain activation patterns related to emotionall...

Effects of a brisk walk on blood pressure responses to the Stroop, a speech task and a smoking cue among temporarily abstinent smokers.

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Taylor, Adrian; Katomeri, Magdalena

2006-01-01

A review and meta-analysis by Hamer et al. (2006) showed that a single session of exercise can attenuate post-exercise blood pressure (BP) responses to stress, but no studies examined the effects among smokers or with brisk walking. Healthy volunteers (n=60), averaging 28 years of age and smoking 15 cigarettes daily, abstained from smoking for 2 h before being randomly assigned to a 15-min brisk semi-self-paced walk or passive control condition. Subject characteristics, typical smoking cue-elicited cravings and BP were assessed at baseline. After each condition, BP was assessed before and after three psycho-social stressors were carried out: (1) computerised Stroop word-colour interference task, (2) speech task and (3) only handling a lit cigarette. A two-way mixed ANCOVA (controlling for baseline) revealed a significant overall interaction effect for time by condition for both systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP). Univariate ANCOVAs (to compare between-groups post-stressor BP, controlling for pre-stressor BP) revealed that exercise attenuated systolic BP and diastolic BP responses to the Stroop and speech tasks and SBP to the lit cigarette equivalent to an attenuated SBP and DBP of up to 3.8 mmHg. Post-exercise attenuation effects were moderated by resting blood pressure and self-reported smoking cue-elicited craving. Effects were strongest among those with higher blood pressure and smokers who reported typically stronger cravings when faced with smoking cues. Blood pressure responses to the lit cigarette were not associated with responses to the Stroop and speech task. A self-paced 15-min walk can reduce smokers' SBP and DBP responses to stress, of a magnitude similar on average to non-smokers.

Tinnitus- related distress: evidence from fMRI of an emotional stroop task

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Dennis Golm

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Chronic tinnitus affects 5 % of the population, 17 % suffer under the condition. This distress seems mainly to be dependent on negative cognitive-emotional evaluation of the tinnitus and selective attention to the tinnitus. A well-established paradigm to examine selective attention and emotional processing is the Emotional Stroop Task (EST. Recent models of tinnitus distress propose limbic, frontal and parietal regions to be more active in highly distressed tinnitus patients. Only a few studies have compared high and low distressed tinnitus patients. Thus, this study aimed to explore neural correlates of tinnitus-related distress. Methods Highly distressed tinnitus patients (HDT, n = 16, low distressed tinnitus patients (LDT, n = 16 and healthy controls (HC, n = 16 underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI during an EST, that used tinnitus-related words and neutral words as stimuli. A random effects analysis of the fMRI data was conducted on the basis of the general linear model. Furthermore correlational analyses between the blood oxygen level dependent response and tinnitus distress, loudness, depression, anxiety, vocabulary and hypersensitivity to sound were performed. Results Contradictory to the hypothesis, highly distressed patients showed no Stroop effect in their reaction times. As hypothesized HDT and LDT differed in the activation of the right insula and the orbitofrontal cortex. There were no hypothesized differences between HDT and HC. Activation of the orbitofrontal cortex and the right insula were found to correlate with tinnitus distress. Conclusions The results are partially supported by earlier resting-state studies and corroborate the role of the insula and the orbitofrontal cortex in tinnitus distress.

Neural correlates of the classic color and emotional stroop in women with abuse-related posttraumatic stress disorder.

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Bremner, J Douglas; Vermetten, Eric; Vythilingam, Meena; Afzal, Nadeem; Schmahl, Christian; Elzinga, Bernet; Charney, Dennis S

2004-03-15

The anterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortex play an important role in the inhibition of responses, as measured by the Stroop task, as well as in emotional regulation. Dysfunction of the anterior cingulate/medial prefrontal cortex has been implicated in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The purpose of this study was to use the Stroop task as a probe of anterior cingulate function in PTSD. Women with early childhood sexual abuse-related PTSD (n = 12) and women with abuse but without PTSD (n = 9) underwent positron emission tomographic measurement of cerebral blood flow during exposure to control, color Stroop, and emotional Stroop conditions. Women with abuse with PTSD (but not abused non-PTSD women) had a relative decrease in anterior cingulate blood flow during exposure to the emotional (but not color) classic Stroop task. During the color Stroop there were also relatively greater increases in blood flow in non-PTSD compared with PTSD women in right visual association cortex, cuneus, and right inferior parietal lobule. These findings add further evidence for dysfunction of a network of brain regions, including anterior cingulate and visual and parietal cortex, in abuse-related PTSD.

Performance in a blocked versus randomized emotional Stroop task in an aged, early traumatized group with and without posttraumatic stress symptoms.

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Wittekind, Charlotte E; Muhtz, Christoph; Moritz, Steffen; Jelinek, Lena

2017-03-01

Attentional biases (AB) for trauma-related stimuli have been examined in many studies assessing different trauma samples. In emotional Stroop tasks (EST), blocked and single-trial formats are used almost interchangeably in clinical research. There is reason to believe that different designs yield different results and assess different processes, which, however, has been hardly examined in studies. Furthermore, there is a dearth of information about AB in older trauma survivors with posttraumatic stress symptoms. Older adults with (n = 20) and without PTSD symptoms (n = 26) as well as non-traumatized controls (n = 21) completed an EST, in which words were presented both blocked and randomized. Analyses revealed that individuals with PTSD symptoms showed AB for trauma- and depression-related words; however, mode of administration did not significantly influence reaction times. The emotional Stroop task cannot disentangle the underlying cognitive mechanism (i.e., facilitation, interference, avoidance). PTSD symptoms in older trauma survivors are associated with AB. Overall, participants with PTSD symptoms did not show greater impairment of cognitive control in comparison to both control groups. Results also illustrate that methodological differences between task versions need to be considered more thoroughly. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A key role of the prefrontal cortex in the maintenance of chronic tinnitus: An fMRI study using a Stroop task.

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Araneda, Rodrigo; Renier, Laurent; Dricot, Laurence; Decat, Monique; Ebner-Karestinos, Daniela; Deggouj, Naïma; De Volder, Anne G

2018-01-01

Since we recently showed in behavioural tasks that the top-down cognitive control was specifically altered in tinnitus sufferers, here we wanted to establish the link between this impaired executive function and brain alterations in the frontal cortex in tinnitus patients. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we monitored the brain activity changes in sixteen tinnitus patients (TP) and their control subjects (CS) while they were performing a spatial Stroop task, both in audition and vision. We observed that TP differed from CS in their functional recruitment of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC, BA46), the cingulate gyrus and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC, BA10). This recruitment was higher during interference conditions in tinnitus participants than in controls, whatever the sensory modality. Furthermore, the brain activity level in the right dlPFC and vmPFC correlated with the performance in the Stroop task in TP. Due to the direct link between poor executive functions and prefrontal cortex alterations in TP, we postulate that a lack of inhibitory modulation following an impaired top-down cognitive control may maintain tinnitus by hampering habituation mechanisms. This deficit in executive functions caused by prefrontal cortex alterations would be a key-factor in the generation and persistence of tinnitus.

The role of long-term physical exercise on performance and brain activation during the Stroop colour word task in fibromyalgia patients.

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Martinsen, S; Flodin, P; Berrebi, J; Löfgren, M; Bileviciute-Ljungar, I; Mannerkorpi, K; Ingvar, M; Fransson, P; Kosek, E

2018-05-01

The Stroop colour word test (SCWT) has been widely used to assess changes in cognitive performance such as processing speed, selective attention and the degree of automaticity. Moreover, the SCWT has proven to be a valuable tool to assess neuronal plasticity that is coupled to improvement in performance in clinical populations. In a previous study, we showed impaired cognitive processing during SCWT along with reduced task-related activations in patients with fibromyalgia. In this study, we used SCWT and functional magnetic resonance imagingFMRI to investigate the effects of a 15-week physical exercise intervention on cognitive performance, task-related cortical activation and distraction-induced analgesia (DIA) in patients with fibromyalgia and healthy controls. The exercise intervention yielded reduced fibromyalgia symptoms, improved cognitive processing and increased task-related activation of amygdala, but no effect on DIA. Our results suggest beneficial effects of physical exercise on cognitive functioning in FM. © 2017 The Authors. Clinical Physiology and Functional Imaging published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Scandinavian Society of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine.

The Effects of Stress and Executive Functions on Decision Making in an Executive Parallel Task

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McGuigan, Brian

2016-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of acute stress on parallel task performance with the Game of Dice Task (GDT) to measure decision making and the Stroop test.  Two previous studies have found that the combination of stress and a parallel task with the GDT and an executive functions task preserved performance on the GDT for a stress group compared to a control group.  The purpose of this study was to create and use a new parallel task with the GDT and the stroop test to elu...

Stroop-interference effect in post-traumatic stress disorder.

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Cui, Hong; Chen, Guoliang; Liu, Xiaohui; Shan, Moshui; Jia, Yanyan

2014-12-01

To investigate the conflict processing in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients, we conducted the classical Stroop task by recording event-related potentials. Although the reaction time was overall slower for PTSD patients than healthy age-matched control group, the Stroop-interference effect of reaction time did not differ between the two groups. Compared with normal controls, the interference effects of N 2 and N 450 components were larger and the interference effect of slow potential component disappeared in PTSD. These data indicated the dysfunction of conflict processing in individuals with PTSD.

Proactive and reactive control depends on emotional valence: a Stroop study with emotional expressions and words.

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Kar, Bhoomika Rastogi; Srinivasan, Narayanan; Nehabala, Yagyima; Nigam, Richa

2018-03-01

We examined proactive and reactive control effects in the context of task-relevant happy, sad, and angry facial expressions on a face-word Stroop task. Participants identified the emotion expressed by a face that contained a congruent or incongruent emotional word (happy/sad/angry). Proactive control effects were measured in terms of the reduction in Stroop interference (difference between incongruent and congruent trials) as a function of previous trial emotion and previous trial congruence. Reactive control effects were measured in terms of the reduction in Stroop interference as a function of current trial emotion and previous trial congruence. Previous trial negative emotions exert greater influence on proactive control than the positive emotion. Sad faces in the previous trial resulted in greater reduction in the Stroop interference for happy faces in the current trial. However, current trial angry faces showed stronger adaptation effects compared to happy faces. Thus, both proactive and reactive control mechanisms are dependent on emotional valence of task-relevant stimuli.

Is the emotional Stroop task a special case of mood induction? Evidence from sustained effects of attention under emotion.

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Ben-Haim, Moshe Shay; Mama, Yaniv; Icht, Michal; Algom, Daniel

2014-01-01

Sustained effects of emotion are well known in everyday experience. Surprisingly, such effects are seldom recorded in laboratory studies of the emotional Stroop task, in which participants name the color of emotion and neutral words. Color performance is more sluggish with emotion words than with neutral words, the emotional Stroop effect (ESE). The ESE is not sensitive to the order in which the two groups of words are presented, so the effect of exposure to emotion words does not extend to disrupting performance in a subsequent block with neutral words. We attribute this absence of a sustained effect to habituation engendered by excessive repetition of the experimental stimuli. In a series of four experiments, we showed that sustained effects do occur when habituation is removed, and we also showed that the massive exposure to negative stimuli within the ESE paradigm induces a commensurately negative mood. A novel perspective is offered, in which the ESE is considered a special case of mood induction.

Linear increases in BOLD response associated with increasing proportion of incongruent trials across time in a colour Stroop task.

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Mitchell, Rachel L C

2010-05-01

Selective attention is popularly assessed with colour Stroop tasks in which participants name the ink colour of colour words, whilst resisting interference from the natural tendency to read the words. Prior studies hinted that the key brain regions (dorsolateral prefrontal (dlPFC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)) may vary their degree of involvement, dependent on attentional demand. This study aimed to determine whether a parametrically varied increase in attentional demand resulted in linearly increased activity in these regions, and/or whether additional regions would be recruited during high attentional demand. Twenty-eight healthy young adults underwent fMRI whilst naming the font colour of colour words. Linear increases in BOLD response were assessed with increasing percentage incongruent trials per block (0, 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100%). Whilst ACC activation increased linearly according to incongruity level, dlPFC activity appeared constant. Together with behavioural evidence of reduced Stroop interference, these data support a load-dependent conflict-related response in ACC, but not dlPFC.

The Stroop Revisited: A Meta-Analysis of Interference Control in AD/HD

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Van Mourik, Rosa; Oosterlaan, Jaap; Sergeant, Joseph A.

2005-01-01

Background: An inhibition deficit, including poor interference control, has been implicated as one of the core deficits in AD/HD. Interference control is clinically measured by the Stroop Colour-Word Task. The aim of this meta-analysis was to investigate the strength of an interference deficit in AD/HD as measured by the Stroop Colour-Word Task…

Reaction time inconsistency in a spatial stroop task: age-related differences through childhood and adulthood.

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Williams, Benjamin R; Strauss, Esther H; Hultsch, David F; Hunter, Michael A

2007-07-01

Age-related differences in inconsistency of reaction time (RT) across the life span were examined on a task with differing levels of demand on executive control. A total of 546 participants, aged 5 to 76 years, completed a spatial Stroop task that permitted observations under three conditions (congruent, incongruent, and neutral) according to the correspondence between the required response (based on stimulus direction) and stimulus location. An interference effect was observed across all ages. Analyses of neutral condition data replicated previous research demonstrating RT inconsistency follows a U-shaped developmental curve across the life span. The relationship between age and inconsistency, however, depended on condition: inconsistency in the congruent condition was higher than inconsistency in both the neutral and incongruent conditions across middle-aged groups. Reaction time inconsistency may reflect processing efficiency that is maximal in young adulthood and may also be sensitive to fluctuations in performance that reflect momentarily highly efficient responding.

Brain cortical organization in entrepreneurs during a visual Stroop decision task

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Ortiz-Terán E

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Elena Ortiz-Terán,1,4 Agustín Turrero,2 Juan M Santos,3 Peter T Bryant,1 Tomás Ortiz4 1IE Business School, 2Department of Statistics, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain; 3Fundación J Robert Cade and Department of Psychiatry, Universidad Católica de Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina; 4Department of Psychiatry, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain Abstract: Decision-making in entrepreneurs is a key aspect of their skills, but much about these processes remains unexplained. During a Stroop task, concomitant N200, P300, and N450 event-related potentials were measured in 25 founder entrepreneurs and in age-matched and gender-matched nonfounders/nonentrepreneurs (NFNE. Reaction times were shorter among founder entrepreneurs. The N200 was shorter and N450 larger in founder entrepreneurs. The personalities of both groups were measured using the Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised. Founder entrepreneurs scored significantly higher in novelty-seeking and self-directedness dimensions, as well as in exploratory excitability, impulsiveness, optimism, eagerness, and responsibility subdimensions. Possible interactions among candidate variables to differentiate between founder entrepreneurs versus NFNE were also addressed, and the model including impulsivity, N450 latency, and impulsivity*N450 interaction came up as the best model for discrimination between founder entrepreneurs and NFNE. A shorter N200, mostly associated with bilateral supplementary motor area activation, revealed a faster capability to make decisions when information was noncongruent or blurred. However, the larger N450 revealed a more intense post-evaluation cognitive process happening in founder entrepreneurs and was accompanied by a greater activation of anterior frontal regions. The whole decision-making process consumed more time and resources in founder entrepreneurs, even if its closure was faster. Attention, memory, and alertness, among other factors, have been invoked

Effects of an attention demanding task on dynamic stability during treadmill walking

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Troy Karen L

2008-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background People exhibit increased difficulty balancing when they perform secondary attention-distracting tasks while walking. However, a previous study by Grabiner and Troy (J. Neuroengineering Rehabil., 2005 found that young healthy subjects performing a concurrent Stroop task while walking on a motorized treadmill exhibited decreased step width variability. However, measures of variability do not directly quantify how a system responds to perturbations. This study re-analyzed data from Grabiner and Troy 2005 to determine if performing the concurrent Stroop task directly affected the dynamic stability of walking in these same subjects. Methods Thirteen healthy volunteers walked on a motorized treadmill at their self-selected constant speed for 10 minutes both while performing the Stroop test and during undisturbed walking. This Stroop test consisted of projecting images of the name of one color, printed in text of a different color, onto a wall and asking subjects to verbally identify the color of the text. Three-dimensional motions of a marker attached to the base of the neck (C5/T1 were recorded. Marker velocities were calculated over 3 equal intervals of 200 sec each in each direction. Mean variability was calculated for each time series as the average standard deviation across all strides. Both "local" and "orbital" dynamic stability were quantified for each time series using previously established methods. These measures directly quantify how quickly small perturbations grow or decay, either continuously in real time (local or discretely from one cycle to the next (orbital. Differences between Stroop and Control trials were evaluated using a 2-factor repeated measures ANOVA. Results Mean variability of trunk movements was significantly reduced during the Stroop tests compared to normal walking. Conversely, local and orbital stability results were mixed: some measures showed slight increases, while others showed slight decreases

Electrophysiological explorations of the bilingual advantage: evidence from a Stroop task.

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Coderre, Emily L; van Heuven, Walter J B

2014-01-01

Bilinguals have been shown to exhibit a performance advantage on executive control tasks, outperforming their monolingual counterparts. Although a wealth of research has investigated this 'bilingual advantage' behaviourally, electrophysiological correlates are lacking. Using EEG with a Stroop task that manipulated the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) of word and colour presentation, the current study addressed two facets of the bilingual advantage. The possibility that bilinguals experience superior conflict processing relative to monolinguals (a 'conflict-specific advantage') was investigated by comparing behavioural interference effects as well as the amplitude of the Ninc, a conflict-related ERP component occurring from approximately 300-500 ms after the onset of conflict. In contrast, the hypothesis that bilinguals experience domain-general, conflict-independent enhancements in executive processing (a 'non-conflict-specific advantage') was evaluated by comparing the control condition (symbol strings) between groups. There was some significant, but inconsistent, evidence for a conflict-specific bilingual advantage. In contrast, strong evidence emerged for a non-conflict-specific advantage, with bilinguals demonstrating faster RTs and reduced ERP amplitudes on control trials compared to monolinguals. Importantly, when the control stimulus was presented before the colour, ERPs to control trials revealed group differences before the onset of conflict, suggesting differences in the ability to ignore or suppress distracting irrelevant information. This indicates that bilinguals experience superior executive processing even in the absence of conflict and semantic salience, and suggests that the advantage extends to more efficient proactive management of the environment.

Electrophysiological explorations of the bilingual advantage: evidence from a Stroop task.

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Emily L Coderre

Full Text Available Bilinguals have been shown to exhibit a performance advantage on executive control tasks, outperforming their monolingual counterparts. Although a wealth of research has investigated this 'bilingual advantage' behaviourally, electrophysiological correlates are lacking. Using EEG with a Stroop task that manipulated the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA of word and colour presentation, the current study addressed two facets of the bilingual advantage. The possibility that bilinguals experience superior conflict processing relative to monolinguals (a 'conflict-specific advantage' was investigated by comparing behavioural interference effects as well as the amplitude of the Ninc, a conflict-related ERP component occurring from approximately 300-500 ms after the onset of conflict. In contrast, the hypothesis that bilinguals experience domain-general, conflict-independent enhancements in executive processing (a 'non-conflict-specific advantage' was evaluated by comparing the control condition (symbol strings between groups. There was some significant, but inconsistent, evidence for a conflict-specific bilingual advantage. In contrast, strong evidence emerged for a non-conflict-specific advantage, with bilinguals demonstrating faster RTs and reduced ERP amplitudes on control trials compared to monolinguals. Importantly, when the control stimulus was presented before the colour, ERPs to control trials revealed group differences before the onset of conflict, suggesting differences in the ability to ignore or suppress distracting irrelevant information. This indicates that bilinguals experience superior executive processing even in the absence of conflict and semantic salience, and suggests that the advantage extends to more efficient proactive management of the environment.

Converging Evidence for Control of Color-Word Stroop Interference at the Item Level

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Bugg, Julie M.; Hutchison, Keith A.

2013-01-01

Prior studies have shown that cognitive control is implemented at the list and context levels in the color-word Stroop task. At first blush, the finding that Stroop interference is reduced for mostly incongruent items as compared with mostly congruent items (i.e., the item-specific proportion congruence [ISPC] effect) appears to provide evidence…

Gastric potential difference and pH in ulcer patients and normal volunteers during Stroop's colour word conflict test

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Højgaard, L; Bendtsen, Flemming

1989-01-01

Whether mental stress is important in the pathogenesis of gastric mucosal disorders is not clearly established. This study investigated the relationship between sympathetic activation caused by the Stroop's colour word conflict test and gastric mucosal function, monitored by measuring the gastric...... mucosal electrical potential difference (PD). In 13 healthy volunteers and 12 duodenal ulcer patients gastric PD, pH, and heart rate were measured continuously during basal conditions, during mental stress evoked by the Stroop's colour word conflict test, and after return to basal conditions...

The emotional Stroop task and posttraumatic stress disorder: a meta-analysis.

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Cisler, Josh M; Wolitzky-Taylor, Kate B; Adams, Thomas G; Babson, Kimberly A; Badour, Christal L; Willems, Jeffrey L

2011-07-01

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with significant impairment and lowered quality of life. The emotional Stroop task (EST) has been one means of elucidating some of the core deficits in PTSD, but this literature has remained inconsistent. We conducted a meta-analysis of EST studies in PTSD populations in order to synthesize this body of research. Twenty-six studies were included with 538 PTSD participants, 254 non-trauma exposed control participants (NTC), and 276 trauma exposed control participants (TC). PTSD-relevant words impaired EST performance more among PTSD groups and TC groups compared to NTC groups. PTSD groups and TC groups did not differ. When examining within-subject effect sizes, PTSD-relevant words and generally threatening words impaired EST performance relative to neutral words among PTSD groups, and only PTSD-relevant words impaired performance among the TC groups. These patterns were not found among the NTC groups. Moderator analyses suggested that these effects were significantly greater in blocked designs compared to randomized designs, toward unmasked compared to masked stimuli, and among samples exposed to assaultive traumas compared to samples exposed to non-assaultive traumas. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Novel Symbol Learning-Induced Stroop Effect: Evidence for a Strategy-Based, Utility Learning Model

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Wang, Jin; Tang, Huijun; Deng, Yuan

2016-01-01

The automaticity level and attention priority/strategy are two major theories that have attempted to explain the mechanism underlying the Stroop effect. Training is an effective way to manipulate the experience with the two dimensions (ink color and color word) in the Stroop task. In order to distinguish the above two factors (the automaticity or…

Spanish normative studies in young adults (NEURONORMA young adults project): norms for Stroop Color-Word Interference and Tower of London-Drexel University tests.

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Rognoni, T; Casals-Coll, M; Sánchez-Benavides, G; Quintana, M; Manero, R M; Calvo, L; Palomo, R; Aranciva, F; Tamayo, F; Peña-Casanova, J

2013-03-01

The Stroop Color-Word Interference Test (Stroop) measures cognitive flexibility, selective attention, cognitive inhibition and information processing speed. The Tower of London-Drexel University version test (TOL) assesses higher-order problem solving and executive planning abilities. In this study, as part of the Spanish normative studies project in young adults (NEURONORMA young adults), we present normative data for the Stroop and young adults TOL tests. The sample consisted of 179 participants who are cognitively normal and range in age from 18 to 49 years. Tables are provided to convert raw scores to scaled scores. Scores adjusted for sociodemographic factors were obtained by applying linear regression techniques. No effects were found for age and sex in either test. Educational level impacted most of the Stroop test variables and some of the TOL scores (Total Moves score and Total Initiation Time score). The norms obtained will be extremely useful in the clinical evaluation of young Spanish adults. Copyright © 2011 Sociedad Española de Neurología. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

Hemodynamic and electrophysiological signals of conflict processing in the Chinese-character Stroop task: a simultaneous near-infrared spectroscopy and event-related potential study.

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Zhai, Jiahuan; Li, Ting; Zhang, Zhongxing; Gong, Hui

2009-01-01

A dual-modality method combining continuous-wave near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and event-related potentials (ERPs) was developed for the Chinese-character color-word Stroop task, which included congruent, incongruent, and neutral stimuli. Sixteen native Chinese speakers participated in this study. Hemodynamic and electrophysiological signals in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) were monitored simultaneously by NIRS and ERP. The hemodynamic signals were represented by relative changes in oxy-, deoxy-, and total hemoglobin concentration, whereas the electrophysiological signals were characterized by the parameters P450, N500, and P600. Both types of signals measured at four regions of the PFC were analyzed and compared spatially and temporally among the three different stimuli. We found that P600 signals correlated significantly with the hemodynamic parameters, suggesting that the PFC executes conflict-solving function. Additionally, we observed that the change in deoxy-Hb concentration showed higher sensitivity in response to the Stroop task than other hemodynamic signals. Correlation between NIRS and ERP signals revealed that the vascular response reflects the cumulative effect of neural activities. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that this new dual-modality method is a useful approach to obtaining more information during cognitive and physiological studies.

Contrasting effects of self-schema priming on lexical decisions and interpersonal stroop task performance: evidence for a cognitive/interactionist model of interpersonal dependency.

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Bornstein, Robert F; Ng, H Mei; Gallagher, Heather A; Kloss, Deanna M; Regier, Natalie G

2005-06-01

Four experiments tested a key tenet of Bornstein's (1992, 1993) cognitive/interactionist (C/I) model of interpersonal dependency: that priming the helpless self-schema (HSS) alters processing of dependency-related information in dependent--but not nondependent--individuals. Experiments 1 and 2 assessed the effects of subliminal lexical priming and an emotional priming manipulation on lexical decision (LD) judgments for dependency-related words and control words. Experiments 3 and 4 assessed the effects of these same priming procedures on Interpersonal Stroop Task (IST) performance. As predicted, priming the HSS produced contrasting effects on different outcome measures, decreasing LD latencies, but increasing IST response times. Results are discussed in the context of the C/I model, and suggestions for future studies are offered.

The developmental pattern of stimulus and response interference in a color-object Stroop task: an ERP study

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Jongen Ellen MM

2008-09-01

with the RT response interference effect. Conclusion Although processes of stimulus interference control as measured with the color-object Stroop task seem to reach mature levels relatively early in childhood (6–7 years, development of response interference control appears to continue into late adolescence as 10–12 year-olds were still more susceptible to errors of response interference than adults.

Practice and Colour-Word Integration in Stroop Interference

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Gul, Amara; Humphreys, Glyn W.

2015-01-01

Congruency effects were examined using a manual response version of the Stroop task in which the relationship between the colour word and its hue on incongruent trials was either kept constant or varied randomly across different pairings within the stimulus set. Congruency effects were increased in the condition where the incongruent hue-word…

Work first then play: Prior task difficulty increases motivation-related brain responses in a risk game.

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Schmidt, Barbara; Mussel, Patrick; Osinsky, Roman; Rasch, Björn; Debener, Stefan; Hewig, Johannes

2017-05-01

Task motivation depends on what we did before. A recent theory differentiates between tasks that we want to do and tasks that we have to do. After a have-to task, motivation shifts towards a want-to task. We measured this shift of motivation via brain responses to monetary feedback in a risk game that was used as want-to task in our study. We tested 20 healthy participants that were about 28 years old in a within-subjects design. Participants worked on a Stroop task (have-to task) or an easier version of the Stroop task as a control condition and played a risk game afterwards (want-to task). After the Stroop task, brain responses to monetary feedback in the risk game were larger compared to the easier control task, especially for feedback indicating higher monetary rewards. We conclude that higher amplitudes of feedback-related brain responses in the risk game reflect the shift of motivation after a have-to task towards a want-to task. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Earthquake experience interference effects in a modified Stroop task: an ERP study.

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Wei, Dongtao; Qiu, Jiang; Tu, Shen; Tian, Fang; Su, Yanhua; Luo, Yuejia

2010-05-03

The effects of the modified Stroop task on ERP were investigated in 20 subjects who had experienced the Sichuan earthquake and a matched control group. ERP data showed that Incongruent stimuli elicited a more negative ERP deflection (N300-450) than did Congruent stimuli between 300 and 450 ms post-stimulus in the earthquake group but not found in the control group, and the N300-450 might reflect conflict monitor (the information of color and meaning do not match) in the early phase of perception identification due to their sensitivity to the external stimulus. Then, Incongruent stimuli elicited a more negative ERP deflection than did Congruent stimuli between 450 and 650 ms post-stimulus in both the groups. Dipole source analysis showed that the N450-650 was mainly generated in the ACC contributed to this effect in the control group, which might be related to monitor and conflict resolution. However, in the earthquake group, the N450-650 was generated in the thalamus, which might be involved in inhibiting and compensating of the ACC which may be related to conflict resolution process. 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Assessment of the hemispheric lateralization of grapheme-color synesthesia with Stroop-type tests.

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Mathieu J Ruiz

Full Text Available Grapheme-color synesthesia, the idiosyncratic, arbitrary association of colors to letters or numbers, develops in childhood once reading is mastered. Because language processing is strongly left-lateralized in most individuals, we hypothesized that grapheme-color synesthesia could be left-lateralized as well. We used synesthetic versions of the Stroop test with colored letters and numbers presented either in the right or the left visual field of thirty-four synesthetes. Interference by synesthetic colors was stronger for stimuli in the right hemifield (first experiment, color naming task. Synesthetes were also faster in the right hemifield when naming the synesthetic color of graphemes (second experiment. Overall, the lateralization effect was 7 ms (the 95% confidence interval was [1.5 12] ms, a delay compatible with an additional callosal transfer for stimuli presented in the left hemifield. Though weak, this effect suggests that the association of synesthetic colors to graphemes may be preferentially processed in the left hemisphere. We speculate that this left-lateralization could be a landmark of synesthetic grapheme-color associations, if not found for color associations learnt by non-synesthete adults.

The Effects of First- and Second-Language Proficiency on Conflict Resolution and Goal Maintenance in Bilinguals: Evidence from Reaction Time Distributional Analyses in a Stroop Task

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Tse, Chi-Shing; Altarriba, Jeanette

2012-01-01

By administering a Stroop task to college-student bilinguals varied in self-rated first- (L1) and second-language (L2) proficiency, the current study examined the effects of L1 and L2 proficiencies on selective attention performance. We conducted ex-Gaussian analyses to capture the modal and positive-tail components of participants' reaction time…

Neural correlates of the individual emotional Stroop in borderline personality disorder.

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Wingenfeld, Katja; Rullkoetter, Nina; Mensebach, Christoph; Beblo, Thomas; Mertens, Markus; Kreisel, Stefan; Toepper, Max; Driessen, Martin; Woermann, Friedrich G

2009-05-01

Emotional dysregulation is a key feature of borderline personality disorder (BPD) with altered inhibitory functions having suggested as being crucial. The anterior cingulate cortex and further prefrontal brain regions are crucial for response inhibition. The regulation of emotions is ensured via inhibitory control over the amygdala. The present study aimed to investigate neural correlates of response inhibition in BPD by using an emotional Stroop paradigm extending the task to word stimuli which were related to stressful life events. Twenty BPD patients and 20 healthy controls underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while performing the individual emotional Stroop task. A block design was used with the following word type conditions: neutral words, general negative words, and individual negative words. The individual negative words were recruited from a prior interview conducted with each participant. While BPD patients had overall slower reaction times in the Stroop task compared to healthy controls, there was no increased slowing with emotional interference. Controls exhibited significant fMRI blood oxygenation level-dependent signal increases in the anterior cingulate cortex as well as in frontal cortex contrasting generally negative vs. neutral and individual negative vs. neutral conditions, respectively. BPD patients did not show equivalent signal changes. These results provide further evidence for a dysfunctional network of brain areas in BPD, including the ACC and frontal brain regions. These areas are crucial for the regulation of stress and emotions, the core problems of BPD patients.

Brain Activity toward Gaming-Related Cues in Internet Gaming Disorder during an Addiction Stroop Task.

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Zhang, Yifen; Lin, Xiao; Zhou, Hongli; Xu, Jiaojing; Du, Xiaoxia; Dong, Guangheng

2016-01-01

Attentional bias for drug-related stimuli is a key characteristic for drug addiction. Characterizing the relationship between attentional bias and brain reactivity to Internet gaming-related stimuli may help in identifying the neural substrates that critical to Internet gaming disorder (IGD). 19 IGD and 21 healthy control (HC) subjects were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging while they were performing an addiction Stroop task. Compared with HC group, IGD subjects showed higher activations when facing Internet gaming-related stimuli in regions including the inferior parietal lobule, the middle occipital gyrus and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. These brain areas were thought to be involved in selective attention, visual processing, working memory and cognitive control. The results demonstrated that compared with HC group, IGD subjects show impairment in both visual and cognitive control ability while dealing with gaming-related words. This finding might be helpful in understanding the underlying neural basis of IGD.

Influence of color word availability on the Stroop color-naming effect.

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Kim, Hyosun; Cho, Yang Seok; Yamaguchi, Motonori; Proctor, Robert W

2008-11-01

Three experiments tested whether the Stroop color-naming effect is a consequence of word recognition's being automatic or of the color word's capturing visual attention. In Experiment 1, a color bar was presented at fixation as the color carrier, with color and neutral words presented in locations above or below the color bar; Experiment 2 was similar, except that the color carrier could occur in one of the peripheral locations and the color word at fixation. The Stroop effect increased as display duration increased, and the Stroop dilution effect (a reduced Stroop effect when a neutral word is also present) was an approximately constant proportion of the Stroop effect at all display durations, regardless of whether the color bar or color word was at fixation. In Experiment 3, the interval between the onsets of the to-be-named color and the color word was manipulated. The Stroop effect decreased with increasing delay of the color word onset, but the absolute amount of Stroop dilution produced by the neutral word increased. This study's results imply that an attention shift from the color carrier to the color word is an important factor modulating the size of the Stroop effect.

Stroop interference and reverse Stroop interference as potential measures of cognitive ability during exposure to stress

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景山, 望; 箱田, 裕司; Kageyama, Nozomu; Hakoda, Yuji

2011-01-01

Stroop interference and reverse-Stroop interference are one of the easiest and most powerful effects to demonstrate in a classroom. Therefore, they have been studied not only through basic research in the laboratory but also through applied research in extreme environments. First, we reviewed studies tha investigated Stroop interference and reverse-Stroop interference as hallmark measures of selective at attention and conflict resolution. Second, we reviewed studies that examined the effects ...

Negativity is the main cause of reaction-time delay in an emotional Stroop study with picture/word stimuli.

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Sutmuller, A.D.; Brokken, D.

2008-01-01

The aim of this study was to find out if the emotion triggered by viewing a picture can be determined by measuring reaction times. We investigated this by using the emotional Stroop task. Emotional Stroop entails presenting two stimuli, in our case pictures and superimposed words, with different

Comparing Perception of Stroop Stimuli in Focused versus Divided Attention Paradigms: Evidence for Dramatic Processing Differences

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Eidels, Ami; Townsend, James T.; Algom, Daniel

2010-01-01

A huge set of focused attention experiments show that when presented with color words printed in color, observers report the ink color faster if the carrier word is the name of the color rather than the name of an alternative color, the Stroop effect. There is also a large number (although not so numerous as the Stroop task) of so-called…

Different frontal involvement in ALS and PLS revealed by Stroop event-related potentials and reaction times

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Ninfa eAmato

2013-12-01

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: A growing body of evidence suggests a link between cognitive and pathological changes in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS and in frontotemporal lobar dementia (FTLD. Cognitive deficits have been investigated much less extensively in primary lateral sclerosis (PLS than in ALS. OBJECTIVE: to investigate bioelectrical activity to Stroop test, assessing frontal function, in ALS, PLS and control groups. METHODS: 32 non-demented ALS patients, 10 non-demented PLS patients and 27 healthy subjects were included. Twenty-nine electroencephalography (EEG channels with binaural reference were recorded during covert Stroop task performance, involving mental discrimination of the stimuli and not vocal or motor response. Group effects on event related potentials (ERPs latency were analyzed using statistical multivariate analysis. Topographic analysis was performed using low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (LORETA. RESULTS: ALS patients committed more errors in the execution of the task but they were not slower, whereas PLS patients did not show reduced accuracy, despite a slowing of reaction times (RTs. The main ERP components were delayed in ALS, but not in PLS, compared with controls. Moreover, RTs speed but not ERP latency correlated with clinical scores. ALS had decreased frontotemporal activity in the P2, P3 and N4 time windows compared to controls. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest a different pattern of psychophysiological involvement in ALS compared with PLS. The former is increasingly recognized to be a multisystems disorder, with a spectrum of executive and behavioural impairments reflecting frontotemporal dysfunction. The latter seems to mainly involve the motor system, with largely spared cognitive functions. Moreover, our results suggest that the covert version of the Stroop task used in the present study, may be useful to assess cognitive state in the very advanced stage of the disease, when other cognitive tasks are not

[Attention deficits and schizophrenia. Multidisciplinary approaches and the Stroop's test].

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Everett, J; Laplante, L

1991-01-01

Since McGhie & Chapman's (1961) pioneering work, there have been continual attempts to clarify the link between attentional disturbances observable in schizophrenics and their schizophrenic symptoms. Venables (1964, 1977) claims that this diminution is a consequence of a badly controlled arousal, resulting in an inadequate filtering at the level of sensory input. Although the notion of a faulty sensory filter is simple and intellectually satisfying, this idea rapidly met with articulate opposition. Broadbent himself, in 1971, revised his model to take into account the way in which semantic aspects influence selective attention, and proposed the existence of a second stage of information processing, coming after the sensory filter. It became increasingly clear that progress in understanding selective attention would depend upon more centrally-directed approaches. In 1935, Stroop developed an ingenious way of studying selective attention. In his task, an "automatic", overlearned task (reading short words aloud) is put into conflict with a slightly more difficult task (colour-naming): the subject has to name the colour of the ink in which a word is printed, but the word itself is the name of a different colour. For instance, when the word "blue" is written in red ink, the correct response is "red". Typically, subjects find it difficult to inhibit the reading response, and take significantly more time to name a colour that forms an incompatible word than take to name the colour of a row of letters "x". This increased reaction time for the incompatible condition is attributed to an "interference" caused by the verbal information contained in the double stimulus.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Brain activity towards gaming-related cues in Internet gaming disorder during an addiction Stroop task

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Yifen eZhang

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Background and aims: Attentional bias for drug-related stimuli is a key characteristic for drug addiction. Characterizing the relationship between attentional bias and brain reactivity to Internet gaming-related stimuli may help in identifying the neural substrates that critical to Internet gaming disorder (IGD.Methods: 19 IGD and 21 healthy control (HC subjects were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging while they were performing an addiction Stroop task.Results: Compared with HC group, IGD subjects showed higher activations when facing Internet gaming-related stimuli in regions including the inferior parietal lobule, the middle occipital gyrus and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. These brain areas were thought to be involved in selective attention, visual processing, working memory and cognitive control.Discussion and Conclusions: The results demonstrated that compared with HC group, IGD subjects show impairment in both visual and cognitive control ability while dealing with gaming-related words. This finding might be helpful in understanding the underlying neural basis of IGD.

An emotional Stroop task with faces and words. A comparison of young and older adults.

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Agustí, Ana I; Satorres, Encarnación; Pitarque, Alfonso; Meléndez, Juan C

2017-08-01

Given the contradictions of previous studies on the changes in attentional responses produced in aging a Stroop emotional task was proposed to compare young and older adults to words or faces with an emotional valence. The words happy or sad were superimposed on faces that express the emotion of happiness or sadness. The emotion expressed by the word and the face could agree or not (cued and uncued trials, respectively). 85 young and 66 healthy older adults had to identify both faces and words separately, and the interference between the two types of stimuli was examined. An interference effect was observed for both types of stimuli in both groups. There was more interference on positive faces and words than on negative stimuli. Older adults had more difficulty than younger in focusing on positive uncued trials, whereas there was no difference across samples on negative uncued trials. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Is handwriting constrained by phonology? Evidence from Stroop tasks with written responses and Chinese characters

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Markus eDamian

2013-10-01

Full Text Available To what extent is handwritten word production based on phonological codes? A few studies conducted in Western languages have recently provided evidence showing that phonology contributes to the retrieval of graphemic properties in written output tasks. Less is known about how orthographic production works in languages with non-alphabetic scripts such as written Chinese. We report a Stroop study in which Chinese participants wrote the colour of characters on a digital graphic tablet; characters were either neutral, or homophonic to the target (congruent, or homophonic to an alternative (incongruent. Facilitation was found from congruent homophonic distractors, but only when the homophone shared the same tone with the target. This finding suggests a contribution of phonology to written word production. A second experiment served as a control experiment to exclude the possibility that the effect in Experiment 1 had an exclusively semantic locus. Overall, the findings offer new insight into the relative contribution of phonology to handwriting, particularly in non-Western languages.

Factors Contributing to Single- and Dual-Task Timed "Up & Go" Test Performance in Middle-Aged and Older Adults Who Are Active and Dwell in the Community.

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Chen, Hui-Ya; Tang, Pei-Fang

2016-03-01

Dual-task Timed "Up & Go" (TUG) tests are likely to have applications different from those of a single-task TUG test and may have different contributing factors. The purpose of this study was to compare factors contributing to performance on single- and dual-task TUG tests. This investigation was a cross-sectional study. Sixty-four adults who were more than 50 years of age and dwelled in the community were recruited. Interviews and physical examinations were performed to identify potential contributors to TUG test performance. The time to complete the single-task TUG test (TUGsingle) or the dual-task TUG test, which consisted of completing the TUG test while performing a serial subtraction task (TUGcognitive) or while carrying water (TUGmanual), was measured. Age, hip extensor strength, walking speed, general mental function, and Stroop scores for word and color were significantly associated with performance on all TUG tests. Hierarchical multiple regression models, without the input of walking speed, revealed different independent factors contributing to TUGsingle performance (Mini-Mental Status Examination score, β=-0.32), TUGmanual performance (age, β=0.35), and TUGcognitive performance (Stroop word score, β=-0.40; Mini-Mental Status Examination score, β=-0.31). At least 40% of the variance in the performance on the 3 TUG tests was not explained by common clinical measures, even when the factor of walking speed was considered. However, this study successfully identified some important factors contributing to performance on different TUG tests, and other studies have reported similar findings for single-task TUG test and dual-task gait performance. Although the TUGsingle and the TUGcognitive shared general mental function as a common factor, the TUGmanual was uniquely influenced by age and the TUGcognitive was uniquely influenced by focused attention. These results suggest that both common and unique factors contribute to performance on single- and dual-task

Attentional bias for trauma-related words: exaggerated emotional Stroop effect in Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans with PTSD.

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Ashley, Victoria; Honzel, Nikki; Larsen, Jary; Justus, Timothy; Swick, Diane

2013-03-14

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) involves debilitating symptoms that can disrupt cognitive functioning. The emotional Stroop has been commonly used to examine the impact of PTSD on attentional control, but no published study has yet used it with Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans, and only one previous study has compared groups on habituation to trauma-related words. We administered the emotional Stroop, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the PTSD Checklist (PCL) to 30 veterans with PTSD, 30 military controls, and 30 civilian controls. Stroop word types included Combat, Matched-neutral, Neutral, Positive and Negative. Compared to controls, veterans with PTSD were disproportionately slower in responding to Combat words. They were also slower and less accurate overall, did not show interference on Negative or Positive words relative to Neutral, and showed a trend for delayed but successful habituation to Combat words. Higher PCL and BDI scores also correlated with larger interference effects. Because of its specificity in detecting attentional biases to trauma-related words, the emotional Stroop task may serve as a useful pre- and post task with intervention studies of PTSD patients.

Modulation of brain activity during a Stroop inhibitory task by the kind of cognitive control required.

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Julien Grandjean

Full Text Available This study used a proportion congruency manipulation in the Stroop task in order to investigate, at the behavioral and brain substrate levels, the predictions derived from the Dual Mechanisms of Control (DMC account of two distinct modes of cognitive control depending on the task context. Three experimental conditions were created that varied the proportion congruency: mostly incongruent (MI, mostly congruent (MC, and mostly neutral (MN contexts. A reactive control strategy, which corresponds to transient interference resolution processes after conflict detection, was expected for the rare conflicting stimuli in the MC context, and a proactive strategy, characterized by a sustained task-relevant focus prior to the occurrence of conflict, was expected in the MI context. Results at the behavioral level supported the proactive/reactive distinction, with the replication of the classic proportion congruent effect (i.e., less interference and facilitation effects in the MI context. fMRI data only partially supported our predictions. Whereas reactive control for incongruent trials in the MC context engaged the expected fronto-parietal network including dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC and anterior cingulate cortex, proactive control in the MI context was not associated with any sustained lateral prefrontal cortex activations, contrary to our hypothesis. Surprisingly, incongruent trials in the MI context elicited transient activation in common with incongruent trials in the MC context, especially in DLPFC, superior parietal lobe, and insula. This lack of sustained activity in MI is discussed in reference to the possible involvement of item-specific rather than list-wide mechanisms of control in the implementation of a high task-relevant focus.

The role of modality : Auditory and visual distractors in Stroop interference

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Elliott, Emily M.; Morey, Candice C.; Morey, Richard D.; Eaves, Sharon D.; Shelton, Jill Talley; Lutfi-Proctor, Danielle A.

2014-01-01

As a commonly used measure of selective attention, it is important to understand the factors contributing to interference in the Stroop task. The current research examined distracting stimuli in the auditory and visual modalities to determine whether the use of auditory distractors would create

Let's inhibit our excitement: the relationships between Stroop, behavioral disinhibition, and the frontal lobes.

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Heflin, Lara H; Laluz, Victor; Jang, Jung; Ketelle, Robin; Miller, Bruce L; Kramer, Joel H

2011-09-01

The Stroop (Stroop, 1935) is a frequently used neuropsychological test, with poor performance typically interpreted as indicative of disinhibition and frontal lobe damage. This study tested those interpretations by examining relationships between Stroop performance, behavioral disinhibition, and frontal lobe atrophy. Participants were 112 patients with mild cognitive impairment or dementia, recruited through UCSF's Memory and Aging Center. Participants received comprehensive dementia evaluations including structural MRI, neuropsychological testing, and informant interviews. Freesurfer, a semiautomated parcellation program, was used to analyze 1.5T MRI scans. Behavioral disinhibition was measured using the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (Cummings, 1997; Cummings et al., 1994) Disinhibition Scale. The sample (n = 112) mean age was 65.40 (SD = 8.60) years, education was 16.64 (SD = 2.54) years, and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE; Folstein et al., 1975) was 26.63 (SD = 3.32). Hierarchical linear regressions were used for data analysis. Controlling for age, MMSE, and color naming, Stroop performance was not significantly associated with disinhibition (β = 0.01, ΔR² = 0.01, p = .29). Hierarchical regressions controlling for age, MMSE, color naming, intracranial volume, and temporal and parietal lobes, examined whether left or right hemisphere regions predict Stroop performance. Bilaterally, parietal lobe atrophy best predicted poorer Stroop (left: β = 0.0004, ΔR² = 0.02, p = .002; right: β = 0.0004, ΔR² = 0.02, p = .002). Of frontal regions, only dorsolateral prefrontal cortex atrophy predicted poorer Stroop (β = 0.001, ΔR² = 0.01, p = .03); left and right anterior cingulate cortex atrophy predicted better Stroop (left: β = -0.003, ΔR² = 0.01, p = .02; right: β = -0.004, ΔR² = 0.01, p = .02). These findings suggest Stroop performance is a poor measure of behavioral disinhibition and frontal lobe atrophy even among a relatively high-risk population

Stroop color-word interference and electroencephalogram activation: evidence for age-related decline of the anterior attention system.

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West, R; Bell, M A

1997-07-01

Groups of healthy, community-dwelling younger and older adults performed a Stroop task in which color and word could be congruent or incongruent and spatially integrated or separated. During the task, continuous electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded from frontal, parietal, and occipital regions. The magnitude of the Stroop interference effect and task-related EEG activation was greater for older than younger adults when stimuli were integrated. This effect was significant over medial and lateral frontal and parietal, but not occipital, regions. In comparison, interference and EEG activation did not differ for younger and older adults when stimuli were separated. These findings support the hypothesis that the anterior attention system is more sensitive to the effects of increasing age than the posterior attention system.

Attention demanding tasks during treadmill walking reduce step width variability in young adults

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Troy Karen L

2005-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The variability of step time and step width is associated with falls by older adults. Further, step time is significantly influenced when performing attention demanding tasks while walking. Without exception, step time variability has been reported to increase in normal and pathologically aging older adults. Because of the role of step width in managing frontal plane dynamic stability, documenting the influence of attention-demanding tasks on step width variability may provide insight to events that can disturb dynamic stability during locomotion and increase fall risk. Preliminary evidence suggests performance of an attention demanding task significantly decreases step width variability of young adults walking on a treadmill. The purpose of the present study was to confirm or refute this finding by characterizing the extent and direction of the effects of a widely used attention demanding task (Stroop test on the step width variability of young adults walking on a motorized treadmill. Methods Fifteen healthy young adults walked on a motorized treadmill at a self-selected velocity for 10 minutes under two conditions; without performing an attention demanding task and while performing the Stroop test. Step width of continuous and consecutive steps during the collection was derived from the data recorded using a motion capture system. Step width variability was computed as the standard deviation of all recorded steps. Results Step width decreased four percent during performance of the Stroop test but the effect was not significant (p = 0.10. In contrast, the 16 percent decrease in step width variability during the Stroop test condition was significant (p = 0.029. Conclusion The results support those of our previous work in which a different attention demanding task also decreased step width variability of young subjects while walking on a treadmill. The decreased step width variability observed while performing an attention

Assessment of performance validity in the Stroop Color and Word Test in mild traumatic brain injury patients: a criterion-groups validation design.

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Guise, Brian J; Thompson, Matthew D; Greve, Kevin W; Bianchini, Kevin J; West, Laura

2014-03-01

The current study assessed performance validity on the Stroop Color and Word Test (Stroop) in mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) using criterion-groups validation. The sample consisted of 77 patients with a reported history of mild TBI. Data from 42 moderate-severe TBI and 75 non-head-injured patients with other clinical diagnoses were also examined. TBI patients were categorized on the basis of Slick, Sherman, and Iverson (1999) criteria for malingered neurocognitive dysfunction (MND). Classification accuracy is reported for three indicators (Word, Color, and Color-Word residual raw scores) from the Stroop across a range of injury severities. With false-positive rates set at approximately 5%, sensitivity was as high as 29%. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed. © 2012 The British Psychological Society.

Stroop phenomena in the Japanese language: the case of ideographic characters (kanji) and syllabic characters (kana).

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Morikawa, Y

1981-08-01

Utilizing a unique feature of the Japanese languages--that besides two syllabic orthographies, which have identical pronunciations, words with the same pronunciation may also be written in an orthography composed of ideographic characters--we have conducted an investigation of Stroop phenomena. The fact that pronunciations of the three Japanese orthographies are identical means that, if there are any differences between them in the Stroop phenomena observed, we can place the locus of this interference effect in the perceptual process. Five color names were written in the ideographic characters (kanji) and the two syllabic orthographies (hiragana and katakana). Color-congruent cards and incongruent cards were utilized in a color-naming task and a word-reading task. Mean required times for the color-naming condition and the word-reading conditions were compared with those for control conditions. Stroop phenomena were observed in both ideographic and syllabic orthographies. Significant differences in mean required times were observed between the ideographic and syllabic orthographies but not between the two syllabic orthographies. Interferences in comparisons of Japanese orthographies and color patch control conditions were much smaller than in the case of Stroop's (1935) experiment. A "Reverse Stroop Phenomenon" was observed only in the case of kanji on incongruent cards in the word-reading condition. The results support the hypothesis that both ideographic characters (in this case, kanji) and colors are processed in a parallel fashion in the non-dominant right cerebral hemisphere, while syllabic or phonetic characters are processed in the dominant left cerebral hemisphere.

The specificity of the Stroop interference score of errors to ADHD in boys

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, L; Plessen, K J; Adolfsdottir, S

2014-01-01

scores on the Inhibit scale from the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function. These findings support that a Stroop interference score of errors is sensitive for inhibition problems in children with ADHD and encourages the use of Stroop versions including error recordings independent of response......The Stroop Interference Test is widely used to assess the inhibition function; however, divergent results have emerged from meta-analyses in children with ADHD. This has led to conflicting results as to whether the Stroop test detects the level of inhibition in these children. We hypothesized...... that the general approach to include interference scores depending on response time causes conflicting results, whereas recordings of errors may prove a superior measure of the inhibition function in children with ADHD. In the present study, 39 children with an ADHD diagnosis, two subgroups with and without...

The Stroop revisited: a meta-analysis of interference control in AD/HD

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Mourik, R.; Oosterlaan, J.; Sergeant, J.A.

2005-01-01

Background: An inhibition deficit, including poor interference control, has been implicated as one of the core deficits in AD/HD. Interference control is clinically measured by the Stroop Colour-Word Task. The aim of this meta-analysis was to investigate the strength of an interference deficit in

Poor readers but compelled to read: Stroop effects in developmental dyslexia.

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Faccioli, Chiara; Peru, Andrea; Rubini, Elena; Tassinari, Giancarlo

2008-05-01

We studied a group of 24 children with dyslexia in second to fifth primary school grades by using a discrete-trial computerized version of the Stroop Color-Word Test. Since the classic Stroop effect depends on the interference of reading with color naming, one would expect these children to show no interference or, at least, less interference than normal readers. Children with dyslexia showed, however, a Stroop effect larger than normal readers of the same age. This suggests that reading, although difficult and slow, is an inescapable step that precedes naming both in poor and in normal readers.

How Does Stroop Interference Change with Practice? A Reappraisal from the Musical Stroop Paradigm

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Grégoire, Laurent; Perruchet, Pierre; Poulin-Charronnat, Bénédicte

2015-01-01

Most earlier studies investigating the evolution of the Stroop effect with the amount of reading practice have reported data consistent with an inverted U-shaped curve, whereby the Stroop effect appears early during reading acquisition, reaches a peak after 2 or 3 years of practice, and then continuously decreases until adulthood. The downward…

When does stress help or harm? The effects of stress controllability and subjective stress response on Stroop performance.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roselinde Kaiser Henderson

2012-06-01

Full Text Available The ability to engage in goal-directed behavior despite exposure to stress is critical to resilience. Questions of how stress can impair or improve behavioral functioning are important in diverse settings, from athletic competitions to academic testing to clinical therapy. Previous research suggests that controllability is a key factor in the impact of stress on behavior: learning how to control stressors buffers people from the negative effects of stress on subsequent cognitively demanding tasks. In addition, research suggests that the impact of stress on cognitive functioning depends on an individual’s response to stressors: moderate responses to stress can lead to improved performance while extreme (high or low responses can lead to impaired performance. The present studies tested the hypothesis that 1 learning to behaviorally control stressors leads to improved performance on a test of general executive functioning, the color-word Stroop, and that 2 this improvement emerges specifically for people who report moderate (subjective responses to stress. Experiment 1: Stroop performance, measured before and after a stress manipulation, was compared across groups of undergraduate participants (n=109. People who learned to control a noise stressor and received accurate performance feedback demonstrated reduced Stroop interference compared with people exposed to uncontrollable noise stress and feedback indicating an exaggerated rate of failure. In the group who learned behavioral control, those who reported moderate levels of stress showed the greatest reduction in Stroop interference. In contrast, in the group exposed to uncontrollable events, self-reported stress failed to predict performance. Experiment 2: In a second sample (n=90, we specifically investigated the role of controllability by keeping the rate of failure feedback constant across groups. In the group who learned behavioral control, those who reported moderate levels of stress

Impact of Prefrontal Theta Burst Stimulation on Clinical Neuropsychological Tasks

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Raquel Viejo-Sobera

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Theta burst stimulation (TBS protocols hold high promise in neuropsychological rehabilitation. Nevertheless, their ability to either decrease (continuous, cTBS or increase (intermittent, iTBS cortical excitability in areas other than the primary motor cortex, and their consistency modulating human behaviors with clinically relevant tasks remain to be fully established. The behavioral effects of TBS over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC are particularly interesting given its involvement in working memory (WM and executive functions (EF, often impaired following frontal brain damage. We aimed to explore the ability of cTBS and iTBS to modulate WM and EF in healthy individuals, assessed with clinical neuropsychological tests (Digits Backward, 3-back task, Stroop Test, and Tower of Hanoi. To this end, 36 participants were assessed using the four tests 1 week prior to stimulation and immediately following a single session of either cTBS, iTBS, or sham TBS, delivered to the left dlPFC. No significant differences were found across stimulation conditions in any of the clinical tasks. Nonetheless, in some of them, active stimulation induced significant pre/post performance modulations, which were not found for the sham condition. More specifically, sham stimulation yielded improvements in the 3-back task and the Color, Color-Word, and Interference Score of the Stroop Test, an effect likely caused by task practice. Both, iTBS and cTBS, produced improvements in Digits Backward and impairments in 3-back task accuracy. Moreover, iTBS increased Interference Score in the Stroop Test in spite of the improved word reading and impaired color naming, whereas cTBS decreased the time required to complete the Tower of Hanoi. Differing from TBS outcomes reported for cortico-spinal measures on the primary motor cortex, our analyses did not reveal any of the expected performance differences across stimulation protocols. However, if one considers independently

Working Memory Capacity and Stroop Interference: Global versus Local Indices of Executive Control

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Meier, Matt E.; Kane, Michael J.

2013-01-01

Two experiments examined the relations among working memory capacity (WMC), congruency-sequence effects, proportion-congruency effects, and the color-word Stroop effect to test whether congruency-sequence effects might inform theoretical claims regarding WMC's prediction of Stroop interference. In Experiment 1, subjects completed either a…

The timing and magnitude of Stroop interference and facilitation in monolinguals and bilinguals.

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Coderre, Emily L; VAN Heuven, Walter J B; Conklin, Kathy

2013-04-01

Executive control abilities and lexical access speed in Stroop performance were investigated in English monolinguals and two groups of bilinguals (English-Chinese and Chinese-English) in their first (L1) and second (L2) languages. Predictions were based on a bilingual cognitive advantage hypothesis, implicating cognitive control ability as the critical factor determining Stroop interference; and two bilingual lexical disadvantage hypotheses, focusing on lexical access speed. Importantly, each hypothesis predicts different response patterns in a Stroop task manipulating stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA). There was evidence for a bilingual cognitive advantage, although this effect was sensitive to a number of variables including proficiency, language immersion, and script. In lexical access speed, no differences occurred between monolinguals and bilinguals in their native languages, but there was evidence for a delay in L2 processing speed relative to the L1. Overall, the data highlight the multitude of factors affecting executive control and lexical access speed in bilinguals.

Does the modified Stroop effect exist in PTSD? Evidence from dissertation abstracts and the peer reviewed literature

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Kimble, Matthew O.; Frueh, B. Christopher; Marks, Libby

2009-01-01

The modified Stroop effect (MSE), in which participants show delayed color naming to trauma specific words is one of the most widely cited findings in the literature pertaining to cognitive bias in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The current study used a novel approach (Dissertation Abstract Review; DAR) to review the presence of the MSE in dissertation abstracts. A review of dissertations that used the modified Stroop task in a PTSD sample revealed that only 8% of the studies found del...

Effects of Sleep Deprivation on Color-Word, Emotional, and Specific Stroop Interference and on Self-Reported Anxiety

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Sagaspe, Patricia; Sanchez-Ortuno, Montserrat; Charles, Andre; Taillard, Jacques; Valtat, Cedric; Bioulac, Bernard; Philip, Pierre

2006-01-01

The aim of this study was principally to assess the impact of sleep deprivation on interference performance in short Stroop tasks (Color-Word, Emotional, and Specific) and on subjective anxiety. Subjective sleepiness and performance on a psychomotor sustained attention task were also investigated to validate our protocol of sleep deprivation.…

The Stroop effect in English-Japanese bilinguals: the effect of phonological similarity.

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Sumiya, Hiromi; Healy, Alice F

2008-01-01

English-Japanese bilinguals performed a Stroop color-word interference task with both English and Japanese stimuli and responded in both English and Japanese. The Japanese stimuli were either the traditional color terms (TCTs) written in Hiragana or loanwords (LWs) from English written in Katakana. Both within-language and between-language interference were found for all combinations of stimuli and responses. The between-language interference was larger for Katakana LWs (phonologically similar to English) than for Hiragana TCTs, especially with Japanese responses. The magnitude of this phonological effect increased with self-rated reading fluency in Japanese. Overall responding was slower and the Stroop effect larger with English than with Japanese stimuli. These results suggest that unintentional lexical access elicits automatic phonological processing even with intermediate-level reading proficiency.

Chronic cannabis users show altered neurophysiological functioning on Stroop task conflict resolution.

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Battisti, Robert A; Roodenrys, Steven; Johnstone, Stuart J; Pesa, Nicole; Hermens, Daniel F; Solowij, Nadia

2010-12-01

Chronic cannabis use has been related to deficits in cognition (particularly memory) and the normal functioning of brain structures sensitive to cannabinoids. There is increasing evidence that conflict monitoring and resolution processes (i.e. the ability to detect and respond to change) may be affected. This study examined the ability to inhibit an automatic reading response in order to activate a more difficult naming response (i.e. conflict resolution) in a variant of the discrete trial Stroop colour-naming task. Event-related brain potentials to neutral, congruent and incongruent trials were compared between 21 cannabis users (mean 16.4 years of near daily use) in the unintoxicated state and 19 non-using controls. Cannabis users showed increased errors on colour-incongruent trials (e.g. "RED" printed in blue ink) but no performance differences from controls on colour congruent (e.g. "RED" printed in red ink) or neutral trials (e.g. "*****" printed in green ink). Poorer incongruent trial performance was predicted by an earlier age of onset of regular cannabis use. Users showed altered expression of a late sustained potential related to conflict resolution, evident by opposite patterns of activity between trial types at midline and central sites, and altered relationships between neurophysiological and behavioural outcome measures not evident in the control group. These findings indicate that chronic use of cannabis may impair the brain's ability to respond optimally in the presence of events that require conflict resolution and hold implications for the ability to refrain from substance misuse and/or maintain substance abstention behaviours.

Saudi normative data for the Wisconsin Card Sorting test, Stroop test, Test of Non-verbal Intelligence-3, Picture Completion and Vocabulary (subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised).

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Al-Ghatani, Ali M; Obonsawin, Marc C; Binshaig, Basmah A; Al-Moutaery, Khalaf R

2011-01-01

There are 2 aims for this study: first, to collect normative data for the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Stroop test, Test of Non-verbal Intelligence (TONI-3), Picture Completion (PC) and Vocabulary (VOC) sub-test of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised for use in a Saudi Arabian culture, and second, to use the normative data provided to generate the regression equations. To collect the normative data and generate the regression equations, 198 healthy individuals were selected to provide a representative distribution for age, gender, years of education, and socioeconomic class. The WCST, Stroop test, TONI-3, PC, and VOC were administrated to the healthy individuals. This study was carried out at the Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Riyadh Military Hospital, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from January 2000 to July 2002. Normative data were obtained for all tests, and tables were constructed to interpret scores for different age groups. Regression equations to predict performance on the 3 tests of frontal function from scores on tests of fluid (TONI-3) and premorbid intelligence were generated from the data from the healthy individuals. The data collected in this study provide normative tables for 3 tests of frontal lobe function and for tests of general intellectual ability for use in Saudi Arabia. The data also provide a method to estimate pre-injury ability without the use of verbally based tests.

When does stress help or harm? The effects of stress controllability and subjective stress response on stroop performance.

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Henderson, Roselinde K; Snyder, Hannah R; Gupta, Tina; Banich, Marie T

2012-01-01

The ability to engage in goal-directed behavior despite exposure to stress is critical to resilience. Questions of how stress can impair or improve behavioral functioning are important in diverse settings, from athletic competitions to academic testing. Previous research suggests that controllability is a key factor in the impact of stress on behavior: learning how to control stressors buffers people from the negative effects of stress on subsequent cognitively demanding tasks. In addition, research suggests that the impact of stress on cognitive functioning depends on an individual's response to stressors: moderate responses to stress can lead to improved performance while extreme (high or low) responses can lead to impaired performance. The present studies tested the hypothesis that (1) learning to behaviorally control stressors leads to improved performance on a test of general executive functioning, the color-word Stroop, and that (2) this improvement emerges specifically for people who report moderate (subjective) responses to stress. Experiment 1: Stroop performance, measured before and after a stress manipulation, was compared across groups of undergraduate participants (n = 109). People who learned to control a noise stressor and received accurate performance feedback demonstrated reduced Stroop interference compared with people exposed to uncontrollable noise stress and feedback indicating an exaggerated rate of failure. In the group who learned behavioral control, those who reported moderate levels of stress showed the greatest reduction in Stroop interference. In contrast, in the group exposed to uncontrollable events, self-reported stress failed to predict performance. Experiment 2: In a second sample (n = 90), we specifically investigated the role of controllability by keeping the rate of failure feedback constant across groups. In the group who learned behavioral control, those who reported moderate levels of stress showed the greatest Stroop

Functional Roles of Neural Preparatory Processes in a Cued Stroop Task Revealed by Linking Electrophysiology with Behavioral Performance.

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Chao Wang

Full Text Available It is well established that cuing facilitates behavioral performance and that different aspects of instructional cues evoke specific neural preparatory processes in cued task-switching paradigms. To deduce the functional role of these neural preparatory processes the majority of studies vary aspects of the experimental paradigm and describe how these variations alter markers of neural preparatory processes. Although these studies provide important insights, they also have notable limitations, particularly in terms of understanding the causal or functional relationship of neural markers to cognitive and behavioral processes. In this study, we sought to address these limitations and uncover the functional roles of neural processes by examining how variability in the amplitude of neural preparatory processes predicts behavioral performance to subsequent stimuli. To achieve this objective 16 young adults were recruited to perform a cued Stroop task while their brain activity was measured using high-density electroencephalography. Four temporally overlapping but functionally and topographically distinct cue-triggered event related potentials (ERPs were identified: 1 A left-frontotemporal negativity (250-700 ms that was positively associated with word-reading performance; 2 a midline-frontal negativity (450-800 ms that was positively associated with color-naming and incongruent performance; 3 a left-frontal negativity (450-800 ms that was positively associated with switch trial performance; and 4 a centroparietal positivity (450-800 ms that was positively associated with performance for almost all trial types. These results suggest that at least four dissociable cognitive processes are evoked by instructional cues in the present task, including: 1 domain-specific task facilitation; 2 switch-specific task-set reconfiguration; 3 preparation for response conflict; and 4 proactive attentional control. Examining the relationship between ERPs and behavioral

Functional Roles of Neural Preparatory Processes in a Cued Stroop Task Revealed by Linking Electrophysiology with Behavioral Performance.

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Wang, Chao; Ding, Mingzhou; Kluger, Benzi M

2015-01-01

It is well established that cuing facilitates behavioral performance and that different aspects of instructional cues evoke specific neural preparatory processes in cued task-switching paradigms. To deduce the functional role of these neural preparatory processes the majority of studies vary aspects of the experimental paradigm and describe how these variations alter markers of neural preparatory processes. Although these studies provide important insights, they also have notable limitations, particularly in terms of understanding the causal or functional relationship of neural markers to cognitive and behavioral processes. In this study, we sought to address these limitations and uncover the functional roles of neural processes by examining how variability in the amplitude of neural preparatory processes predicts behavioral performance to subsequent stimuli. To achieve this objective 16 young adults were recruited to perform a cued Stroop task while their brain activity was measured using high-density electroencephalography. Four temporally overlapping but functionally and topographically distinct cue-triggered event related potentials (ERPs) were identified: 1) A left-frontotemporal negativity (250-700 ms) that was positively associated with word-reading performance; 2) a midline-frontal negativity (450-800 ms) that was positively associated with color-naming and incongruent performance; 3) a left-frontal negativity (450-800 ms) that was positively associated with switch trial performance; and 4) a centroparietal positivity (450-800 ms) that was positively associated with performance for almost all trial types. These results suggest that at least four dissociable cognitive processes are evoked by instructional cues in the present task, including: 1) domain-specific task facilitation; 2) switch-specific task-set reconfiguration; 3) preparation for response conflict; and 4) proactive attentional control. Examining the relationship between ERPs and behavioral

Intra-individual changes in Stroop-related activations linked to cigarette abstinence in adolescent tobacco smokers: Preliminary findings.

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Yip, Sarah W; Balodis, Iris M; Carroll, Kathleen M; Krishnan-Sarin, Suchitra; Potenza, Marc N

2016-10-01

Adolescence is a crucial time for initiation of tobacco-smoking. Developing more effective treatment interventions for tobacco-smoking in youth is therefore critical to reduce smoking rates in both adolescent and adult populations. Elucidation of the neural mechanisms of successful behavioral change (abstinence) will allow for improvement of therapies based on known brain mechanisms. Twenty-one adolescent tobacco-smokers (14-19 years) participated in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during performance of a cognitive control (Stroop) task prior to randomization to smoking cessation treatment (trial of combined nicotine replacement therapy/placebo and contingency management for attendance/abstinence; NCT01145001). Fourteen adolescents also participated in fMRI scanning following completion of the six-week trial. fMRI data were analyzed using random-effects models in SPM12. Paired t-tests were used to identify group-level changes (main effect of treatment exposure) in neural functional responses. Regression models were used to identify individual-level changes associated with treatment-outcomes (percent days abstinent, maximum days of consecutive abstinence). Main effects of Stroop task performance (contrast of incongruent versus congruent trials) were seen across a priori ROIs at both pre- and post-treatment (pFWEoptimal treatment responses in this population. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Interference control in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: differential Stroop effects for colour-naming versus counting

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Albrecht, B.; Rothenberger, A.; Sergeant, J.A.; Tannock, R.; Uebel, H.; Banaschewski, T.

2008-01-01

Deficits in interference control are ascribed to patients suffering from ADHD by a number of cognitive theories. However, previous research using the Stroop Colour Word Interference Task has demonstrated mixed results that may be explained by methodological issues (e.g., possible impact of colour

The Relationship between Stroop Interference and Facilitation Effects: Statistical Artifacts, Baselines, and a Reassessment

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Brown, Tracy L.

2011-01-01

The relationship between interference and facilitation effects in the Stroop task is poorly understood yet central to its implications. At question is the modal view that they arise from a single mechanism--the congruency of color and word. Two developments have challenged that view: (a) the belief that facilitation effects are fractionally small…

Effect of Tai Chi Training on Dual-Tasking Performance That Involves Stepping Down among Stroke Survivors: A Pilot Study.

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Chan, Wing-Nga; Tsang, William Wai-Nam

2017-01-01

Descending stairs demands attention and neuromuscular control, especially with dual-tasking. Studies have demonstrated that stroke often degrades a survivor's ability to descend stairs. Tai Chi has been shown to improve dual-tasking performance of healthy older adults, but no such study has been conducted in stroke survivors. This study investigated the effect of Tai Chi training on dual-tasking performance that involved stepping down and compared it with that of conventional exercise among stroke survivors. Subjects were randomized into Tai Chi ( n = 9), conventional exercise ( n = 8), and control ( n = 9) groups. Those in the former two groups received 12-week training. Assessments included auditory Stroop test, stepping down test, and dual-tasking test involving both simultaneously. They were evaluated before training (time-1), after training (time-2), and one month after training (time-3). Tai Chi group showed significant improvement in the auditory Stroop test from time-1 to time-3 and the performance was significantly better than that of the conventional exercise group in time-3. No significant effect was found in the stepping down task or dual-tasking in the control group. These results suggest a beneficial effect of Tai Chi training on cognition among stroke survivors without compromising physical task performance in dual-tasking. The effect was better than the conventional exercise group. Nevertheless, further research with a larger sample is warranted.

Effect of Tai Chi Training on Dual-Tasking Performance That Involves Stepping Down among Stroke Survivors: A Pilot Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wing-Nga Chan

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Descending stairs demands attention and neuromuscular control, especially with dual-tasking. Studies have demonstrated that stroke often degrades a survivor’s ability to descend stairs. Tai Chi has been shown to improve dual-tasking performance of healthy older adults, but no such study has been conducted in stroke survivors. This study investigated the effect of Tai Chi training on dual-tasking performance that involved stepping down and compared it with that of conventional exercise among stroke survivors. Subjects were randomized into Tai Chi (n=9, conventional exercise (n=8, and control (n=9 groups. Those in the former two groups received 12-week training. Assessments included auditory Stroop test, stepping down test, and dual-tasking test involving both simultaneously. They were evaluated before training (time-1, after training (time-2, and one month after training (time-3. Tai Chi group showed significant improvement in the auditory Stroop test from time-1 to time-3 and the performance was significantly better than that of the conventional exercise group in time-3. No significant effect was found in the stepping down task or dual-tasking in the control group. These results suggest a beneficial effect of Tai Chi training on cognition among stroke survivors without compromising physical task performance in dual-tasking. The effect was better than the conventional exercise group. Nevertheless, further research with a larger sample is warranted.

Information processing biases in spider phobia: application of the Stroop and "White Noise" Paradigm.

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Olatunji, Bunmi O; Sawchuk, Craig N; Lee, Thomas C; Lohr, Jeffrey M; Tolin, David F

2008-06-01

The present study examines attentional and implicit memory biases in spider phobic and nonphobic participants. The results showed that spider phobics demonstrated increased interference for neutral, negative, and spider-relevant words on a computerized Stroop task. However, no group differences emerged when adjusting for differences in color-naming speed. Prior exposure to a dead spider did result in higher overall Stroop interference in spider phobics and this appeared to be mostly pronounced for spider-relevant words. Implicit memory bias for threat was examined with a noise judgment task. Participants first heard neutral and spider-relevant sentences and implicit memory for these sentences was evaluated by having participants rate the volume of noise accompanying the presentation of old sentences intermixed with new sentences. An implicit memory bias is indicated if participants rate noise accompanying old sentences as less loud than noise accompanying new sentences. No evidence was found for an implicit memory bias in spider phobics. These findings are discussed in relation to the role of information processing biases in spider phobia.

Does the modified Stroop effect exist in PTSD? Evidence from dissertation abstracts and the peer reviewed literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Kimble, Matthew O; Frueh, B Christopher; Marks, Libby

2009-06-01

The modified Stroop effect (MSE), in which participants show delayed colour naming to trauma-specific words, is one of the most widely cited findings in the literature pertaining to cognitive bias in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The current study used a novel approach (Dissertation Abstract Review; DAR) to review the presence of the MSE in dissertation abstracts. A review of dissertations that used the modified Stroop task in a PTSD sample revealed that only 8% of the studies found delayed reaction times to trauma-specific words in participants with PTSD. The most common finding (75%) was for no PTSD-specific effects in colour naming trauma-relevant words. This ratio is significantly lower than ratios found in the peer reviewed literature, but even in the peer reviewed literature only 44% of controlled studies found the modified Stroop effect. These data suggest that a reevaluation of the MSE in PTSD is warranted.

Stroop Dilution Depends on the Nature of the Color Carrier but Not on Its Location

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Cho, Yang Seok; Lien, Mei-Ching; Proctor, Robert W.

2006-01-01

Stroop dilution is the reduction of the Stroop effect in the presence of a neutral word. It has been attributed to competition for attention between the color word and neutral word, to competition between all stimuli in the visual field, and to perceptual interference. Five experiments tested these accounts. The critical manipulation was whether…

The Interactive Effects of Listwide Control, Item-Based Control, and Working Memory Capacity on Stroop Performance

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Hutchison, Keith A.

2011-01-01

Hypothesized top-down and bottom-up mechanisms of control within conflict-rich environments were examined by presenting participants with a Stroop task in which specific words were usually presented in either congruent or incongruent colors. Incongruent colors were either frequently (high contingency) or infrequently (low contingency) paired with…

Across-Task Conflict Regulation: A Replication Failure

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Runger, Dennis; Schwager, Sabine; Frensch, Peter A.

2010-01-01

Fernandez-Duque and Knight (2008, Experiment 4) described an across-task effect of endogenously generated, anticipatory control: A cue that predicted conflict in an upcoming Eriksen flanker task modulated conflict regulation in a subsequent number Stroop task. In 3 experiments, 1 of which included an exact replication condition, we failed to…

Drug Stroop: Mechanisms of response to computerized cognitive behavioral therapy for cocaine dependence in a randomized clinical trial.

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DeVito, Elise E; Kiluk, Brian D; Nich, Charla; Mouratidis, Maria; Carroll, Kathleen M

2018-02-01

Poor performance on Drug Stroop tasks, which could indicate attentional bias to drug-related cues, craving, poor cognitive control (including poor response inhibition), has been associated with substance use severity, treatment retention and substance use treatment outcomes. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on training in appraisal and coping strategies, including strategies to minimize the negative impact of triggers and coping with drug-cue-induced craving. One mechanism of action of CBT may be the strengthening of cognitive control processes and reduction of attentional bias to drug-related stimuli. Methadone-maintained individuals with cocaine-use disorders, participating in a randomized controlled trial of treatment as usual (TAU) versus TAU plus access to computer-based CBT (CBT4CBT), completed a computerized Drug Stroop task at pre- and post-treatment. Analyses determined whether attentional bias toward drug-related stimuli changed differentially by treatment group or cocaine use outcomes across the treatment period and whether engagement in components of CBT4CBT or TAU treatment related to changes in attentional bias toward drug-related stimuli at post- versus pre-treatment. Participants achieving a longer duration of cocaine abstinence during treatment (3+ weeks) showed greater reductions in Drug Stroop Effect than those with shorter maximum continuous abstinence. Reductions in Drug Stroop Effect across treatment were associated with greater engagement with CBT4CBT-specific treatment components, but not TAU-specific treatment components. Reduction in attentional bias to drug-related cues and craving and/or improved executive cognitive control and response inhibition may contribute to the mechanism of action of CBT4CBT. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Task-rest modulation of basal ganglia connectivity in mild to moderate Parkinson's disease.

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Müller-Oehring, Eva M; Sullivan, Edith V; Pfefferbaum, Adolf; Huang, Neng C; Poston, Kathleen L; Bronte-Stewart, Helen M; Schulte, Tilman

2015-09-01

Parkinson's disease (PD) is associated with abnormal synchronization in basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical loops. We tested whether early PD patients without demonstrable cognitive impairment exhibit abnormal modulation of functional connectivity at rest, while engaged in a task, or both. PD and healthy controls underwent two functional MRI scans: a resting-state scan and a Stroop Match-to-Sample task scan. Rest-task modulation of basal ganglia (BG) connectivity was tested using seed-to-voxel connectivity analysis with task and rest time series as conditions. Despite substantial overlap of BG-cortical connectivity patterns in both groups, connectivity differences between groups had clinical and behavioral correlates. During rest, stronger putamen-medial parietal and pallidum-occipital connectivity in PD than controls was associated with worse task performance and more severe PD symptoms suggesting that abnormalities in resting-state connectivity denote neural network dedifferentiation. During the executive task, PD patients showed weaker BG-cortical connectivity than controls, i.e., between caudate-supramarginal gyrus and pallidum-inferior prefrontal regions, that was related to more severe PD symptoms and worse task performance. Yet, task processing also evoked stronger striatal-cortical connectivity, specifically between caudate-prefrontal, caudate-precuneus, and putamen-motor/premotor regions in PD relative to controls, which was related to less severe PD symptoms and better performance on the Stroop task. Thus, stronger task-evoked striatal connectivity in PD demonstrated compensatory neural network enhancement to meet task demands and improve performance levels. fMRI-based network analysis revealed that despite resting-state BG network compromise in PD, BG connectivity to prefrontal, premotor, and precuneus regions can be adequately invoked during executive control demands enabling near normal task performance.

Veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder exhibit altered emotional processing and attentional control during an emotional Stroop task.

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Khanna, M M; Badura-Brack, A S; McDermott, T J; Embury, C M; Wiesman, A I; Shepherd, A; Ryan, T J; Heinrichs-Graham, E; Wilson, T W

2017-08-01

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is often associated with attention allocation and emotional regulation difficulties, but the brain dynamics underlying these deficits are unknown. The emotional Stroop task (EST) is an ideal means to monitor these difficulties, because participants are asked to attend to non-emotional aspects of the stimuli. In this study, we used magnetoencephalography (MEG) and the EST to monitor attention allocation and emotional regulation during the processing of emotionally charged stimuli in combat veterans with and without PTSD. A total of 31 veterans with PTSD and 20 without PTSD performed the EST during MEG. Three categories of stimuli were used, including combat-related, generally threatening and neutral words. MEG data were imaged in the time-frequency domain and the network dynamics were probed for differences in processing threatening and non-threatening words. Behaviorally, veterans with PTSD were significantly slower in responding to combat-related relative to neutral and generally threatening words. Veterans without PTSD exhibited no significant differences in responding to the three different word types. Neurophysiologically, we found a significant three-way interaction between group, word type and time period across multiple brain regions. Follow-up testing indicated stronger theta-frequency (4-8 Hz) responses in the right ventral prefrontal (0.4-0.8 s) and superior temporal cortices (0.6-0.8 s) of veterans without PTSD compared with those with PTSD during the processing of combat-related words. Our data indicated that veterans with PTSD exhibited deficits in attention allocation and emotional regulation when processing trauma cues, while those without PTSD were able to regulate emotion by directing attention away from threat.

Task-Rest Modulation of Basal Ganglia Connectivity in Mild to Moderate Parkinson’s Disease

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Müller-Oehring, Eva M.; Sullivan, Edith V.; Pfefferbaum, Adolf; Huang, Neng C.; Poston, Kathleen L.; Bronte-Stewart, Helen M.; Schulte, Tilman

2014-01-01

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is associated with abnormal synchronization in basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical loops. We tested whether early PD patients without demonstrable cognitive impairment exhibit abnormal modulation of functional connectivity at rest, while engaged in a task, or both. PD and healthy controls underwent two functional MRI scans: a resting-state scan and a Stroop Match-to-Sample task scan. Rest-task modulation of basal ganglia (BG) connectivity was tested using seed-to-voxel connectivity analysis with task and rest time series as conditions. Despite substantial overlap of BG–cortical connectivity patterns in both groups, connectivity differences between groups had clinical and behavioral correlates. During rest, stronger putamen–medial parietal and pallidum–occipital connectivity in PD than controls was associated with worse task performance and more severe PD symptoms suggesting that abnormalities in resting-state connectivity denote neural network dedifferentiation. During the executive task, PD patients showed weaker BG-cortical connectivity than controls, i.e., between caudate–supramarginal gyrus and pallidum–inferior prefrontal regions, that was related to more severe PD symptoms and worse task performance. Yet, task processing also evoked stronger striatal–cortical connectivity, specifically between caudate–prefrontal, caudate–precuneus, and putamen–motor/premotor regions in PD relative to controls, which was related to less severe PD symptoms and better performance on the Stroop task. Thus, stronger task-evoked striatal connectivity in PD demonstrated compensatory neural network enhancement to meet task demands and improve performance levels. fMRI-based network analysis revealed that despite resting-state BG network compromise in PD, BG connectivity to prefrontal, premotor, and precuneus regions can be adequately invoked during executive control demands enabling near normal task performance. PMID:25280970

Dissociation between implicit and explicit manifestations of awareness in early stage dementia: evidence from the emotional Stroop effect for dementia-related words.

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Martyr, Anthony; Clare, Linda; Nelis, Sharon M; Roberts, Judith L; Robinson, Julia U; Roth, Ilona; Markova, Ivana S; Woods, Robert T; Whitaker, Christopher J; Morris, Robin G

2011-01-01

To determine whether people with dementia (PwD), and carers of PwD, show a processing bias to dementia-related words in an emotional Stroop task, and if so, whether the presence of such a bias is related to level of explicit awareness of the condition. Seventy-nine people with early stage Alzheimer's disease (AD), vascular or mixed dementia, and their carers, completed an emotional Stroop task. Time taken to colour-name dementia-related and neutral words was compared within and between groups. Additionally, as a comparison, ratings of the awareness of the condition shown by PwD were made on the basis of a detailed interview with each PwD and his/her carer. PwD and carers showed the same level of increase in response times to salient compared to neutral words. In the PwD this effect was unrelated to the degree of awareness that they demonstrated regarding the condition. The emotional Stroop effect in response to dementia-related words in PwD indicates that preserved implicit awareness of the condition can be elicited even where there is reduced explicit awareness. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Positive schizotypy scores correlate with left visual field interference for negatively valenced emotional words: A lateralized emotional stroop study

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Strien, J.W.; van Kampen, D.

2010-01-01

Fourteen men scoring high and 14 men scoring low on a positive schizotypy scale participated in a lateralized emotional Stroop task. Vocal reaction times for color naming of neutral, positive and negative emotional words were recorded. Across participants, the color naming of neutral and emotional

An investigation of the Stroop effect among deaf signers in English and Japanese: automatic processing or memory retrieval?

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Flaherty, Mary; Moran, Aidan

2007-01-01

Most studies on the Stroop effect (unintentional automatic word processing) have been restricted to English speakers using vocal responses. Little is known about this effect with deaf signers. The study compared Stroop task responses among four different samples: deaf participants from a Japanese-language environment and from an English-language environment; and hearing individuals from Japan and from Australia. Color words were prepared in both English and Japanese and were presented in three conditions: congruent (e.g., the word red printed in red), incongruent (e.g., red printed in blue), and neutral. The magnitude of the effect was greater with the deaf participants than with the hearing participants. The deaf individuals experienced more interference in English than in Japanese.

Characterization of cognitive and motor performance during dual-tasking in healthy older adults and patients with Parkinson's disease.

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Wild, Lucia Bartmann; de Lima, Daiane Borba; Balardin, Joana Bisol; Rizzi, Luana; Giacobbo, Bruno Lima; Oliveira, Henrique Bianchi; de Lima Argimon, Irani Iracema; Peyré-Tartaruga, Leonardo Alexandre; Rieder, Carlos R M; Bromberg, Elke

2013-02-01

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of dual-tasking on cognitive performance and gait parameters in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) without dementia. The impact of cognitive task complexity on cognition and walking was also examined. Eighteen patients with PD (ages 53-88, 10 women; Hoehn and Yahr stage I-II) and 18 older adults (ages 61-84; 10 women) completed two neuropsychological measures of executive function/attention (the Stroop Test and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test). Cognitive performance and gait parameters related to functional mobility of stride were measured under single (cognitive task only) and dual-task (cognitive task during walking) conditions with different levels of difficulty and different types of stimuli. In addition, dual-task cognitive costs were calculated. Although cognitive performance showed no significant difference between controls and PD patients during single or dual-tasking conditions, only the patients had a decrease in cognitive performance during walking. Gait parameters of patients differed significantly from controls at single and dual-task conditions, indicating that patients gave priority to gait while cognitive performance suffered. Dual-task cognitive costs of patients increased with task complexity, reaching significantly higher values then controls in the arithmetic task, which was correlated with scores on executive function/attention (Stroop Color-Word Page). Baseline motor functioning and task executive/attentional load affect the performance of cognitive tasks of PD patients while walking. These findings provide insight into the functional strategies used by PD patients in the initial phases of the disease to manage dual-task interference.

Suggestibility and suggestive modulation of the Stroop effect.

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Kirsch, Irving

2011-06-01

Although the induction of a hypnotic state does not seem necessary for suggestive modulation of the Stroop effect, this important phenomenon has seemed to be dependent on the subject's level of hypnotic suggestibility. Raz and Campbell's (2011) study indicates that suggestion can modulate the Stroop effect substantially in very low suggestible subjects, as well as in those who are highly suggestible. This finding casts doubt on the presumed mechanism by which suggestive modulation is brought about. Research aimed at uncovering the means by which low suggestible individuals are able to modulate the Stroop effect would be welcome, as would assessment of this effect in moderately suggestible people. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Acute exercise improves cognition in the depressed elderly: the effect of dual-tasks

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Paulo Eduardo Vasques

2011-01-01

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to assess the acute effect of physical exercise on the cognitive function of depressed elderly patients in a dual-task experiment. INTRODUCTION: Physical exercise has a positive effect on the brain and may even act as a treatment for major depressive disorder. However, the effects of acute cardiovascular exercise on cognitive function during and after one session of aerobic training in elderly depressive patients are not known. METHODS: Ten elderly subjects diagnosed with major depressive disorder performed neuropsychological tests during and after a moderate physical exercise session (65-75%HRmax. A Digit Span Test (Forward and Backward and a Stroop Color-Word Test were used to assess cognitive function. The elderly participants walked on an electric treadmill for 30 minutes and underwent the same cognitive testing before, during, immediately after, and 15 minutes after the exercise session. In the control session, the same cognitive testing was conducted, but without exercise training. RESULTS: The results of the Digit Span Test did not change between the control and the exercise sessions. The results of the Stroop Color-Word Test improved after physical exercise, indicating a positive effect of exercise on cognition. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that the cognitive functions of depressed elderly persons, especially attention and inhibitory control, are not impaired during and after an acute session of physical exercise. In contrast, the effect of dual-tasks showed beneficial results for these subjects, mainly after exercise. The dual-task may be a safe and useful tool for assessing cognitive function.

Decomposing interference during Stroop performance into different conflict factors: an event-related fMRI study.

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Melcher, Tobias; Gruber, Oliver

2009-02-01

In the current event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we sought to trace back Stroop-interference to circumscribed properties of task-irrelevant word information - response-incompatibility, semantic incongruency and task-reference - that we conceive as conflict factors. Thereby, we particularly wanted to disentangle intermingled contributions of semantic conflict and response conflict to the overall Stroop-interference effect. To delineate neural substrates of single factors, we referred to the logics of cognitive subtraction and cognitive conjunction. Moreover, in a second step, we conducted correlation analyses to determine the relationship between neural activations and behavioral interference costs (i.e., conflict-related reaction time (RT) slowing) so as to further elucidate the functional role of the respective brain regions in conflict processing. Response-incompatibility was associated with activation in the left premotor cortex which can be interpreted as indicating motor competition or conflict, i.e., the presence of competing response tendencies. Accordingly, this activation was positively correlated with behavioral conflict costs. Semantic incongruency exhibited specific activation in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), the bilateral insula, and thalamus as well as in left somatosensory cortex. As supported by the consistent negative correlation with behavioral conflict costs, these activations most probably reflect strengthened control efforts to overcome interference and to ensure adequate task performance. Finally, task-reference elicited activation in the left temporo-polar cortex (TPC) and the right medial superior as well as in left rostroventral prefrontal cortex (rvPFC, sub-threshold activation). As strongly supported by prior studies' findings, this neural activation pattern may underlie residual semantic processing of the task-irrelevant word information.

Performance of schizophrenic patients in the Stroop Color Word Test and electrodermal responsiveness after acute administration of cannabidiol (CBD Desempenho de pacientes esquizofrênicos no Stroop Color Word Test e responsividade eletrodérmica após administração aguda de canabidiol (CBD

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Jaime E. C. Hallak

2010-03-01

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: The last decade has seen increasing evidence of dysfunctions in the endogenous cannabinoid system in schizophrenia and of its relationship with the typical cognitive impairment of the disorder. Studies in animal models, healthy volunteers, and psychotic patients clearly suggest an antipsychotic-like effect of cannabidiol. This study investigated the effects of cannabidiol on selective attention in 28 schizophrenic patients using the Stroop Color Word Test and on these patients' electrodermal responsiveness to auditive stimuli. METHOD: The subjects attended two experimental sessions, the first one without the administration of drugs. In the second session the subjects were divided into three groups that received either a single dose of cannabidiol 300mg or cannabidiol 600mg or placebo. RESULTS: The three groups did not differ significantly with respect to electrodermal measures in the two experimental sessions. When the first and second sessions were compared improved performance was found in all three groups, with patients who received placebo and cannabidiol 300mg performing better than those who received cannabidiol 600mg. CONCLUSION: The single, acute administration of cannabidiol seems to have no beneficial effects on the performance of schizophrenic patients in the Stroop Color Word Test, although the hypothesis that chronic administration may lead to improvement cannot be disregarded.OBJETIVO: Descobertas relativas a possíveis disfunções do sistema canabinóide endógeno na esquizofrenia e sua relação com o prejuízo cognitivo característico da doença têm aumentado durante a última década. Estudos com modelos animais, voluntários saudáveis e pacientes psicóticos sugerem claramente que o canabidiol possui efeitos antipsicóticos. Este estudo investigou os efeitos do canabidiol sobre a atenção seletiva por meio do Stroop Color Word Test e a responsividade eletrodérmica a estímulos auditivos em 28 pacientes com

Application of the ex-Gaussian function to the effect of the word blindness suggestion on Stroop task performance suggests no word blindness

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Benjamin Andrew Parris

2013-09-01

Full Text Available The aim of the present paper was to apply the ex-Gaussian function to data reported by Parris et al. (2012 given its utility in studies involving the Stroop task. Parris et al. showed an effect of the word blindness suggestion when Response-Stimulus Interval (RSI was 500ms but not when it was 3500ms. Analysis revealed that: 1 The effect of the suggestion on interference is observed in µ, supporting converging evidence indicating the suggestion operates over response competition mechanisms; and, 2 Contrary to Parris et al., an effect of the suggestion was observed in µ when RSI was 3500ms. The reanalysis of the data from Parris et al. (2012 supports the utility of ex-Gaussian analysis in revealing effects that might otherwise be thought of as absent. We suggest that word reading itself is not suppressed by the suggestion but instead that response conflict is dealt with more effectively.

Increased Stroop interference with better second-language reading skill.

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Braet, Wouter; Noppe, Nele; Wagemans, Johan; Op de Beeck, Hans

2011-03-01

Skilled readers demonstrate remarkable efficiency in processing written words, unlike beginning readers for whom reading occurs more serially and places higher demands on visual attention. In the present study, we used the Stroop paradigm to investigate the relationship between reading skill and automaticity, in individuals learning a second language with a different orthographic system. Prior studies using this paradigm have presented a mixed picture, finding a positive, a negative, or no relationship between the size of Stroop interference and reading skills. Our results show that Stroop interference in the second language was positively related to reading skill (when controlled for interference in the first language). Furthermore, interference was positively related to objective but not subjective indices of the amount of exposure to the second language. We suggest that the lack of consistency in the results of earlier studies may be due, at least in part, to these studies looking at Stroop interference in isolation, rather than comparing interference between languages.

Working Memory Capacity and Its Relation to Stroop Interference and Facilitation Effects in Individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment

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Sung, Jee Eun; Kim, Jin Hee; Jeong, Jee Hyang; Kang, Heejin

2012-01-01

Purpose: The purposes of the study were to investigate (a) the task-specific differences in short-term memory (STM) and working memory capacity (WMC) in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and normal elderly adults (NEAs), (b) the Stroop interference and facilitation effects, and (c) the relationship of STM and WMC to the Stroop…

Use of the Stroop phenomenon as a diagnostic tool for malingering.

OpenAIRE

Osimani, A; Alon, A; Berger, A; Abarbanel, J M

1997-01-01

AIMS: To assess a computerised version of the Stroop test for detection of malingering of cognitive deficit. METHODS: Sixty subjects were assessed using this test. Twenty had cognitive deficits due to brain damage of miscellaneous aetiologies. Ten were healthy, not acquainted with the test, and were asked to simulate cognitive impairment. Another 10 simulators were psychology students trained in the use of the test. Twenty healthy subjects served as controls. Results were analysed for reactio...

Stimulus conflict triggers behavioral avoidance.

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Dignath, David; Eder, Andreas B

2015-12-01

According to a recent extension of the conflict-monitoring theory, conflict between two competing response tendencies is registered as an aversive event and triggers a motivation to avoid the source of conflict. In the present study, we tested this assumption. Over five experiments, we examined whether conflict is associated with an avoidance motivation and whether stimulus conflict or response conflict triggers an avoidance tendency. Participants first performed a color Stroop task. In a subsequent motivation test, participants responded to Stroop stimuli with approach- and avoidance-related lever movements. These results showed that Stroop-conflict stimuli increased the frequency of avoidance responses in a free-choice motivation test, and also increased the speed of avoidance relative to approach responses in a forced-choice test. High and low proportions of response conflict in the Stroop task had no effect on avoidance in the motivation test. Avoidance of conflict was, however, obtained even with new conflict stimuli that had not been presented before in a Stroop task, and when the Stroop task was replaced with an unrelated filler task. Taken together, these results suggest that stimulus conflict is sufficient to trigger avoidance.

STROOP EFFECT AND ITS LIMITATIONS IN PRACTICE EXECUTIVE NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL CHILD.

OpenAIRE

Yaser Ramírez-Benitez; Miriela Díaz Bringas

2011-01-01

Introduction: The test of Stroop on line modality word / color is of limited application in the clinical child population. A digital adaptation of the test demands the infant's quick answer and at the same time that the processes used in the test have an interference in the boy. If the boy doesn't adapt to the digital demands it doesn't happen the interference between the processes and the test he doesn't have effect. Material and Method: The investigation seeks to determine if the results of...

Effects of prolonged wakefulness combined with alcohol and hands-free cell phone divided attention tasks on simulated driving.

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Iudice, A; Bonanni, E; Gelli, A; Frittelli, C; Iudice, G; Cignoni, F; Ghicopulos, I; Murri, L

2005-03-01

Simulated driving ability was assessed following administration of alcohol, at an estimated blood level of 0.05%, and combined prolonged wakefulness, while participants were undertaking divided attention tasks over a hands-free mobile phone. Divided attention tasks were structured to provide a sustained cognitive workload to the subjects. Twenty three young healthy individuals drove 10 km simulated driving under four conditions in a counterbalanced, within-subject design: alcohol, alcohol and 19 h wakefulness, alcohol and 24 h wakefulness, and while sober. Study measures were: simulated driving, self-reported sleepiness, critical flicker fusion threshold (CFFT), Stroop word-colour interference test (Stroop) and simple visual reaction times (SVRT). As expected, subjective sleepiness was highly correlated with both sleep restriction and alcohol consumption. The combination of alcohol and 24 h sustained wakefulness produced the highest driving impairment, significantly beyond the alcohol effect itself. Concurrent alcohol and 19 h wakefulness significantly affected only driving time-to-collision. No significant changes of study measures occurred following alcohol intake in unrestricted sleep conditions. CFFT, SVRT and Stroop results showed a similar trend in the four study conditions. Thus apparently 'safe' blood alcohol levels in combination with prolonged wakefulness resulted in significant driving impairments. In normal sleep conditions alcohol effects on driving were partially counteracted by the concomitant hands-free phone based psychometric tasks. 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

What Do We Really Know about Cognitive Inhibition? Task Demands and Inhibitory Effects across a Range of Memory and Behavioural Tasks.

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Saima Noreen

Full Text Available Our study explores inhibitory control across a range of widely recognised memory and behavioural tasks. Eighty-seven never-depressed participants completed a series of tasks designed to measure inhibitory control in memory and behaviour. Specifically, a variant of the selective retrieval-practice and the Think/No-Think tasks were employed as measures of memory inhibition. The Stroop-Colour Naming and the Go/No-Go tasks were used as measures of behavioural inhibition. Participants completed all 4 tasks. Task presentation order was counterbalanced across 3 separate testing sessions for each participant. Standard inhibitory forgetting effects emerged on both memory tasks but the extent of forgetting across these tasks was not correlated. Furthermore, there was no relationship between memory inhibition tasks and either of the main behavioural inhibition measures. At a time when cognitive inhibition continues to gain acceptance as an explanatory mechanism, our study raises fundamental questions about what we actually know about inhibition and how it is affected by the processing demands of particular inhibitory tasks.

Are factors related to dual-task performance in people with Parkinson's disease dependent on the type of dual task?

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Strouwen, Carolien; Molenaar, Esther A L M; Keus, Samyra H J; Münks, Liesbeth; Heremans, Elke; Vandenberghe, Wim; Bloem, Bastiaan R; Nieuwboer, Alice

2016-02-01

Impaired dual-task performance significantly impacts upon functional mobility in people with Parkinson's disease (PD). The aim of this study was to identify determinants of dual-task performance in people with PD in three different dual tasks to assess their possible task-dependency. We recruited 121 home-dwelling patients with PD (mean age 65.93 years; mean disease duration 8.67 years) whom we subjected to regular walking (control condition) and to three dual-task conditions: walking combined with a backwards Digit Span task, an auditory Stroop task and a Mobile Phone task. We measured dual-task gait velocity using the GAITRite mat and dual-task reaction times and errors on the concurrent tasks as outcomes. Motor, cognitive and descriptive variables which correlated to dual-task performance (p task gait velocity and executive function, tested by the alternating intake test, was significantly associated with gait velocity during the Digit Span (R(2) = 0.65; p task (R(2) = 0.62; p task. Age was a surplus determinant of gait velocity while using a mobile phone. Single-task gait velocity and executive function as measured by a verbal fluency switching task were independent determinants of dual-task gait performance in people with PD. In contrast to expectation, these factors were the same across different tasks, supporting the robustness of the findings. Future study needs to determine whether these factors predict dual-task abnormalities prospectively. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Context-specific control and context selection in conflict tasks.

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Schouppe, Nathalie; Ridderinkhof, K Richard; Verguts, Tom; Notebaert, Wim

2014-02-01

This study investigated whether participants prefer contexts with relatively little cognitive conflict and whether this preference is related to context-specific control. A conflict selection task was administered in which participants had to choose between two categories that contained different levels of conflict. One category was associated with 80% congruent Stroop trials and 20% incongruent Stroop trials, while the other category was associated with only 20% congruent Stroop trials and 80% incongruent Stroop trials. As predicted, participants selected the low-conflict category more frequently, indicating that participants avoid contexts with high-conflict likelihood. Furthermore, we predicted a correlation between this preference for the low-conflict category and the control implementation associated with the categories (i.e., context-specific proportion congruency effect, CSPC effect). Results however did not show such a correlation, thereby failing to support a relationship between context control and context selection. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Differential Effects of Emotional Information on Interference Task Performance across the Life Span

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Haley M LaMonica

2010-09-01

Full Text Available While functioning in multiple domains declines with age, emotional regulation appears to remain preserved in older adults. The Emotion Inhibition (Emotional Stroop Test requires participants to name the ink color in which neutrally- and emotionally-valenced words are printed. It was employed in the current investigation as a measure of affective regulation in the context of an interference task in relation to age. Results demonstrated that while participants ranging from 20 to 50 years of age performed significantly worse on the emotion Stroop Inhibition relative to the neutral Stroop Inhibition condition, subjects over 60 years of age displayed the converse of this pattern, performing better on the emotion than the neutral condition, suggesting that they are less affected by the emotional impact of the positive and negative words used in the former condition. This pattern of age-related change in the ability to manage emotion may be related to blunting of affective signaling in limbic structures or, at the psychological level, focusing on emotional regulation.

A Modified Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test Predicts Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia Better Than Executive Function Tests

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Matthias L. Schroeter

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD is characterized by deep alterations in behavior and personality. Although revised diagnostic criteria agree for executive dysfunction as most characteristic, impairments in social cognition are also suggested. The study aimed at identifying those neuropsychological and behavioral parameters best discriminating between bvFTD and healthy controls. Eighty six patients were diagnosed with possible or probable bvFTD according to Rascovsky et al. (2011 and compared with 43 healthy age-matched controls. Neuropsychological performance was assessed with a modified Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET, Stroop task, Trail Making Test (TMT, Hamasch-Five-Point Test (H5PT, and semantic and phonemic verbal fluency tasks. Behavior was assessed with the Apathy Evaluation Scale, Frontal Systems Behavioral Scale, and Bayer Activities of Daily Living Scale. Each test’s discriminatory power was investigated by Receiver Operating Characteristic curves calculating the area under the curve (AUC. bvFTD patients performed significantly worse than healthy controls in all neuropsychological tests. Discriminatory power (AUC was highest in behavioral questionnaires, high in verbal fluency tasks and the RMET, and lower in executive function tests such as the Stroop task, TMT and H5PT. As fluency tasks depend on several cognitive functions, not only executive functions, results suggest that the RMET discriminated better between bvFTD and control subjects than other executive tests. Social cognition should be incorporated into diagnostic criteria for bvFTD in the future, such as in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11, as already suggested in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-5.

Influence of acute high-intensity aerobic interval exercise bout on selective attention and short-term memory tasks.

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Alves, Christiano R R; Tessaro, Victor H; Teixeira, Luis A C; Murakava, Karina; Roschel, Hamilton; Gualano, Bruno; Takito, Monica Y

2014-02-01

Acute moderate intensity continuous aerobic exercise can improve specific cognitive functions, such as short-term memory and selective attention. Moreover, high-intensity interval training (HIT) has been recently proposed as a time-efficient alternative to traditional cardiorespiratory exercise. However, considering previous speculations that the exercise intensity affects cognition in a U-shaped fashion, it was hypothesized that a HIT session may impair cognitive performance. Therefore, this study assessed the effects of an acute HIT session on selective attention and short-term memory tasks. 22 healthy middle-aged individuals (M age = 53.7 yr.) engaged in both (1) a HIT session, 10 1 min. cycling bouts at the intensity corresponding to 80% of the reserve heart rate interspersed by 1 min. active pauses cycling at 60% of the reserve heart rate and (2) a control session, consisting of an active condition with low-intensity active stretching exercise. Before and after each experimental session, cognitive performance was assessed by the Victoria Version of the Stroop test (a selective attention test) and the Digit Span test (a short-term memory test). Following the HIT session, the time to complete the Stroop "Color word" test was significantly lower when compared with that of the control session. The performances in the other subtasks of the Stroop test as well as in the Digit Span test were not significantly different. A HIT session can improve cognitive function.

Functional Task Test (FTT)

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Bloomberg, Jacob J.; Mulavara, Ajitkumar; Peters, Brian T.; Rescheke, Millard F.; Wood, Scott; Lawrence, Emily; Koffman, Igor; Ploutz-Snyder, Lori; Spiering, Barry A.; Feeback, Daniel L.;

Sex differences in guanfacine effects on stress-induced stroop performance in cocaine dependence.

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Milivojevic, Verica; Fox, Helen C; Jayaram-Lindstrom, Nitya; Hermes, Gretchen; Sinha, Rajita

2017-10-01

Chronic drug abuse leads to sex-specific changes in drug cue and stress physiologic and neuroendocrine reactivity as well as in neural responses to stress and cue-related challenges and in executive function such as inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility and self control. Importantly, these functions have been associated with high risk of relapse and treatment. Alpha-2 agonism may enhance inhibitory cognitive processes in the face of stress with sex-specific effects, however this has not been previously assessed in cocaine dependence. Forty inpatient treatment-seeking cocaine dependent individuals (13F/27M) were randomly assigned to receive either placebo or up to 3mgs of Guanfacine. Three laboratory sessions were conducted following 3-4 weeks of abstinence, where patients were exposed to three 10-min personalized guided imagery conditions (stress, drug cue, combined stress/cue), one per day, on consecutive days in a random, counterbalanced order. The Stroop task was administered at baseline and immediately following imagery exposure. Guanfacine treated women improved their performance on the Stroop task following exposure to all 3 imagery conditions compared with placebo women (p=0.02). This improvement in cognitive inhibitory performance was not observed in the men. Enhancing the ability to cognitively regulate in the face of stress, drug cues and combined stress and drug cue reactivity may be key targets for medications development in cocaine dependent women. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The effect of the sensitivity of the BAS and BAS motivational systems on performance in stroke rehabilitation tasks

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Maja Milavec

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Stroke rehabilitation programs are often too short and not intensive enough, possibly due to a lack of patient motivation. This study examined whether the patient's mood, task success and psychophysiological responses are affected by the sensitivity of two motivational systems: the Behavioral Activation System (BAS and the Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS. 22 subacute stroke patients participated in the study. They performed an easier and harder version of a motor rehabilition task as well as the Stroop task. The sensitivities of the two motivational systems were measured using the BIS/BAS scale. Additionally, psychophysiological measurements (heart rate, skin conductance, respiration and skin temperature were taken and the Self-Assessment Manikin was used to measure self-reported valence and arousal. Results showed that valence and arousal are not significantly correlated with BIS/BAS subscales during the rehabilitation task. A negative correlation between valence and the BAS subscales was found in the Stroop task. Results also confirmed the initial hypothesis that the BAS would be correlated with task performance during the rehabilitation task while the BIS would be negatively correlated with task performance during the Stroop task. Only partial confirmation was found for the hypothesis that tasks that include a reward would affect heart rate in subjects with a sensitive BAS while tasks without a reward would affect skin conductance in subjects with a sensitive BIS. In both versions of the rehabilitation task, which includes a reward, the BAS reward subscale was negatively correlated with mean skin temperature. In the harder rehabilitation task, the BAS reward responsiveness subscale was positively correlated with mean heart rate. In the Stroop task, which has no reward, the BIS scale was positively correlated with mean heart rate. The BAS subscale was also negatively correlated with the RMSSD measure of heart rate variability. The results of

Associations between physical function, dual-task performance and cognition in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sobol, Nanna Aue; Hoffmann, Kristine; Vogel, Asmus Mejling

2016-01-01

blinded multicenter RCT 'ADEX' (Alzheimer's disease: the effect of physical exercise) were used. Assessments included tests of physical function: 400-m walk test, 10-m walk test, Timed Up and Go test and 30-s chair stand test; dual-task performance, i.e., 10-m walk while counting backwards from 50...... or naming the months backwards; and cognition, i.e., Mini Mental State Examination, Symbol Digit Modalities Test, the Stroop Color and Word Test, and Lexical verbal fluency test. RESULTS: Results in the 30-s chair stand test correlated significantly with all tests of cognition (r = .208-.242) while...

Task feedback effects on conflict monitoring and executive control: relationship to subclinical measures of depression.

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Holmes, Avram J; Pizzagalli, Diego A

2007-02-01

Emerging evidence suggests that depression is associated with executive dysfunction, particularly after committing errors or receiving negative performance feedback. To test this hypothesis, 57 participants performed two executive tasks known to elicit errors (the Simon and Stroop Tasks) during positive or negative performance feedback. Participants with elevated depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory scores >or= 13) were characterized by impaired posterror and postconflict performance adjustments, especially during emotionally negative task-related feedback. Additionally, for both tasks, depressive symptoms were inversely related to postconflict reaction time adjustments following negative, but not positive, feedback. These findings suggest that subclinical depression is associated with impairments in behavioral adjustments after internal (perceived failure) and external feedback about deficient task performance. (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved.

Converging evidence for control of color-word Stroop interference at the item level.

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Bugg, Julie M; Hutchison, Keith A

2013-04-01

Prior studies have shown that cognitive control is implemented at the list and context levels in the color-word Stroop task. At first blush, the finding that Stroop interference is reduced for mostly incongruent items as compared with mostly congruent items (i.e., the item-specific proportion congruence [ISPC] effect) appears to provide evidence for yet a third level of control, which modulates word reading at the item level. However, evidence to date favors the view that ISPC effects reflect the rapid prediction of high-contingency responses and not item-specific control. In Experiment 1, we first show that an ISPC effect is obtained when the relevant dimension (i.e., color) signals proportion congruency, a problematic pattern for theories based on differential response contingencies. In Experiment 2, we replicate and extend this pattern by showing that item-specific control settings transfer to new stimuli, ruling out alternative frequency-based accounts. In Experiment 3, we revert to the traditional design in which the irrelevant dimension (i.e., word) signals proportion congruency. Evidence for item-specific control, including transfer of the ISPC effect to new stimuli, is apparent when 4-item sets are employed but not when 2-item sets are employed. We attribute this pattern to the absence of high-contingency responses on incongruent trials in the 4-item set. These novel findings provide converging evidence for reactive control of color-word Stroop interference at the item level, reveal theoretically important factors that modulate reliance on item-specific control versus contingency learning, and suggest an update to the item-specific control account (Bugg, Jacoby, & Chanani, 2011).

Development and Testing of a Smartphone-Based Cognitive/Neuropsychological Evaluation System for Substance Abusers.

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Pal, Reshmi; Mendelson, John; Clavier, Odile; Baggott, Mathew J; Coyle, Jeremy; Galloway, Gantt P

2016-01-01

In methamphetamine (MA) users, drug-induced neurocognitive deficits may help to determine treatment, monitor adherence, and predict relapse. To measure these relationships, we developed an iPhone app (Neurophone) to compare lab and field performance of N-Back, Stop Signal, and Stroop tasks that are sensitive to MA-induced deficits. Twenty healthy controls and 16 MA-dependent participants performed the tasks in-lab using a validated computerized platform and the Neurophone before taking the latter home and performing the tasks twice daily for two weeks. N-Back task: there were no clear differences in performance between computer-based vs. phone-based in-lab tests and phone-based in-lab vs. phone-based in-field tests. Stop-Signal task: difference in parameters prevented comparison of computer-based and phone-based versions. There was significant difference in phone performance between field and lab. Stroop task: response time measured by the speech recognition engine lacked precision to yield quantifiable results. There was no learning effect over time. On an average, each participant completed 84.3% of the in-field NBack tasks and 90.4% of the in-field Stop Signal tasks (MA-dependent participants: 74.8% and 84.3%; healthy controls: 91.4% and 95.0%, respectively). Participants rated Neurophone easy to use. Cognitive tasks performed in-field using Neurophone have the potential to yield results comparable to those obtained in a laboratory setting. Tasks need to be modified for use as the app's voice recognition system is not yet adequate for timed tests.

Tai Chi practitioners have better postural control and selective attention in stepping down with and without a concurrent auditory response task.

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Lu, Xi; Siu, Ka-Chun; Fu, Siu N; Hui-Chan, Christina W Y; Tsang, William W N

2013-08-01

To compare the performance of older experienced Tai Chi practitioners and healthy controls in dual-task versus single-task paradigms, namely stepping down with and without performing an auditory response task, a cross-sectional study was conducted in the Center for East-meets-West in Rehabilitation Sciences at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong. Twenty-eight Tai Chi practitioners (73.6 ± 4.2 years) and 30 healthy control subjects (72.4 ± 6.1 years) were recruited. Participants were asked to step down from a 19-cm-high platform and maintain a single-leg stance for 10 s with and without a concurrent cognitive task. The cognitive task was an auditory Stroop test in which the participants were required to respond to different tones of voices regardless of their word meanings. Postural stability after stepping down under single- and dual-task paradigms, in terms of excursion of the subject's center of pressure (COP) and cognitive performance, was measured for comparison between the two groups. Our findings demonstrated significant between-group differences in more outcome measures during dual-task than single-task performance. Thus, the auditory Stroop test showed that Tai Chi practitioners achieved not only significantly less error rate in single-task, but also significantly faster reaction time in dual-task, when compared with healthy controls similar in age and other relevant demographics. Similarly, the stepping-down task showed that Tai Chi practitioners not only displayed significantly less COP sway area in single-task, but also significantly less COP sway path than healthy controls in dual-task. These results showed that Tai Chi practitioners achieved better postural stability after stepping down as well as better performance in auditory response task than healthy controls. The improved performance that was magnified by dual motor-cognitive task performance may point to the benefits of Tai Chi being a mind-and-body exercise.

The bidirectional congruency effect of brightness-valence metaphoric association in the Stroop-like and priming paradigms.

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Huang, Yanli; Tse, Chi-Shing; Xie, Jiushu

2017-11-04

The conceptual metaphor theory (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980, 1999) postulates a unidirectional metaphoric association between abstract and concrete concepts: sensorimotor experience activated by concrete concepts facilitates the processing of abstract concepts, but not the other way around. However, this unidirectional view has been challenged by studies that reported a bidirectional metaphoric association. In three experiments, we tested the directionality of the brightness-valence metaphoric association, using Stroop-like paradigm, priming paradigm, and Stroop-like paradigm with a go/no-go manipulation. Both mean and vincentile analyses of reaction time data were performed. We showed that the directionality of brightness-valence metaphoric congruency effect could be modulated by the activation level of the brightness/valence information. Both brightness-to-valence and valence-to-brightness metaphoric congruency effects occurred in the priming paradigm, which could be attributed to the presentation of prime that pre-activated the brightness or valence information. However, in the Stroop-like paradigm the metaphoric congruency effect was only observed in the brightness-to-valence direction, but not in the valence-to-brightness direction. When the go/no-go manipulation was used to boost the activation of word meaning in the Stroop-like paradigm, the valence-to-brightness metaphoric congruency effect was observed. Vincentile analyses further revealed that valence-to-brightness metaphoric congruency effect approached significance in the Stroop-like paradigm when participants' reaction times were slower (at around 490ms). The implications of the current findings on the conceptual metaphor theory and embodied cognition are discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Heart rate variability changes during stroop color and word test among genders.

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Satish, Priyanka; Muralikrishnan, Krishnan; Balasubramanian, Kabali; Shanmugapriya

2015-01-01

Stress is the reaction of the body to a change that requires physical, mental or emotional adjustments. Individual differences in stress reactivity are a potentially important risk factor for gender-specific health problems in men and women. The Autonomic regulation of the cardiovascular system is most commonly affected by stress and is assessed by means of short term heart rate variability (HRV).The present study was undertaken to investigate the difference in the cardiovascular Autonomic Nervous System response to mental stress between the genders using HRV as tool. We compared the mean RR interval, Blood pressure and indices of HRV during the StroopColor Word Test (SCWT).Twenty five male (Age 19.52±0.714, BMI 22.73±2 kg/m2) and twenty five female subjects (Age 19.80±0.65, BMI 22.39±1.9) performed SCWT for five minutes. Blood Pressure (SBP p<0.01, DBP p<0.042) & Mean HR (p<0.010) values showed statistically significant difference among the genders. HRV indices like LFms2 (p<0.051), HF nu (p<0.029) and LF/HF ratio (p<0.025, p<0.052) show statistically significant difference among the genders. The response by the cardiovascular system to a simple mental stressor exhibits difference among the genders.

Behavioral Indexes of Test Anxiety in Mathematics among Senior High School Students

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DANIEL MACÍAS-MARTÍNEZ

2008-12-01

Full Text Available The study of Mathematics has been and is still a source of frustration and anxiety for a large number of students. The purpose of this study was to inquire systematically upon levels of test anxiety through behavioral and physiological procedures before and after a Math test, in 205 senior high school students. Academic worries were assessed by means of a computerized task based on the emotional version of the Stroop paradigm designed ex profeso to measure school anxiety (Hernández-Pozo, Macías & Torres, 2004. The Stroop task was administered, along with recordings of blood pressure and pulse, before and after the first Math test of the course. Academic general scores were inverse to the behavioral anxiety level, however the best Math scores were associated to middle levels of behavioral anxiety. Contradictory findings between academic performance in Math and global score, and the apparent lack of gender difference in anxiety measured through behavioral procedures suggests the need to review the generality of previous assertions relating academic performance inversely with levels of anxiety of high school students.

Treatment effects on insular and anterior cingulate cortex activation during classic and emotional Stroop interference in child abuse-related complex post-traumatic stress disorder.

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Thomaes, K; Dorrepaal, E; Draijer, N; de Ruiter, M B; Elzinga, B M; van Balkom, A J; Smit, J H; Veltman, D J

2012-11-01

Functional neuroimaging studies have shown increased Stroop interference coupled with altered anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and insula activation in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These brain areas are associated with error detection and emotional arousal. There is some evidence that treatment can normalize these activation patterns. At baseline, we compared classic and emotional Stroop performance and blood oxygenation level-dependent responses (functional magnetic resonance imaging) of 29 child abuse-related complex PTSD patients with 22 non-trauma-exposed healthy controls. In 16 of these patients, we studied treatment effects of psycho-educational and cognitive behavioural stabilizing group treatment (experimental treatment; EXP) added to treatment as usual (TAU) versus TAU only, and correlations with clinical improvement. At baseline, complex PTSD patients showed a trend for increased left anterior insula and dorsal ACC activation in the classic Stroop task. Only EXP patients showed decreased dorsal ACC and left anterior insula activation after treatment. In the emotional Stroop contrasts, clinical improvement was associated with decreased dorsal ACC activation and decreased left anterior insula activation. We found further evidence that successful treatment in child abuse-related complex PTSD is associated with functional changes in the ACC and insula, which may be due to improved selective attention and lower emotional arousal, indicating greater cognitive control over PTSD symptoms.

Stroop interference and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a review and meta-analysis.

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Lansbergen, M.M.; Kenemans, J.L.; Engeland, H.M. van

2007-01-01

Previous reviews and meta-analyses that addressed abnormal Stroop interference in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) yielded mixed results. The authors of the present study argue that the inconsistencies may reflect the problematic nature of 2 frequently used methods to quantify Stroop

Healthy older adults balance pattern under dual task conditions: exploring the strategy and trend

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Bahareh Zeynalzadeh Ghoochani

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Background: In line with health promotion plans, early intervention and fall prevention in geriatric population, it is important to study healthy individuals balance mechanisms. The aim of this research was to investigate the effect of adding and removing visual input and dual task on elderly balance. Methods: Twenty healthy elderly recruited from four different senior citizen health club centers and from the University of Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences (USWR participated in this analytic cross-sectional study. At USWR’s Motor Control Laboratory, the participants’ postural sway were assessed using force plate in 4 distinct double leg standing conditions with and without presence of visual input and Stroop dual task. Postural and Stroop variables were compared. Results: Findings indicated that when the elderly encountered with either dual task or absence of visual input, they can still manage the situation in a way that changes in sway parameter would not become significant. But, when these two conditions occurred simultaneously, the participant’s balance strategy fluctuated. Therefore, the mean velocity showed a significant difference between the "single quiet standing" condition and the condition of standing with eyes closed while the participants were answering Stroop dual task (Mean difference = -0.007, 95% CI = -0.012, -0.002. Conclusion: It appears that velocity parameter is sensitive to small changes, so it is recommended that researchers include this parameter in their future analyses. Balance in elderly can be manipulated by dual task and visual input deprivation.

Single-task and dual-task tandem gait test performance after concussion.

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Howell, David R; Osternig, Louis R; Chou, Li-Shan

2017-07-01

To compare single-task and dual-task tandem gait test performance between athletes after concussion with controls on observer-timed, spatio-temporal, and center-of-mass (COM) balance control measurements. Ten participants (19.0±5.5years) were prospectively identified and completed a tandem gait test protocol within 72h of concussion and again 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, and 2 months post-injury. Seven uninjured controls (20.0±4.5years) completed the same protocol in similar time increments. Tandem gait test trials were performed with (dual-task) and without (single-task) concurrently performing a cognitive test as whole-body motion analysis was performed. Outcome variables included test completion time, average tandem gait velocity, cadence, and whole-body COM frontal plane displacement. Concussion participants took significantly longer to complete the dual-task tandem gait test than controls throughout the first 2 weeks post-injury (mean time=16.4 [95% CI: 13.4-19.4] vs. 10.1 [95% CI: 6.4-13.7] seconds; p=0.03). Single-task tandem gait times were significantly lower 72h post-injury (p=0.04). Dual-task cadence was significantly lower for concussion participants than controls (89.5 [95% CI: 68.6-110.4] vs. 127.0 [95% CI: 97.4-156.6] steps/minute; p=0.04). Moderately-high to high correlations between tandem gait test time and whole-body COM medial-lateral displacement were detected at each time point during dual-task gait (r s =0.70-0.93; p=0.03-0.001). Adding a cognitive task during the tandem gait test resulted in longer detectable deficits post-concussion compared to the traditional single-task tandem gait test. As a clinical tool to assess dynamic motor function, tandem gait may assist with return to sport decisions after concussion. Copyright © 2017 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

N450 and LPC Event-Related Potential Correlates of an Emotional Stroop Task with Words Differing in Valence and Emotional Origin.

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Imbir, Kamil K; Spustek, Tomasz; Duda, Joanna; Bernatowicz, Gabriela; Żygierewicz, Jarosław

2017-01-01

Affective meaning of verbal stimuli was found to influence cognitive control as expressed in the Emotional Stroop Task (EST). Behavioral studies have shown that factors such as valence, arousal, and emotional origin of reaction to stimuli associated with words can lead to lengthening of reaction latencies in EST. Moreover, electrophysiological studies have revealed that affective meaning altered amplitude of some components of evoked potentials recorded during EST, and that this alteration correlated with the performance in EST. The emotional origin was defined as processing based on automatic vs. reflective mechanisms, that underlines formation of emotional reactions to words. The aim of the current study was to investigate, within the framework of EST, correlates of processing of words differing in valence and origin levels, but matched in arousal, concreteness, frequency of appearance and length. We found no behavioral differences in response latencies. When controlling for origin, we found no effects of valence. We found the effect of origin on ERP in two time windows: 290-570 and 570-800 ms. The earlier effect can be attributed to cognitive control while the latter is rather the manifestation of explicit processing of words. In each case, reflective originated stimuli evoked more positive amplitudes compared to automatic originated words.

Is one enough? The case for non-additive influences of visual features on crossmodal Stroop interference

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Lawrence Gregory Appelbaum

2013-10-01

Full Text Available When different perceptual signals arising from the same physical entity are integrated, they form a more reliable sensory estimate. When such repetitive sensory signals are pitted against other competing stimuli, such as in a Stroop Task, this redundancy may lead to stronger processing that biases behavior towards reporting the redundant stimuli. This bias would therefore be expected to evoke greater incongruency effects than if these stimuli did not contain redundant sensory features. In the present paper we report that this is not the case for a set of three crossmodal, auditory-visual Stroop tasks. In these tasks participants attended to, and reported, either the visual or the auditory stimulus (in separate blocks while ignoring the other, unattended modality. The visual component of these stimuli could be purely semantic (words, purely perceptual (colors, or the combination of both. Based on previous work showing enhanced crossmodal integration and visual search gains for redundantly coded stimuli, we had expected that relative to the single features, redundant visual features would have induced both greater visual distracter incongruency effects for attended auditory targets, and been less influenced by auditory distracters for attended visual targets. Overall, reaction time were faster for visual targets and were dominated by behavioral facilitation for the cross-modal interactions (relative to interference, but showed surprisingly little influence of visual feature redundancy. Post hoc analyses revealed modest and trending evidence for possible increases in behavioral interference for redundant visual distracters on auditory targets, however, these effects were substantially smaller than anticipated and were not accompanied by redundancy effect for behavioral facilitation or for attended visual targets.

Vicarious learning of children's social-anxiety-related fear beliefs and emotional Stroop bias.

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Askew, Chris; Hagel, Anna; Morgan, Julie

2015-08-01

Models of social anxiety suggest that negative social experiences contribute to the development of social anxiety, and this is supported by self-report research. However, there is relatively little experimental evidence for the effects of learning experiences on social cognitions. The current study examined the effect of observing a social performance situation with a negative outcome on children's (8 to 11 years old) fear-related beliefs and cognitive processing. Two groups of children were each shown 1 of 2 animated films of a person trying to score in basketball while being observed by others; in 1 film, the outcome was negative, and in the other, it was neutral. Children's fear-related beliefs about performing in front of others were measured before and after the film and children were asked to complete an emotional Stroop task. Results showed that social fear beliefs increased for children who saw the negative social performance film. In addition, these children showed an emotional Stroop bias for social-anxiety-related words compared to children who saw the neutral film. The findings have implications for our understanding of social anxiety disorder and suggest that vicarious learning experiences in childhood may contribute to the development of social anxiety. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Demographic Variables and Selective, Sustained Attention and Planning through Cognitive Tasks among Healthy Adults

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Afsaneh Zarghi

2011-04-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Cognitive tasks are considered to be applicable and appropriate in assessing cognitive domains. The purpose of our study is to determine the relationship existence between variables of age, sex and education with selective, sustained attention and planning abilities by means of computerized cognitive tasks among healthy adults. Methods: A cross-sectional study was implemented during 6 months from June to November, 2010 on 84 healthy adults (42 male and 42 female. The whole participants performed computerized CPT, STROOP and TOL tests after being content and trained. Results: The obtained data indicate that there is a significant correlation coefficient between age, sex and education variables (p<0.05. Discussion: The above-mentioned tests can be used to assess selective, sustained attention and planning.

EFECTO STROOP Y SUS LIMITACIONES EJECUTIVAS EN LA PRÁCTICA NEUROPSICOLÓGICA INFANTIL.

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Yaser Ramírez - Benitez

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Introducción: La prueba de Stroop modalidad palabra / color computarizada es de limitada aplicación en la población clínica infantil. Una adaptación digital de la prueba exige la rápida respuesta del infante y a la vez que los procesos utilizados en la prueba tenga una interferencia en el niño. Si el niño no se adapta a las exigencias digitales no ocurre la interferencia entre los procesos y la prueba no tiene efecto. Material y Método: La investigación pretende determinar si los resultados de la prueba Stroop, modalidad palabra / color, se relacionan con los resultados de otras pruebas que evalúan las funciones ejecutivas. El Dpto. de Neuropsicología propuso revisar todos los resultados de la prueba SESH en la población atendida en el centro de 7 a 15 años del 2009 – 2011. Las pruebas analizadas fueron: Stroop, Wisconsin, Tiempo de reacción compleja y la Atención sostenida simple. Resultado: Las historias clínicas demostraron que de los 207 niños evaluados 59 presentan puntuaciones por encima de la norma superior en el Stroop. Sin embargo, los resultados en el Wisconsin, el tiempo de reacción y la atención reporta que los 59 niños tienen un índice patológico. La investigación muestra que las puntuaciones elevadas en el Stroop no es signo de buen desempeño en las otras pruebas. Conclusiones: La tarea Stroop no es efectiva en todos los niños analizados. Los problemas en la velocidad de procesamiento y atencionales es una condición negativa para ejecutar con éxito la tarea computarizada Stroop modalidad palabra / color en la población infanti

Pathological gambling: an impulse control disorder? Measurement of impulsivity using neurocognitive tests.

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Dannon, Pinhas N; Shoenfeld, Netta; Rosenberg, Oded; Kertzman, Semion; Kotler, Moshe

2010-04-01

Pathological gambling is classified in the DSM-IV-TR (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) and in the ICD-10 (International Classification of Disease) as an impulse control disorder. The association between impulsivity and pathological gambling remains a matter of debate: some researchers find high levels of impulsivity within pathological gamblers, others report no difference compared to controls, and yet others even suggest that it is lower. In this review we examine the relationship between pathological gambling and impulsivity assessed by various neurocognitive tests. These tests--the Stroop task, the Stop Signal Task, the Matching Familiar Figures Task, the Iowa Gambling Task, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, the Tower of London test, and the Continuous Performance Test--demonstrated less impulsivity in gambling behavior. The differences in performance between pathological gamblers and healthy controls on the neurocognitive tasks could be due to addictive behavior features rather than impulsive behavior.

Unconscious fearful priming followed by a psychosocial stress test results in higher cortisol levels.

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Hänsel, Alexander; von Känel, Roland

2013-10-01

Human perception of stress includes an automatic pathway that processes subliminal presented stimuli below the threshold of conscious awareness. Subliminal stimuli can therefore activate the physiologic stress system. Unconscious emotional signals were shown to significantly moderate reactions and responses to subsequent stimuli, an effect called 'priming'. We hypothesized that subliminal presentation of a fearful signal during the Stroop task compared with an emotionally neutral one will prime stress reactivity in a subsequently applied psychosocial stress task, thereby yielding a significant increase in salivary cortisol. Half of 36 participants were repeatedly presented either a fearful face or a neutral one. After this, all underwent a psychosocial stress task. The fearful group showed a significant increase in cortisol levels (p = 0.022). This change was not affected by sex, age and body mass index, and it also did not change when taking resting cortisol levels into account. Post-hoc analyses showed that the increase in cortisol in the fearful group started immediately after the psychosocial stress test. Hence, subliminal exposure to a fearful signal in combination with the Stroop and followed by a psychosocial stress test leads to an increase in stress reactivity. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The taste-visual cross-modal Stroop effect: An event-related brain potential study.

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Xiao, X; Dupuis-Roy, N; Yang, X L; Qiu, J F; Zhang, Q L

2014-03-28

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded to explore, for the first time, the electrophysiological correlates of the taste-visual cross-modal Stroop effect. Eighteen healthy participants were presented with a taste stimulus and a food image, and asked to categorize the image as "sweet" or "sour" by pressing the relevant button as quickly as possible. Accurate categorization of the image was faster when it was presented with a congruent taste stimulus (e.g., sour taste/image of lemon) than with an incongruent one (e.g., sour taste/image of ice cream). ERP analyses revealed a negative difference component (ND430-620) between 430 and 620ms in the taste-visual cross-modal Stroop interference. Dipole source analysis of the difference wave (incongruent minus congruent) indicated that two generators localized in the prefrontal cortex and the parahippocampal gyrus contributed to this taste-visual cross-modal Stroop effect. This result suggests that the prefrontal cortex is associated with the process of conflict control in the taste-visual cross-modal Stroop effect. Also, we speculate that the parahippocampal gyrus is associated with the process of discordant information in the taste-visual cross-modal Stroop effect. Copyright © 2014 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Associations between physical performance and executive function in older adults with mild cognitive impairment: gait speed and the timed "up & go" test.

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McGough, Ellen L; Kelly, Valerie E; Logsdon, Rebecca G; McCurry, Susan M; Cochrane, Barbara B; Engel, Joyce M; Teri, Linda

2011-08-01

Older adults with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) are at higher risk for developing Alzheimer disease. Physical performance decline on gait and mobility tasks in conjunction with executive dysfunction has implications for accelerated functional decline, disability, and institutionalization in sedentary older adults with aMCI. The purpose of this study was to examine whether performance on 2 tests commonly used by physical therapists (usual gait speed and Timed "Up & Go" Test [TUG]) are associated with performance on 2 neuropsychological tests of executive function (Trail Making Test, part B [TMT-B], and Stroop-Interference, calculated from the Stroop Word Color Test) in sedentary older adults with aMCI. The study was a cross-sectional analysis of 201 sedentary older adults with memory impairment participating in a longitudinal intervention study of cognitive function, aging, exercise, and health promotion. Physical performance speed on gait and mobility tasks was measured via usual gait speed and the TUG (at fast pace). Executive function was measured with the TMT-B and Stroop-Interference measures. Applying multiple linear regression, usual gait speed was associated with executive function on both the TMT-B (β=-0.215, P=.003) and Stroop-Interference (β=-0.195, P=.01) measures, indicating that slower usual gait speed was associated with lower executive function performance. Timed "Up & Go" Test scores (in logarithmic transformation) also were associated with executive function on both the TMT-B (β=0.256, Pfunction performance. All associations remained statistically significant after adjusting for age, sex, depressive symptoms, medical comorbidity, and body mass index. The cross-sectional nature of this study does not allow for inferences of causation. Physical performance speed was associated with executive function after adjusting for age, sex, and age-related factors in sedentary older adults with aMCI. Further research is needed to determine

Inattentional blindness and the von Restorff effect.

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Schmidt, Stephen R; Schmidt, Constance R

2015-02-01

Sometimes we fail to notice distinctive or unusual items (inattentional blindness), while other times we remember distinctive items more than expected items (the von Restorff effect). A three-factor framework is presented and tested in two experiments in an attempt to reconcile these seemingly contradictory phenomena. Memory for different types of unexpected stimuli was tested after an easy or difficult Stroop color-naming task. Highly arousing taboo words were well remembered even when the difficult Stroop task limited attentional resources. However, a conceptual isolation effect was only observed when the nature of the category change was highlighted by the Stroop task, the Stroop task was easy, and/or the isolated targets enjoyed a retrieval advantage relative to comparison targets. As proposed in the three-factor framework, the arousing qualities of the stimuli, the attentional demands of the primary task, and the relevance of isolated features at encoding and retrieval combine to produce inattentional blindness and the von Restorff effect.

Assessment of executive function in adolescence: a comparison of traditional and virtual reality tools.

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Lalonde, Gabrielle; Henry, Mylène; Drouin-Germain, Anne; Nolin, Pierre; Beauchamp, Miriam H

2013-09-30

Paper-pencil type tests are traditionally used in the assessment of executive functions (EF); however, concerns have been raised as to whether these represent actual functioning in everyday life. Virtual reality (VR) environments offer a novel alternative for the assessment of cognitive function and therefore have the potential to enhance the evaluation of EF by presenting individuals with stimuli that come closer to reproducing everyday situations. The aims of this study were to (1) establish which traditional paper-pencil EF tests from the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS) are associated with performance on a VR-Stroop task and (2) compare D-KEFS tests and the VR-Stroop task in their ability to predict everyday EF and behavior, as measured by the Behavioral Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Thirty-eight typically developing adolescents aged between 13 and 17 years completed the ClinicaVR: Classroom-Stroop, and five D-KEFS subtests (Trail Making, Tower, Twenty Questions, Verbal Fluency and Color-Word Interference). Their parents completed the BRIEF and CBCL questionnaires. The results indicate that performance on the VR-Stroop task correlates with both traditional forms of EF assessment (D-KEFS, BRIEF). In particular, performance on the VR-Stroop task was closely associated with performance on a paper-pencil inhibition task. Furthermore, VR-Stroop performance more accurately reflected everyday behavioral EF than paper-pencil tasks. VR appears to offer an ecological perspective on everyday functioning and could be seen as complementary to traditional tests in the assessment of complex cognitive abilities. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Disentangling Genuine Semantic Stroop Effects in Reading from Contingency Effects: On the Need for Two Neutral Baselines

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Eric eLorentz

2016-03-01

plays a large role when repeating congruent items more than incongruent items, but appropriate pair-frequency matched neutral baselines allow for the assessment of genuine facilitation and interference. Using such baselines, we found reading processes proceed to a semantic level for familiar words, but not pseudohomophones (i.e., phonetic decoding. Such assessment is critical for separating the effects of genuine congruency from contingency during automatic word reading in the Stroop task, and when used with color associates, isolates the semantic contribution.

On the interaction between sad mood and cognitive control: the effect of induced sadness on electrophysiological modulations underlying Stroop conflict processing.

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Nixon, Elena; Liddle, Peter F; Nixon, Neil L; Liotti, Mario

2013-03-01

The present study employed high-density ERPs to examine the effect of induced sad mood on the spatiotemporal correlates of conflict monitoring and resolution in a colour-word Stroop interference task. Neuroimaging evidence and dipole modelling implicates the involvement of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) regions in conflict-laden interference control. On the basis that these structures have been found to mediate emotion-cognition interactions in negative mood states, it was predicted that Stroop-related cognitive control, which relies heavily on anterior neural sources, would be affected by effective sad mood provocation. Healthy participants (N=14) were induced into transient sadness via use of autobiographical sad scripts, a well-validated mood induction technique (Liotti et al., 2000a, 2002). In accord with previous research, interference effects were shown at both baseline and sad states while Stroop conflict was associated with early (N450) and late (Late Positive Component; LPC) electrophysiological modulations at both states. Sad mood induction attenuated the N450 effect in line with our expectation that it would be susceptible to modulation by mood, given its purported anterior limbic source. The LPC effect was displayed at the typical posterior lateral sites but, as predicted, was not affected by sad mood. However, frontocentral LPC activity-presumably generated from an additional anterior limbic source-was affected at sad state, hinting a role in conflict monitoring. Although the neurophysiological underpinnings of interference control are yet to be clarified, this study provided further insight into emotion-cognition interactions as indexed by Stroop conflict-laden processing. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The role of motivation, glucose and self-control in the antisaccade task.

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Claire L Kelly

Full Text Available Research shows that self-control is resource limited and there is a gradual weakening in consecutive self-control task performance akin to muscle fatigue. A body of evidence suggests that the resource is glucose and consuming glucose reduces this effect. This study examined the effect of glucose on performance in the antisaccade task - which requires self-control through generating a voluntary eye movement away from a target - following self-control exertion in the Stroop task. The effects of motivation and individual differences in self-control were also explored. In a double-blind design, 67 young healthy adults received a 25g glucose or inert placebo drink. Glucose did not enhance antisaccade performance following self-control exertion in the Stroop task. Motivation however, predicted performance on the antisaccade task; more specifically high motivation ameliorated performance decrements observed after initial self-control exertion. In addition, individuals with high levels of self-control performed better on certain aspects of the antisaccade task after administration of a glucose drink. The results of this study suggest that the antisaccade task might be a powerful paradigm, which could be used as a more objective measure of self-control. Moreover, the results indicate that level of motivation and individual differences in self-control should be taken into account when investigating deficiencies in self-control following prior exertion.

The impact of initiation: Early onset marijuana smokers demonstrate altered Stroop performance and brain activation

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K.A. Sagar

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Marijuana (MJ use is on the rise, particularly among teens and emerging adults. This poses serious public health concern, given the potential deleterious effects of MJ on the developing brain. We examined 50 chronic MJ smokers divided into early onset (regular MJ use prior to age 16; n = 24 and late onset (age 16 or later; n = 26, and 34 healthy control participants (HCs. All completed a modified Stroop Color Word Test during fMRI. Results demonstrated that MJ smokers exhibited significantly poorer performance on the Interference subtest of the Stroop, as well as altered patterns of activation in the cingulate cortex relative to HCs. Further, early onset MJ smokers exhibited significantly poorer performance relative to both HCs and late onset smokers. Additionally, earlier age of MJ onset as well as increased frequency and magnitude (grams/week of MJ use were predictive of poorer Stroop performance. fMRI results revealed that while late onset smokers demonstrated a more similar pattern of activation to the control group, a different pattern was evident in the early onset group. These findings underscore the importance of assessing age of onset and patterns of MJ use and support the need for widespread education and intervention efforts among youth.

Hemodynamic Responses on Prefrontal Cortex Related to Meditation and Attentional Task

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Singh eDeepeshwar

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Recent neuroimaging studies state that meditation increases regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF in the prefrontal cortex (PFC. The present study employed functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS to evaluate the relative hemodynamic changes in prefrontal cortex during a cognitive task. Twenty-two healthy male volunteers with ages between 18 and 30 years (group mean age ± SD; 22.9 ± 4.6 years performed a color-word stroop task before and after 20 minutes of meditation and random thinking. Repeated measures ANOVA was performed followed by a post-hoc analysis with Bonferroni adjustment for multiple comparisons between the mean values of ‘During’ and ‘Post’ with ‘Pre’ state. During meditation there was an increased in oxy-hemoglobin (∆HbO and total hemoglobin (∆THC concentration with reduced deoxy-hemoglobin (∆HbR concentration over the right prefrontal cortex (rPFC, whereas in random thinking there was increased ∆HbR with reduced total hemoglobin concentration on the rPFC. The mean reaction time was shorter in stroop color word task with reduced ∆THC after meditation, suggestive of improved performance and efficiency in task related to attention. Our findings demonstrated that meditation increased cerebral oxygenation and enhanced performance, which was associated with prefrontal cortex activation.

Impaired Neurobehavioural Performance in Untreated Obstructive Sleep Apnea Patients Using a Novel Standardised Test Battery

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Angela L. D'Rozario

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Objective/BackgroundAlthough polysomnography (PSG is the gold-standard measure for assessing disease severity in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA, it has limited value in identifying individuals experiencing significant neurobehavioural dysfunction. This study used a brief and novel computerised test battery to examine neurobehavioural function in adults with and without OSA.Patients/Methods204 patients with untreated OSA [age 49.3 (12.5 years; body mass index, [BMI] 33.6 (8.0 kg/m2; Epworth sleepiness scale 12 (4.9/24; apnea hypopnea index 33.6 (25.8/h] and 50 non-OSA participants [age 39.2 (14.0 years; BMI 25.8 (4.2 kg/m2, ESS 3.6 (2.3/24]. All participants completed a computerised neurobehavioural battery during the daytime in the sleep clinic. The OSA group subsequently underwent an overnight PSG. The 30 min test battery assessed cognitive domains of visual spatial scanning and selective attention (Letter Cancellation Test, executive function (Stroop task and working memory (2- and 3-Back tasks, and a validated sustained attention task (psychomotor vigilance task, PVT. Group differences in performance were compared. Associations between disease severity and performance were examined in the OSA group.ResultsAfter controlling for age, gender and education, OSA patients demonstrated impaired performance on the Stroop-Text, 2 and 3-Back tasks, and the PVT compared with the non-OSA group. OSA patients had worse performance on the LCT with fewer average hits albeit with better accuracy. Some OSA polysomnographic disease severity measures were weakly correlated with performance.ConclusionsThis brief test battery may provide a sensitive, standardised method of assessing daytime dysfunction in OSA.

Deficits in inhibitory control and conflict resolution on cognitive and motor tasks in Parkinson's disease.

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Obeso, Ignacio; Wilkinson, Leonora; Casabona, Enrique; Bringas, Maria Luisa; Álvarez, Mario; Álvarez, Lázaro; Pavón, Nancy; Rodríguez-Oroz, Maria-Cruz; Macías, Raúl; Obeso, Jose A; Jahanshahi, Marjan

2011-07-01

Recent imaging studies in healthy controls with a conditional stop signal reaction time (RT) task have implicated the subthalamic nucleus (STN) in response inhibition and the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA) in conflict resolution. Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by striatal dopamine deficiency and overactivity of the STN and underactivation of the pre-SMA during movement. We used the conditional stop signal RT task to investigate whether PD produced similar or dissociable effects on response initiation, response inhibition and response initiation under conflict. In addition, we also examined inhibition of prepotent responses on three cognitive tasks: the Stroop, random number generation and Hayling sentence completion. PD patients were impaired on the conditional stop signal reaction time task, with response initiation both in situations with or without conflict and response inhibition all being significantly delayed, and had significantly greater difficulty in suppressing prepotent or habitual responses on the Stroop, Hayling and random number generation tasks relative to controls. These results demonstrate the existence of a generalized inhibitory deficit in PD, which suggest that PD is a disorder of inhibition as well as activation and that in situations of conflict, executive control over responses is compromised.

Demographically corrected norms for African Americans and Caucasians on the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised, Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised, Stroop Color and Word Test, and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test 64-Card Version.

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Norman, Marc A; Moore, David J; Taylor, Michael; Franklin, Donald; Cysique, Lucette; Ake, Chris; Lazarretto, Deborah; Vaida, Florin; Heaton, Robert K

2011-08-01

Memory and executive functioning are two important components of clinical neuropsychological (NP) practice and research. Multiple demographic factors are known to affect performance differentially on most NP tests, but adequate normative corrections, inclusive of race/ethnicity, are not available for many widely used instruments. This study compared demographic contributions for widely used tests of verbal and visual learning and memory (Brief Visual Memory Test-Revised, Hopkins Verbal Memory Test-Revised) and executive functioning (Stroop Color and Word Test, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test-64) in groups of healthy Caucasians (n = 143) and African Americans (n = 103). Demographic factors of age, education, gender, and race/ethnicity were found to be significant factors on some indices of all four tests. The magnitude of demographic contributions (especially age) was greater for African Americans than for Caucasians on most measures. New, demographically corrected T-score formulas were calculated for each race/ethnicity. The rates of NP impairment using previously published normative standards significantly overestimated NP impairment in African Americans. Utilizing the new demographic corrections developed and presented herein, NP impairment rates were comparable between the two race/ethnicities and were unrelated to the other demographic characteristics (age, education, gender) in either race/ethnicity group. Findings support the need to consider extended demographic contributions to neuropsychological test performance in clinical and research settings.

Associations between physical function, dual-task performance and cognition in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease.

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Sobol, Nanna Aue; Hoffmann, Kristine; Vogel, Asmus; Lolk, Annette; Gottrup, Hanne; Høgh, Peter; Hasselbalch, Steen G; Beyer, Nina

2016-11-01

Alzheimer's disease (AD) causes a gradual decline in cognition, limitations of dual-tasking and physical function leading to total dependence. Hence, information about the interaction between physical function, dual-task performance and cognition may lead to new treatment strategies with the purpose of preserving function and quality of life. The objective of this study was to investigate the associations between physical function, dual-task performance and cognition in community-dwelling patients with mild AD. Baseline results from 185 participants (50-90 years old) in the single blinded multicenter RCT 'ADEX' (Alzheimer's disease: the effect of physical exercise) were used. Assessments included tests of physical function: 400-m walk test, 10-m walk test, Timed Up and Go test and 30-s chair stand test; dual-task performance, i.e., 10-m walk while counting backwards from 50 or naming the months backwards; and cognition, i.e., Mini Mental State Examination, Symbol Digit Modalities Test, the Stroop Color and Word Test, and Lexical verbal fluency test. Results in the 30-s chair stand test correlated significantly with all tests of cognition (r = .208-.242) while the other physical function tests only randomly correlated with tests of cognition. Results in the dual-task counting backwards correlated significantly with results in all tests of cognition (r = .259-.388), which accounted for 7%-15% of the variation indicating that a faster time to complete dual-task performance was associated with better cognitive performance. The evidence of the associations between physical function, dual-task performance and cognition is important when creating new rehabilitation interventions to patients with mild AD.

The effects of attention capacity on dynamic balance control following concussion

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Chou Li-Shan

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine how individuals modulate attention in a gait/cognition dual task during a 4-week period following a concussion. Ten individuals suffering from a grade 2 concussion and 10 matched controls performed a single task of level walking, a seated auditory Stroop task and a simultaneous auditory Stroop and walking task. Reaction time and accuracy were measured from the Stroop task. Dynamic balance control during gait was measured by the interaction (displacement and velocity between the center of mass (CoM and center of pressure (CoP in the coronal and sagittal planes. Concussed individuals shifted from conservative control of balance (shorter separation between CoM and CoP immediately after injury to normal balance control over 28 days post-injury. Immediately after injury, correlations analyses using each subject on each testing day as a data point showed that there was a spectrum of deficient performance among concussed individuals on the first testing day. Within a testing session, deficiencies in reaction time of processing involved in the Stroop task were commonly seen with reduce dynamic balance control. However, the prioritization was not always towards the same task between trials. There were no correlations in the control group. Information provided in this study would enhance our understanding of the interaction between attention and gait following concussion.

Number conservation is related to children's prefrontal inhibitory control: an fMRI study of a piagetian task.

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Nicolas Poirel

Full Text Available Although young children can accurately determine that two rows contain the same number of coins when they are placed in a one-to-one correspondence, children younger than 7 years of age erroneously think that the longer row contains more coins when the coins in one of the rows are spread apart. To demonstrate that prefrontal inhibitory control is necessary to succeed at this task (Piaget's conservation-of-number task, we studied the relationship between the percentage of BOLD signal changes in the brain areas activated in this developmental task and behavioral performance on a Stroop task and a Backward Digit Span task. The level of activation in the right insula/inferior frontal gyrus was selectively related to inhibitory control efficiency (i.e., the Stroop task, whereas the activation in the left intraparietal sulcus (IPS was selectively related to the ability to manipulate numerical information in working memory (i.e., the Backward Digit Span task. Taken together, the results indicate that to acquire number conservation, children's brains must not only activate the reversibility of cognitive operations (supported by the IPS but also inhibit a misleading length-equal-number strategy (supported by the right insula/inferior frontal gyrus.

Performance of non-neurological older adults on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and the Stroop Color-Word Test: normal variability or cognitive impairment?

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Gunner, Jessica H; Miele, Andrea S; Lynch, Julie K; McCaffrey, Robert J

2012-06-01

There is currently no standard criterion for determining abnormal test scores in neuropsychology; thus, a number of different criteria are commonly used. We investigated base rates of abnormal scores in healthy older adults using raw and T-scores from indices of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and Stroop Color-Word Test. Abnormal scores were examined cumulatively at seven cutoffs including >1.0, >1.5, >2.0, >2.5, and >3.0 standard deviations (SD) from the mean as well as those below the 10th and 5th percentiles. In addition, the number of abnormal scores at each of the seven cutoffs was also examined. Results showed when considering raw scores, ∼15% of individuals obtained scores>1.0 SD from the mean, around 10% were less than the 10th percentile, and 5% fell >1.5 SD or 1.0 and >1.5 SD from the mean, respectively. Roughly 15% and 5% fell at the 2.0 SD from the mean were infrequent. Although the presence of a single abnormal score at 1.0 and 1.5 SD from the mean or at the 10th and 5th percentiles was not unusual, the presence of ≥2 abnormal scores using any criteria was uncommon. Consideration of base rate data regarding the percentage of healthy individuals scoring in the abnormal range should help avoid classifying normal variability as neuropsychological impairment.

Some aspects of executive functions as predictors of understanding textual mathematical tasks in students with mild intellectual disability

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Japundža-Milisavljević Mirjana

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The most significant segment during the process of solving mathematical tasks is translation from mathematical to native language, in the basis o which, among others, are the following factors: resistance to distraction and forming adequate verbal strategies. The goal of this research is to evaluate the contribution of some aspects of executive functions in explaining the variance of solving illustrative mathematical tasks in students with mild intellectual disability. The sample consists of 90 students with mild intellectual disability aged from 12 to 16 (M=14.7; SD=1.6, of both sexes (44.4% boys and 55.6% girls. The Twenty questions test and the Stroop test were used to estimate the executive functions. Verbal problem tasks were used for the purpose of understanding mathematical language The obtained results show that the estimated aspects of executive functions are significant predictors of understanding mathematical language in students with intellectual disabilities. The strongest predictor is distraction resistance (p=0.01.

Use of the emotional Stroop to assess psychological trauma following traumatic brain injury.

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Coates, Richard C

2008-04-01

A modified Stroop task was used to investigate the hypothesis that implicit memory may be a possible mechanism for the development of acute stress disorder (ASD) in patients who have suffered a closed head injury. Three groups of hospital patients were compared within 1 month post-trauma: road traffic accident (RTA) patients with a brain injury (n = 15), RTA patients without a brain injury (n = 13) and a control group of orthopaedic and plastics patients (n = 15). Participants named colours of five types of words: RTA-related words, words related to hospitalization, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) words, positive words and neutral words. Participants were also administered the Acute Stress Disorder Interview and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Both RTA patients with and without a brain injury demonstrated significant interference on words related to an RTA. Significant interference was unexpectedly observed for OCD words in RTA patients. Control patients did not display significant interference effects. Findings suggested that patients, both with and without explicit recall for an RTA, responded similarly on a task involving implicit memory for trauma. Possible implications for ASD and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder are discussed.

The Multiple Tasks Test: development and normal strategies.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bloem, B.R.; Valkenburg, V.V.; Slabbekoorn, M.; Willemsen, M.D.

2001-01-01

Simultaneous challenge of posture and cognition ("dual tasks") may predict falls better than tests of isolated components of postural control. We describe a new balance test (the Multiple Tasks Test, MTT) which (1) is based upon simultaneous assessment of multiple (>2) postural components; (2)

Attention training normalises combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder effects on emotional Stroop performance using lexically matched word lists.

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Khanna, Maya M; Badura-Brack, Amy S; McDermott, Timothy J; Shepherd, Alex; Heinrichs-Graham, Elizabeth; Pine, Daniel S; Bar-Haim, Yair; Wilson, Tony W

2015-08-26

We examined two groups of combat veterans, one with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (n = 27) and another without PTSD (n = 16), using an emotional Stroop task (EST) with word lists matched across a series of lexical variables (e.g. length, frequency, neighbourhood size, etc.). Participants with PTSD exhibited a strong EST effect (longer colour-naming latencies for combat-relevant words as compared to neutral words). Veterans without PTSD produced no such effect, t  .37. Participants with PTSD then completed eight sessions of attention training (Attention Control Training or Attention Bias Modification Training) with a dot-probe task utilising threatening and neutral faces. After training, participants-especially those undergoing Attention Control Training-no longer produced longer colour-naming latencies for combat-related words as compared to other words, indicating normalised attention allocation processes after treatment.

Validation of EncephalApp, Smartphone-Based Stroop Test, for the Diagnosis of Covert Hepatic Encephalopathy.

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Bajaj, Jasmohan S; Heuman, Douglas M; Sterling, Richard K; Sanyal, Arun J; Siddiqui, Muhammad; Matherly, Scott; Luketic, Velimir; Stravitz, R Todd; Fuchs, Michael; Thacker, Leroy R; Gilles, HoChong; White, Melanie B; Unser, Ariel; Hovermale, James; Gavis, Edith; Noble, Nicole A; Wade, James B

2015-10-01

Detection of covert hepatic encephalopathy (CHE) is difficult, but point-of-care testing could increase rates of diagnosis. We aimed to validate the ability of the smartphone app EncephalApp, a streamlined version of Stroop App, to detect CHE. We evaluated face validity, test-retest reliability, and external validity. Patients with cirrhosis (n = 167; 38% with overt HE [OHE]; mean age, 55 years; mean Model for End-Stage Liver Disease score, 12) and controls (n = 114) were each given a paper and pencil cognitive battery (standard) along with EncephalApp. EncephalApp has Off and On states; results measured were OffTime, OnTime, OffTime+OnTime, and number of runs required to complete 5 off and on runs. Thirty-six patients with cirrhosis underwent driving simulation tests, and EncephalApp results were correlated with results. Test-retest reliability was analyzed in a subgroup of patients. The test was performed before and after transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt placement, and before and after correction for hyponatremia, to determine external validity. All patients with cirrhosis performed worse on paper and pencil and EncephalApp tests than controls. Patients with cirrhosis and OHE performed worse than those without OHE. Age-dependent EncephalApp cutoffs (younger or older than 45 years) were set. An OffTime+OnTime value of >190 seconds identified all patients with CHE with an area under the receiver operator characteristic value of 0.91; the area under the receiver operator characteristic value was 0.88 for diagnosis of CHE in those without OHE. EncephalApp times correlated with crashes and illegal turns in driving simulation tests. Test-retest reliability was high (intraclass coefficient, 0.83) among 30 patients retested 1-3 months apart. OffTime+OnTime increased significantly (206 vs 255 seconds, P = .007) among 10 patients retested 33 ± 7 days after transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt placement. OffTime+OnTime decreased significantly (242 vs

Evaluation of the Relationship between Brain-Derived Neurotropic Factor Levels and the Stroop Interference Effect in Children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

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Şimşek, Şeref; Gençoğlan, Salih; Yüksel, Tuğba; Kaplan, İbrahim; Aktaş, Hüseyin; Alaca, Rümeysa

2016-12-01

Brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) has been suggested to play a role in the pathogenesis of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In addition, impairment in executive functions has been reported in children with ADHD. This study investigated the presence of a relationship between Stroop test scores and BDNF levels in children with ADHD. The study was conducted in the Department of Child Psychiatry at Dicle University. The study included 49 children between 6 and 15 years of age (M/F: 42/7), who were diagnosed with ADHD according to DSM-IV, and who did not receive previous therapy. Similar in terms of age and gender to the ADHD group, 40 children were selected in the control group. The Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia, Present and Lifetime version was administered to all participants. Parents and teachers were administered Turgay DSM-IV-based Child and Adolescent Behavior Disorders Screening and Rating Scale to measure symptom severity in children with ADHD. Children with ADHD underwent the Stroop test. BDNF levels were evaluated in serum by ELISA. The ADHD and control groups did not differ in terms of BDNF levels. BDNF levels did not differ between ADHD subtypes. There was also no relationship between the Stroop test interference scores and BDNF levels. The findings of the present study are in line with those in studies that demonstrated no significant role of BDNF in the pathogenesis of ADHD.

Using two web-based addiction Stroops to measure the attentional bias in adults with Internet Gaming Disorder.

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Jeromin, Franziska; Rief, Winfrief; Barke, Antonia

2016-12-01

Background and aims People with substance abuse and pathological gamblers show an attentional bias. In a laboratory setting, we found an attentional bias using an addiction Stroop in adults with Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD). We aimed at investigating this effect using two web-based experiments. Methods Study 1: Gamers with IGD, casual gamers, and non-gamers (N = 81, 28.1 ± 7.8 years) completed a web-based addiction Stroop with a fully randomized word order. They saw computer-related and neutral words in four colors and indicated the word color via keypress. Study 2: Gamers with IGD, casual gamers, and non-gamers (N = 87, 23.4 ± 5.1 years) completed a web-based addiction Stroop and a classical Stroop (incongruent color and neutral words), which both had a block design. We expected that in both studies, only the gamers with IGD would react more slowly to computer-related words in the addiction Stroop. All groups were expected to react more slowly to incongruent color words in the classical Stroop. Results In neither study did the gamers with IGD differ in their reaction times to computer-related words compared to neutral words. In Study 2, all groups reacted more slowly to incongruent color words than to neutral words confirming the validity of the online reaction time assessment. Discussion Gamers with IGD did not show a significant attentional bias. IGD may differ from substance abuse and pathological gambling in this respect; alternatively experimenting on the Internet may have introduced error variance that made it harder to detect a bias.

Test-retest reliability of an fMRI paradigm for studies of cardiovascular reactivity.

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Sheu, Lei K; Jennings, J Richard; Gianaros, Peter J

2012-07-01

We examined the reliability of measures of fMRI, subjective, and cardiovascular reactions to standardized versions of a Stroop color-word task and a multisource interference task. A sample of 14 men and 12 women (30-49 years old) completed the tasks on two occasions, separated by a median of 88 days. The reliability of fMRI BOLD signal changes in brain areas engaged by the tasks was moderate, and aggregating fMRI BOLD signal changes across the tasks improved test-retest reliability metrics. These metrics included voxel-wise intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) and overlap ratio statistics. Task-aggregated ratings of subjective arousal, valence, and control, as well as cardiovascular reactions evoked by the tasks showed ICCs of 0.57 to 0.87 (ps reliability. These findings support using these tasks as a battery for fMRI studies of cardiovascular reactivity. Copyright © 2012 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Control processes through the suppression of the automatic response activation triggered by task-irrelevant information in the Simon-type tasks.

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Kim, Sanga; Lee, Sang Ho; Cho, Yang Seok

2015-11-01

The congruency sequence effect, one of the indices of cognitive control, refers to a smaller congruency effect after an incongruent than congruent trial. Although the effect has been found across a variety of conflict tasks, there is not yet agreement on the underlying mechanism. The present study investigated the mechanism underlying cognitive control by using a cross-task paradigm. In Experiments 1, 2, and 3, participants performed a modified Simon task and a spatial Stroop task alternately in a trial-by-trial manner. The task-irrelevant dimension of the two tasks was perceptually and conceptually identical in Experiment 1, whereas it was perceptually different but conceptually identical in Experiment 2. The response sets for both tasks were different in Experiment 3. In Experiment 4, participants performed two Simon tasks with different task-relevant dimensions. In all experiments in which the task-irrelevant dimension and response mode were shared, significant congruency sequence effects were found between the two different congruencies, indicating that Simon-type conflicts were resolved by a control mechanism, which is specific to an abstract task-irrelevant stimulus spatial dimension. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Role of Inhibitory Control in Children's Cooperative Behaviors during a Structured Puzzle Task

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Giannotta, Fabrizia; Burk, William J.; Ciairano, Silvia

2011-01-01

This study examined the role of inhibitory control (measured by Stroop interference) in children's cooperative behaviors during a structured puzzle task. The sample consisted of 250 8-, 10-, and 12-year-olds (117 girls and 133 boys) attending classrooms in three primary schools in Northern Italy. Children individually completed an elaborated…

Brain processing of task-relevant and task-irrelevant emotional words: an ERP study.

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González-Villar, Alberto J; Triñanes, Yolanda; Zurrón, Montserrat; Carrillo-de-la-Peña, María T

2014-09-01

Although there is evidence for preferential perceptual processing of written emotional information, the effects of attentional manipulations and the time course of affective processing require further clarification. In this study, we attempted to investigate how the emotional content of words modulates cerebral functioning (event-related potentials, ERPs) and behavior (reaction times, RTs) when the content is task-irrelevant (emotional Stroop Task, EST) or task-relevant (emotional categorization task, ECT), in a sample of healthy middle-aged women. In the EST, the RTs were longer for emotional words than for neutral words, and in the ECT, they were longer for neutral and negative words than for positive words. A principal components analysis of the ERPs identified various temporospatial factors that were differentially modified by emotional content. P2 was the first emotion-sensitive component, with enhanced factor scores for negative nouns across tasks. The N2 and late positive complex had enhanced factor scores for emotional relative to neutral information only in the ECT. The results reinforce the idea that written emotional information has a preferential processing route, both when it is task-irrelevant (producing behavioral interference) and when it is task-relevant (facilitating the categorization). After early automatic processing of the emotional content, late ERPs become more emotionally modulated as the level of attention to the valence increases.

Test-retest reliability and task order effects of emotional cognitive tests in healthy subjects.

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Adams, Thomas; Pounder, Zoe; Preston, Sally; Hanson, Andy; Gallagher, Peter; Harmer, Catherine J; McAllister-Williams, R Hamish

2016-11-01

Little is known of the retest reliability of emotional cognitive tasks or the impact of using different tasks employing similar emotional stimuli within a battery. We investigated this in healthy subjects. We found improved overall performance in an emotional attentional blink task (EABT) with repeat testing at one hour and one week compared to baseline, but the impact of an emotional stimulus on performance was unchanged. Similarly, performance on a facial expression recognition task (FERT) was better one week after a baseline test, though the relative effect of specific emotions was unaltered. There was no effect of repeat testing on an emotional word categorising, recall and recognition task. We found no difference in performance in the FERT and EABT irrespective of task order. We concluded that it is possible to use emotional cognitive tasks in longitudinal studies and combine tasks using emotional facial stimuli in a single battery.

The congruency sequence effect 3.0: a critical test of conflict adaptation.

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Duthoo, Wout; Abrahamse, Elger L; Braem, Senne; Boehler, C Nico; Notebaert, Wim

2014-01-01

Over the last two decades, the congruency sequence effect (CSE) -the finding of a reduced congruency effect following incongruent trials in conflict tasks- has played a central role in advancing research on cognitive control. According to the influential conflict-monitoring account, the CSE reflects adjustments in selective attention that enhance task focus when needed, often termed conflict adaptation. However, this dominant interpretation of the CSE has been called into question by several alternative accounts that stress the role of episodic memory processes: feature binding and (stimulus-response) contingency learning. To evaluate the notion of conflict adaptation in accounting for the CSE, we construed versions of three widely used experimental paradigms (the colour-word Stroop, picture-word Stroop and flanker task) that effectively control for feature binding and contingency learning. Results revealed that a CSE can emerge in all three tasks. This strongly suggests a contribution of attentional control to the CSE and highlights the potential of these unprecedentedly clean paradigms for further examining cognitive control.

Frequency modulation system test procedure shuttle task 501 approach and landing test configuration

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Doland, G. D.

1976-01-01

Shuttle Task 501 is an in-line task to test the performance and compatibility of radiofrequency links between the SSO and ground, and relay via a satellite. Under Shuttle Task 501 approach and landing test (ALT) phase only a limited portion of the communication and tracking (C&T) equipment is to be tested. The principal item to be tested is a frequency modulated (FM) data link. To test this RF link, an ALT FM System was designed, constructed, and the console wiring verified. A step-by-step procedure to be used to perform the ALT FM system is presented. The ALT FM system test is to be performed prior to delivery of the equipment to the Electronic Systems Test Laboratory (ESTL).

Dividing attention between tasks : Testing whether explicit payoff functions elicit optimal dual-task performance

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Farmer, George D.; Janssen, C.P.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/412781654; Nguyen, Anh T; Brumby, Duncan P.

2018-01-01

We test people's ability to optimize performance across two concurrent tasks. Participants performed a number entry task while controlling a randomly moving cursor with a joystick. Participants received explicit feedback on their performance on these tasks in the form of a single combined score.

Cognitive and electrophysiological correlates of the bilingual Stroop effect

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Lavelda J. Naylor

2012-04-01

Full Text Available The bilingual color-word Stroop effect is commonly half the magnitude when naming and reading languages are different than the same. This between-within language Stroop difference (BWLS is likened to a response set effect, with greater response conflict for response relevant than irrelevant words. The BWLS was analyzed in 2 experiments. Color congruent and incongruent words (Exp 1 appeared in the naming language or not (single, or randomly in both languages (mixed. The BWLS effect was observed in both balanced and unbalanced bilinguals. However, color congruent trials during mixed-language blocks led to slower times between than within languages, indicating that response irrelevant stimuli interfered with processing. To investigate the neural timing of the BWLS effect (Exp 2, event related potentials were recorded while balanced bilinguals named silently. Replicating monolingual findings, an N450 effect was observed with larger negative amplitude for color incongruent than congruent trials (350-550 ms post stimulus onset. This effect was equivalent within and between languages, indicating that color words from both languages created response conflict, contrary to a response set effect. A sustained negativity followed with larger amplitude for color incongruent than congruent trials, resolving earlier for between than within language Stroop. The effect shared timing (550-700 ms, but not morphology or distribution with a previously reported sustained potential. Finally, a larger early negativity (200-350 ms was observed for between than within languages independent of color congruence. This no-go N2-like negativity may reflect processes of inhibitory control that facilitate the resolution of conflict at the sustained negativity, while the N450 reflects parallel processing of distracter words, independent of response set. In sum, the BWLS reflects brain activity over time with contributions from language and color conflict at different points.

Task force for integral test of High Energy nuclear data

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Oyama, Yukio [Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Tokai, Ibaraki (Japan). Tokai Research Establishment

1998-11-01

According to completion of the JENDL-High Energy file for neutron nuclear cross sections up to 50 MeV, a task force for integral test of high energy nuclear data was organized to discuss a guide line for integral test activities. A status of existing differential and integral experiments and how to perform such a test were discussed in the task force. Here the purpose and outline of the task force is explained with some future problems raised in discussion among the task member. (author)

A Randomized Controlled ERP Study on the Effects of Multi-Domain Cognitive Training and Task Difficulty on Task Switching Performance in Older Adults

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Küper, Kristina; Gajewski, Patrick D.; Frieg, Claudia; Falkenstein, Michael

2017-01-01

Executive functions are subject to a marked age-related decline, but have been shown to benefit from cognitive training interventions. As of yet, it is, however, still relatively unclear which neural mechanism can mediate training-related performance gains. In the present electrophysiological study, we examined the effects of multi-domain cognitive training on performance in an untrained cue-based task switch paradigm featuring Stroop color words: participants either had to indicate the word meaning of Stroop stimuli (word task) or perform the more difficult task of color naming (color task). One-hundred and three older adults (>65 years old) were randomly assigned to a training group receiving a 4-month multi-domain cognitive training, a passive no-contact control group or an active (social) control group receiving a 4-month relaxation training. For all groups, we recorded performance and EEG measures before and after the intervention. For the cognitive training group, but not for the two control groups, we observed an increase in response accuracy at posttest, irrespective of task and trial type. No training-related effects on reaction times were found. Cognitive training was also associated with an overall increase in N2 amplitude and a decrease of P2 latency on single trials. Training-related performance gains were thus likely mediated by an enhancement of response selection and improved access to relevant stimulus-response mappings. Additionally, cognitive training was associated with an amplitude decrease in the time window of the target-locked P3 at fronto-central electrodes. An increase in the switch positivity during advance task preparation emerged after both cognitive and relaxation training. Training-related behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) effects were not modulated by task difficulty. The data suggest that cognitive training increased slow negative potentials during target processing which enhanced the N2 and reduced a subsequent P3-like

Performance in neurocognitive tasks in obese patients. Does somatic comorbidity matter?

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Wibke eKiunke

2013-08-01

Full Text Available The aim of the present study was to examine if obese individuals with obesity-related somatic comorbidity (i.e., hypertension, diabetes, sleep apnea, dyslipidemia, pain disorder perform worse in neurocognitive tasks compared to obese individuals without any somatic disorder. Neurocognitive functioning was measured by a computerized test battery that consisted of the following tasks: Corsi Block Tapping Test, Auditory Word Learning Task, Trail Making Test-Part B, Stroop Test, Labyrinth Test, and a 4-disk version of the Tower of Hanoi. The total sample consisted of 146 patients, the majority (N=113 suffered from obesity grade 3, 26 individuals had obesity grade 2, and only 7 individuals obesity grade 1. Ninety-eight participants (67.1% reported at least one somatic disorder (Soma+-group. Hypertension was present in 75 individuals (51.4%, type 2 diabetes in 34 participants (23.3%, 38 individuals had sleep apnea (26.0%, 16 suffered from dyslipidemia (11.0%, and 14 individuals reported having a chronic pain disorder (9.6%. Participants without a coexisting somatic disorder were younger (MSoma-=33.7, SD=9.8 vs. MSoma+=42.7, SD=11.0, F(1,144=23.01, p<0.001 and more often female (89.6% and 62.2%, χ2(1= 11.751, p=0.001 but did not differ with respect to education, regular binge eating or depressive symptoms from those in the Soma+-group. The Soma--group performed better on cognitive tasks related to memory and mental flexibility. However, the group differences disappeared completely after controlling for age. The findings indicate that in some obese patients increasing age may not only be accompanied by an increase of obesity severity and by more obesity-related somatic disorders but also by poorer cognitive functioning.

Effect of the Stroop test performed in supine position on the heart rate variability in both genders.

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Vazan, Rastislav; Filcikova, Diana; Mravec, Boris

2017-12-01

The effect of Stroop test (ST)-induced stress on autonomic nervous system activity is often examined via measurement of heart rate variability (HRV). However, HRV may be significantly affected by interfering factors, including vocalization and inappropriate body position. Surprisingly, published studies ignore these issues, so the aim of our study was to test the innovative procedure for correct HRV measurement in individuals exposed to ST. Moreover, we examined possible gender differences in HRV and heart rate (HR) during ST. Healthy participants (21 men, 34 women) were placed in a supine position (no orthostatic activation) and then exposed to a 5 min relaxation period and a 5 min period of computerized ST (no vocalization). We found significant differences in HR and HRV parameters in both genders during ST when compared to relaxation (baseline) values. On the other hand, there were no significant differences in HR and HRV between males and females (except for a higher baseline HR in women). Also, reactivity to ST stress (difference between baseline and ST value) showed no gender differences. In conclusion, when performed in a supine position and without vocalization, the ST induces significant stress-related changes of HR and HRV in both genders, with no gender differences in the magnitude of reaction to ST stress. This experimental procedure can be used for correct examination of mental stress-related changes in the autonomic nervous system, and is particularly useful for examining mixed-gender experimental groups. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Self-control predicts attentional bias assessed by online shopping-related Stroop in high online shopping addiction tendency college students.

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Jiang, Zhaocai; Zhao, Xiuxin; Li, Cancan

2017-05-01

The aim of this study was to examine the relationships of personality types (i.e., self-control, BAS/BIS) and online shopping addiction (OSA) behavior and to investigate whether high-OSA tendency individuals display attentional biases toward online shopping-related (OS-related) stimuli as well as the links between attentional bias and personality types. The study included 98 college students divided into three groups (i.e., high-, medium- and low-OSA) according to their OSA behavior. The personality types (i.e., self-control, BAS/BIS) and OSA behavior were investigated by questionnaires. The attentional bias was evaluated by the OS-related Stroop and dot-probe task (DPT) paradigms. OSA was positively predicted by time spent on online shopping per day and average consumption for online shopping monthly, and negatively by self-control. High-OSA individuals displayed significant attentional biases toward OS-related stimuli in the Stroop, but not DPT paradigm. Moreover, the attentional bias toward OSA-related stimuli in high-OSA individuals was negatively correlated with self-control. These findings demonstrated the critical role of self-control in OSA behavior and attentional bias to OS-related stimuli in high-OSA individuals, indicating that more importance should be attached to self-control for the clinical intervention of online shopping addiction in future studies. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Effects of Combining Videogame Dancing and Pelvic Floor Training to Improve Dual-Task Gait and Cognition in Women with Mixed-Urinary Incontinence.

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Fraser, Sarah A; Elliott, Valerie; de Bruin, Eling D; Bherer, Louis; Dumoulin, Chantal

2014-06-01

Many women over 65 years of age suffer from mixed urinary incontinence (MUI) and executive function (EF) deficits. Both incontinence and EF declines increase fall risk. The current study assessed EF and dual-task gait after a multicomponent intervention that combined pelvic floor muscle (PFM) training and videogame dancing (VGD). Baseline (Pre1), pretraining (Pre2), and post-training (Post) neuropsychological and dual-task gait assessments were completed by 23 women (mean age, 70.4 years) with MUI. During the dual-task, participants walked and performed an auditory n-back task. From Pre2 to Post, all women completed 12 weeks of combined PFM and VGD training. After training (Pre2 to Post), the number of errors in the Inhibition/Switch Stroop condition decreased significantly, the Trail Making Test difference score improved marginally, and the number of n-back errors during dual-task gait significantly decreased. A subgroup analysis based on continence improvements (pad test) revealed that only those subjects who improved in the pad test had significantly reduced numbers of n-back errors during dual-task gait. The results of this study suggest that a multicomponent intervention can improve EFs and the dual-task gait of older women with MUI. Future research is needed to determine if the training-induced improvements in these factors reduce fall risk.

The congruency sequence effect 3.0: a critical test of conflict adaptation.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wout Duthoo

Full Text Available Over the last two decades, the congruency sequence effect (CSE -the finding of a reduced congruency effect following incongruent trials in conflict tasks- has played a central role in advancing research on cognitive control. According to the influential conflict-monitoring account, the CSE reflects adjustments in selective attention that enhance task focus when needed, often termed conflict adaptation. However, this dominant interpretation of the CSE has been called into question by several alternative accounts that stress the role of episodic memory processes: feature binding and (stimulus-response contingency learning. To evaluate the notion of conflict adaptation in accounting for the CSE, we construed versions of three widely used experimental paradigms (the colour-word Stroop, picture-word Stroop and flanker task that effectively control for feature binding and contingency learning. Results revealed that a CSE can emerge in all three tasks. This strongly suggests a contribution of attentional control to the CSE and highlights the potential of these unprecedentedly clean paradigms for further examining cognitive control.

Neural correlates of the modified Stroop effect in post-traumatic stress disorder: an event-related potential study.

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Chen, Xiaoyi; Wei, Dongtao; Dupuis-Roy, Nicolas; Du, Xue; Qiu, Jiang; Zhang, Qinglin

2012-12-19

Previous studies have provided electrophysiological evidence for attentional abnormalities in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The present study examined the electrophysiological activity of trauma-exposed patients with or without a PTSD during a modified Stroop task. The PTSD group showed a reduced P2 and P3 amplitude relative to the non-PTSD group under both the earthquake-related and earthquake-unrelated words conditions. Importantly, the earthquake-related words elicited a greater P3 amplitude (350-450 ms after stimulus) than did unrelated words in the non-PTSD group, whereas no significant difference was found in the PTSD group. This indicates that PTSD patients had some attention deficits compared with non-PTSD individuals, and that these attention deficits were not just limited to earthquake-related words.

Performances on a cognitive theory of mind task: specific decline or general cognitive deficits? Evidence from normal aging.

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Fliss, Rafika; Lemerre, Marion; Mollard, Audrey

2016-06-01

Compromised theory of mind (ToM) can be explained either by a failure to implement specific representational capacities (mental state representations) or by more general executive selection demands. In older adult populations, evidence supporting affected executive functioning and cognitive ToM in normal aging are reported. However, links between these two functions remain unclear. In the present paper, we address these shortcomings by using a specific task of ToM and classical executive tasks. We studied, using an original cognitive ToM task, the effect of age on ToM performances, in link with the progressive executive decline. 96 elderly participants were recruited. They were asked to perform a cognitive ToM task, and 5 executive tests (Stroop test and Hayling Sentence Completion Test to appreciate inhibitory process, Trail Making Test and Verbal Fluency for shifting assessment and backward span dedicated to estimate working memory capacity). The results show changes in cognitive ToM performance according to executive demands. Correlational studies indicate a significant relationship between ToM performance and the selected executive measures. Regression analyzes demonstrates that level of vocabulary and age as the best predictors of ToM performance. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that ToM deficits are related to age-related domain-general decline rather than as to a breakdown in specialized representational system. The implications of these findings for the nature of social cognition tests in normal aging are also discussed.

Avoiding the approach trap: a response bias theory of the emotional Stroop effect.

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Chajut, Eran; Mama, Yaniv; Levy, Leora; Algom, Daniel

2010-11-01

In the laboratory, people classify the color of emotion-laden words slower than they do that of neutral words, the emotional Stroop effect. Outside the laboratory, people react to features of emotion-laden stimuli or threatening stimuli faster than they do to those of neutral stimuli. A possible resolution to the conundrum implicates the counternatural response demands imposed in the laboratory that do not, as a rule, provide for avoidance in the face of threat. In 2 experiments we show that when such an option is provided in the laboratory, the response latencies follow those observed in real life. These results challenge the dominant attention theory offered for the emotional Stroop effect because this theory is indifferent to the vital approach-avoidance distinction.

How automatic is the musical stroop effect? Commentary on “the musical stroop effect: opening a new avenue to research on automatisms” by l. Grégoire, P. Perruchet, and B. Poulin-Charronnat (Experimental Psychology, 2013, vol. 60, pp. 269–278).

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Moeller, Birte; Frings, Christian

2014-01-01

Grégoire, Perruchet, and Poulin-Charronnat (2013) investigated a musical variant of the reversed Stroop effect. According to the authors, one big advantage of this variant is that the automaticity of note naming can be better controlled than in other Stroop variants as musicians are very practiced in note reading whereas non-musicians are not. In this comment we argue that at present the exact impact of automaticity in this Stroop variant remains somewhat unclear for at least three reasons, namely due to the type of information that is automatically retrieved when notes are encountered, due to the possible influence of object-based attention, and finally due to the fact that the exact influence of expertise on interference cannot be pinpointed with an extreme group design.

Linking Theoretical Decision-making Mechanisms in the Simon Task with Electrophysiological Data: A Model-based Neuroscience Study in Humans.

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Servant, Mathieu; White, Corey; Montagnini, Anna; Burle, Borís

2016-10-01

A current challenge for decision-making research is in extending models of simple decisions to more complex and ecological choice situations. Conflict tasks (e.g., Simon, Stroop, Eriksen flanker) have been the focus of much interest, because they provide a decision-making context representative of everyday life experiences. Modeling efforts have led to an elaborated drift diffusion model for conflict tasks (DMC), which implements a superimposition of automatic and controlled decision activations. The DMC has proven to capture the diversity of behavioral conflict effects across various task contexts. This study combined DMC predictions with EEG and EMG measurements to test a set of linking propositions that specify the relationship between theoretical decision-making mechanisms involved in the Simon task and brain activity. Our results are consistent with a representation of the superimposed decision variable in the primary motor cortices. The decision variable was also observed in the EMG activity of response agonist muscles. These findings provide new insight into the neurophysiology of human decision-making. In return, they provide support for the DMC model framework.

E-learning, dual-task, and cognitive load: The anatomy of a failed experiment.

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Van Nuland, Sonya E; Rogers, Kem A

2016-01-01

The rising popularity of commercial anatomy e-learning tools has been sustained, in part, due to increased annual enrollment and a reduction in laboratory hours across educational institutions. While e-learning tools continue to gain popularity, the research methodologies used to investigate their impact on learning remain imprecise. As new user interfaces are introduced, it is critical to understand how functionality can influence the load placed on a student's memory resources, also known as cognitive load. To study cognitive load, a dual-task paradigm wherein a learner performs two tasks simultaneously is often used, however, its application within educational research remains uncommon. Using previous paradigms as a guide, a dual-task methodology was developed to assess the cognitive load imposed by two commercial anatomical e-learning tools. Results indicate that the standard dual-task paradigm, as described in the literature, is insensitive to the cognitive load disparities across e-learning tool interfaces. Confounding variables included automation of responses, task performance tradeoff, and poor understanding of primary task cognitive load requirements, leading to unreliable quantitative results. By modifying the secondary task from a basic visual response to a more cognitively demanding task, such as a modified Stroop test, the automation of secondary task responses can be reduced. Furthermore, by recording baseline measures for the primary task as well as the secondary task, it is possible for task performance tradeoff to be detected. Lastly, it is imperative that the cognitive load of the primary task be designed such that it does not overwhelm the individual's ability to learn new material. © 2015 American Association of Anatomists.

Acute effects of 3G mobile phone radiations on frontal haemodynamics during a cognitive task in teenagers and possible protective value of Om chanting.

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Bhargav, Hemant; N K, Manjunath; Varambally, Shivarama; Mooventhan, A; Bista, Suman; Singh, Deepeshwar; Chhabra, Harleen; Venkatasubramanian, Ganesan; T M, Srinivasan; H R, Nagendra

2016-06-01

Mobile phone induced electromagnetic field (MPEMF) as well as chanting of Vedic mantra 'OM' has been shown to affect cognition and brain haemodynamics, but findings are still inconclusive. Twenty right-handed healthy teenagers (eight males and 12 females) in the age range of 18.25 ± 0.44 years were randomly divided into four groups: (1) MPONOM (mobile phone 'ON' followed by 'OM' chanting); (2) MPOFOM (mobile phone 'OFF' followed by 'OM' chanting); (3) MPONSS (mobile phone 'ON' followed by 'SS' chanting); and (4) MPOFSS (mobile phone 'OFF' followed by 'SS' chanting). Brain haemodynamics during Stroop task were recorded using a 64-channel fNIRS device at three points of time: (1) baseline, (2) after 30 min of MPON/OF exposure, and (3) after 5 min of OM/SS chanting. RM-ANOVA was applied to perform within- and between-group comparisons, respectively. Between-group analysis revealed that total scores on incongruent Stroop task were significantly better after OM as compared to SS chanting (MPOFOM vs MPOFSS), pre-frontal activation was significantly lesser after OM as compared to SS chanting in channel 13. There was no significant difference between MPON and MPOF conditions for Stroop performance, as well as brain haemodynamics. These findings need confirmation through a larger trial in future.

[Decision making and executive function in severe traumatic brain injured patients: validation of a decision-making task and correlated features].

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Wiederkehr, S; Barat, M; Dehail, P; de Sèze, M; Lozes-Boudillon, S; Giroire, J-M

2005-02-01

At the chronic stage, severe traumatic brain injured (TBI) patients experience difficulty in making decisions. Several studies have demonstrated the involvement of the prefrontal cortex, in particular the orbitofrontal region, in decision-making. The aim of the present study was to validate a decision-making task in this population and to ascertain whether the components of their dysexecutive syndrome may affect their decision-making and lead to difficulties for social rehabilitation. Fifteen TBI patients and 15 controlled subjects matched for age, sex and years of education were assessed by a battery of executive tests (GREFEX) and by the gambling task (GT). The TBI subjects performed significantly worse than the controlled group in five out of six GREFEX tests. The TBI choices are significantly more disadvantageous than the choices of the control group when considering the three last blocks of 20 cards of the GT. The GT total score correlated significantly with execution time of the Stroop interference condition and the Trail Making Task B, as well as with the two measures (correct sequence span and number of crossed boxes) of the double condition of Baddeley's task. We postulate that executive functioning (supervisory attentional system) influence performance in the gambling task through mechanisms of inhibitory control, divided attention and working memory. Thus, this task seems to be determined by multiple factors; the process of decision-making may depend on frontal integrity.

A neuronal model of a global workspace in effortful cognitive tasks.

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Dehaene, S; Kerszberg, M; Changeux, J P

1998-11-24

A minimal hypothesis is proposed concerning the brain processes underlying effortful tasks. It distinguishes two main computational spaces: a unique global workspace composed of distributed and heavily interconnected neurons with long-range axons, and a set of specialized and modular perceptual, motor, memory, evaluative, and attentional processors. Workspace neurons are mobilized in effortful tasks for which the specialized processors do not suffice. They selectively mobilize or suppress, through descending connections, the contribution of specific processor neurons. In the course of task performance, workspace neurons become spontaneously coactivated, forming discrete though variable spatio-temporal patterns subject to modulation by vigilance signals and to selection by reward signals. A computer simulation of the Stroop task shows workspace activation to increase during acquisition of a novel task, effortful execution, and after errors. We outline predictions for spatio-temporal activation patterns during brain imaging, particularly about the contribution of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate to the workspace.

Attentional bias for trauma-related words: exaggerated emotional Stroop effect in Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans with PTSD

OpenAIRE

Ashley, Victoria; Honzel, Nikki; Larsen, Jary; Justus, Timothy; Swick, Diane

2013-01-01

Background Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) involves debilitating symptoms that can disrupt cognitive functioning. The emotional Stroop has been commonly used to examine the impact of PTSD on attentional control, but no published study has yet used it with Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans, and only one previous study has compared groups on habituation to trauma-related words. Methods We administered the emotional Stroop, the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the PTSD Checklist (PCL) ...

Association Between Gross-Motor and Executive Function Depends on Age and Motor Task Complexity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Spedden, Meaghan E; Malling, Anne Sofie B; Andersen, Ken K

2017-01-01

The objective was to examine associations between motor and executive function across the adult lifespan and to investigate the role of motor complexity in these associations. Young, middle-aged and older adults (n = 82; 19-83y) performed two gross-motor tasks with different levels of complexity...... and a Stroop-like computer task. Performance was decreased in older adults. The association between motor and cognitive performance was significant for older adults in the complex motor task (p = 0.03, rs = -0.41), whereas no significant associations were found for young or middle-aged groups, suggesting...... that the link between gross-motor and executive function emerges with age and depends on motor complexity....

Reproducibility of skeletal muscle vasodilatation responses to Stroop mental challenge over repeated sessions.

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Hamer, Mark; Boutcher, Yati N; Park, Young; Boutcher, Stephen H

2006-08-01

Skeletal muscle blood flow responses to stress have implications for psychobiological disease pathways. An important assumption underlying psychophysiological studies relating stress reactivity with disease risk is that individuals are characterized by stable response profiles that can be reliably assessed using acute psychophysiological stress testing. We examined the reproducibility of forearm vasodilatation, blood pressure, and cardiac responses to a 2 min Stroop mental challenge over two repeated stress sessions that were on average 3.6 months apart. Participants were 21 healthy men and women (aged 21.8+/-3.7 years). Vasodilatation, blood pressure and heart rate responses displayed no habituation between sessions, although there was significantly greater cardiac parasympathetic involvement during the second testing session. Significant test-retest correlations between the sessions were observed for both forearm blood flow and heart rate reactivity. These findings demonstrate skeletal muscle vasodilatation responses to repeated stress are robust, so may be a useful psychophysiological indicator in studies of stress reactivity and disease risk.

Stroop and picture-word interference are two sides of the same coin

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Maanen, Leendert; van Rijn, Hedderik; Borst, Jelmer P.

2009-01-01

This article presents a cognitive model that reconciles a surprising observation in the picture-word interference (PWI) paradigm with the general notion that PWI is a form of Stroop interference. Dell'Acqua, Job, Peressotti, and Pascali (2007) assessed PWI using a psychological refractory period

Selective processing of threatening information: effects of attachment representation and anxiety disorder on attention and memory.

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Zeijlmans van Emmichoven, Ingeborg A; van IJzendoorn, Marinus H; de Ruiter, Corine; Brosschot, Jos F

2003-01-01

To investigate the effect of the mental representation of attachment on information processing, 28 anxiety disorder outpatients, as diagnosed by the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule-Revised, were administered the Adult Attachment Interview and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. They also completed an emotional Stroop task with subliminal and supraliminal exposure conditions, a free recall memory task, and a recognition test. All tasks contained threatening, neutral, and positively valenced stimuli. A nonclinical comparison group of 56 participants completed the same measures. Results on the Stroop task showed color-naming interference for threatening words in the supraliminal condition only. Nonclinical participants with insecure attachment representations showed a global response inhibition to the Stroop task. Clinical participants with secure attachment representations showed the largest Stroop interference of the threatening words compared to the other groups. Results on the free recall task showed superior recall of all types of stimuli by participants with secure attachment representations. In the outpatient group, participants with secure attachment representations showed superior recall of threatening words on the free recall task, compared to insecure participants. Results on the recognition task showed no differences between attachment groups. We conclude that secure attachment representations are characterized by open communication about and processing of threatening information, leading to less defensive exclusion of negative material during the attentional stage of information processing and to better recall of threatening information in a later stage. Attachment insecurity, but not the type of insecurity, seems a decisive factor in attention and memory processes.

Exploration of task performance tests in a physics laboratory

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Liu, Dan; El Turkey, Houssein

2017-11-01

In this article, we investigate the implementation of task performance tests in an undergraduate physics laboratory. Two performance tests were carried out over two semesters using the task of building a DC circuit. The first implementation in Spring 2014 had certain concerns such as the privacy of students’ testing and their ‘trial and error’ attempts. These concerns were addressed in Fall 2015 through implementing a second performance test. The second implementation was administered differently but the content of the two tests was the same. We discuss the validity of both implementations and present the correlation (or lack of) between the time that students needed to complete the tests and their grades from a paper-based laboratory assessment method.

Binding Task-Based Language Teaching and Task-Based Language Testing: A Survey into EFL Teachers and Learners' Views of Task-Based Approach

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Panahi, Ali

2012-01-01

In most settings, task-based language teaching and testing have been dissociated from each other. That is why this study came to rethink of the learners' views towards awareness and implementation of task-based language teaching through IELTS listening tasks. To these objectives, after sketching instrumentation, the learners were divided into…

Listening Strategies of L2 Learners with Varied Test Tasks

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Chang, Anna Ching-Shyang

2008-01-01

This article investigates the strategies that EFL students used and how they adjusted these strategies in response to various listening test tasks. The test tasks involved four forms of listening support: previewing questions, repeated input, background information preparation, and vocabulary instruction. Twenty-two participants were enlisted and…

Positive schizotypy scores correlate with left visual field interference for negatively valenced emotional words: A lateralized emotional Stroop study.

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Van Strien, Jan W; Van Kampen, Dirk

2009-10-30

Fourteen men scoring high and 14 men scoring low on a positive schizotypy scale participated in a lateralized emotional Stroop task. Vocal reaction times for color naming of neutral, positive and negative emotional words were recorded. Across participants, the color naming of neutral and emotional words was slightly faster to right than to left visual field presentations. In men with high scores on positive schizotypy, the presentation of negative words to the left visual field (right hemisphere) resulted in significant affective interference with color naming, which was significantly larger than in men with low scores. Correlational analysis also showed that positive schizotypy was significantly associated with emotional interference in response to LVF negative words. The outcome is discussed in terms of right hemispheric engagement in negative emotions in high positive schizotypic men.

Does Ramadan Fasting Adversely Affect Cognitive Function in Young Females?

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Mahboubeh Ghayour Najafabadi

2015-01-01

Full Text Available We examined the effects of Ramadan fasting on cognitive function in 17 female athletes. Data were obtained from participants of two fasting (n=9 and nonfasting (n=8 groups at three periods of the study (before Ramadan, at the third week in Ramadan, and after Ramadan. Digit span test (DST and Stroop color test were employed to assess short-term memory and inhibition/cognitive flexibility at each time point. There were no significant changes for DST and Stroop task 1 in both groups, whereas Stroop task 2 and task 3 showed significant improvements in Ramadan condition (p<0.05. Interference indices did not change significantly across the study except in post-Ramadan period of fasting group (p<0.05. Group × week interaction was significant only for error numbers (p<0.05. Athletes in nonfasting showed a significant decrease in number of errors in Ramadan compared to baseline (p<0.05. The results suggest that Ramadan fasting may not adversely affect cognitive function in female athletes.

Dissociating proportion congruent and conflict adaptation effects in a Simon-Stroop procedure.

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Torres-Quesada, Maryem; Funes, Maria Jesús; Lupiáñez, Juan

2013-02-01

Proportion congruent and conflict adaptation are two well known effects associated with cognitive control. A critical open question is whether they reflect the same or separate cognitive control mechanisms. In this experiment, in a training phase we introduced a proportion congruency manipulation for one conflict type (i.e. Simon), whereas in pre-training and post-training phases two conflict types (e.g. Simon and Spatial Stroop) were displayed with the same incongruent-to-congruent ratio. The results supported the sustained nature of the proportion congruent effect, as it transferred from the training to the post-training phase. Furthermore, this transfer generalized to both conflict types. By contrast, the conflict adaptation effect was specific to conflict type, as it was only observed when the same conflict type (either Simon or Stroop) was presented on two consecutive trials (no effect was observed on conflict type alternation trials). Results are interpreted as supporting the reactive and proactive control mechanisms distinction. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effects of High Frequency Repeated Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation on Gambling Reinforcement, Delay Discounting, and Stroop Interference in Men with Pathological Gambling.

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Zack, Martin; Cho, Sang Soo; Parlee, Jennifer; Jacobs, Mark; Li, Crystal; Boileau, Isabelle; Strafella, Antonio

Repeated transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) can reduce cravings and improve cognitive function in substance dependent individuals. Whether these benefits extend to individuals with pathological gambling (PG) is unclear. High-frequency rTMS of the medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) and continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) of the right dorsolateral PFC can reduce impulsive choice in healthy volunteers. This study aimed to assess the effects of these two protocols on gambling reinforcement and related responses in otherwise healthy men with PG. Participants (n = 9) underwent active or sham treatments at weekly intervals in a repeated-measures, Latin square design. Subjective and physiological responses were assessed before and after a 15-min slot machine game on each session. Delay discounting and Stroop tasks measured post-game impulsive choice and attentional control. Multivariate analysis of covariance, controlling for winnings on the slot machine under each treatment, found that rTMS reduced the post-game increase in Desire to Gamble; cTBS reduced amphetamine-like effects, and decreased diastolic blood pressure. Treatment had no significant univariate effects on bet size or speed of play in the game; however, a multivariate effect for the two indices suggested that treatment decreased behavioral activation. Neither treatment reduced impulsive choice, while both treatments increased Stroop interference. rTMS and cTBS can reduce gambling reinforcement in non-comorbid men with PG. Separate processes appear to mediate gambling reinforcement and betting behavior as against delay discounting and Stroop interference. Interventions that modify risky as opposed to temporal aspects of decision making may better predict therapeutic response in PG. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Neurocognitive Basis for Impaired Dual-Task Performance in Senior Fallers.

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Nagamatsu, Lindsay S; Hsu, C Liang; Voss, Michelle W; Chan, Alison; Bolandzadeh, Niousha; Handy, Todd C; Graf, Peter; Beattie, B Lynn; Liu-Ambrose, Teresa

2016-01-01

Falls are a major health-care concern, and while dual-task performance is widely recognized as being impaired in those at-risk for falls, the underlying neurocognitive mechanisms remain unknown. A better understanding of the underlying mechanisms could lead to the refinement and development of behavioral, cognitive, or neuropharmacological interventions for falls prevention. Therefore, we conducted a cross-sectional study with community-dwelling older adults aged 70-80 years with a history of falls (i.e., two or more falls in the past 12 months) or no history of falls (i.e., zero falls in the past 12 months); n = 28 per group. We compared functional activation during cognitive-based dual-task performance between fallers and non-fallers using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Executive cognitive functioning was assessed via Stroop, Trail Making, and Digit Span. Mobility was assessed via the Timed Up and Go test (TUG). We found that non-fallers exhibited significantly greater functional activation compared with fallers during dual-task performance in key regions responsible for resolving dual-task interference, including precentral, postcentral, and lingual gyri. Further, we report slower reaction times during dual-task performance in fallers and significant correlations between level of functional activation and independent measures of executive cognitive functioning and mobility. Our study is the first neuroimaging study to examine dual-task performance in fallers, and supports the notion that fallers have reduced functional brain activation compared with non-fallers. Given that dual-task performance-and the underlying neural concomitants-appears to be malleable with relevant training, our study serves as a launching point for promising strategies to reduce falls in the future.

Resolved but not Forgotten: Stroop Conflict Dredges Up the Past

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Eliot eHazeltine

2014-11-01

Full Text Available The magnitude of congruency effects depends on, among other things, the specifics of previously trials. To explain these modulating effects, a host of mechanisms by which previous trials affect the processing of relevant and irrelevant information on the present trial have been proposed, including feature-repetition advantages, negative priming, item-specific proportion congruency (ISPC effects, display-frequency effects, and sequential modulations of both congruency and frequency effects. However, few experiments have been designed to independently manipulate these factors. In the present study, we used a four-choice Stroop task in which we hold constant the frequencies of the stimulus features and responses, but manipulate the frequencies of their conjunctions. We modified the procedure used by Jacoby et al. (2003, under which the possible word-color pairings differed in terms of proportion occurrence, by adding neutral trials to obtain independent estimates of these various potential effects. The results indicate that feature repetitions, display frequency, and sequential modulations of both congruency and frequency effects all affect response time. However, no evidence for an ISPC effect was obtained; the display frequency effect measured on the neutral trials accounted for all differences in the congruency effect, as proposed by Schmidt and Besner (2008. Sequential modulations of congruency effects were observed when the overall proportion of congruent trials was held to a chance level and marginal display frequency was also held constant.

P2-13: Location word Cues' Effect on Location Discrimination Task: Cross-Modal Study

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Satoko Ohtsuka

2012-10-01

Full Text Available As is well known, participants are slower and make more errors in responding to the display color of an incongruent color word than a congruent one. This traditional stroop effect is often accounted for with relatively automatic and dominant word processing. Although the word dominance account has been widely supported, it is not clear in what extent of perceptual tasks it is valid. Here we aimed to examine whether the word dominance effect is observed in location stroop tasks and in audio-visual situations. The participants were required to press a key according to the location of visual (Experiment 1 and audio (Experiment 2 targets, left or right, as soon as possible. A cue of written (Experiments 1a and 2a or spoken (Experiments 1b and 2b location words, “left” or “right”, was presented on the left or right side of the fixation with cue lead times (CLT of 200 ms and 1200 ms. Reaction time from target presentation to key press was recorded as a dependent variable. The results were that the location validity effect was marked in within-modality but less so in cross-modality trials. The word validity effect was strong in within- but not in cross-modality trials. The CLT gave some effect of inhibition of return. So the word dominance could be less effective in location tasks and in cross-modal situations. The spatial correspondence seems to overcome the word effect.

The very low-frequency band of heart rate variability represents the slow recovery component after a mental stress task.

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Usui, Harunobu; Nishida, Yusuke

2017-01-01

The very low-frequency (VLF) band of heart rate variability (HRV) has different characteristics compared with other HRV components. Here we investigated differences in HRV changes after a mental stress task. After the task, the high-frequency (HF) band and ratio of high- to low-frequency bands (LF/HF) immediately returned to baseline. We evaluated the characteristics of VLF band changes after a mental stress task. We hypothesized that the VLF band decreases during the Stroop color word task and there would be a delayed recovery for 2 h after the task (i.e., the VLF change would exhibit a "slow recovery"). Nineteen healthy, young subjects were instructed to rest for 10 min, followed by a Stroop color word task for 20 min. After the task, the subjects were instructed to rest for 120 min. For all subjects, R-R interval data were collected; analysis was performed for VLF, HF, and LF/HF ratio. HRV during the rest time and each 15-min interval of the recovery time were compared. An analysis of the covariance was performed to adjust for the HF band and LF/HF ratio as confounding variables of the VLF component. HF and VLF bands significantly decreased and the LF/HF ratio significantly increased during the task compared with those during rest time. During recovery, the VLF band was significantly decreased compared with the rest time. After the task, the HF band and LF/HF ratio immediately returned to baseline and were not significantly different from the resting values. After adjusting for HF and LF/HF ratio, the VLF band had significantly decreased compared with that during rest. The VLF band is the "slow recovery" component and the HF band and LF/HF ratio are the "quick recovery" components of HRV. This VLF characteristic may clarify the unexplained association of the VLF band in cardiovascular disease prevention.

Orthographic Reading Deficits in Dyslexic Japanese Children: Examining the Transposed-Letter Effect in the Color-Word Stroop Paradigm.

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Ogawa, Shino; Shibasaki, Masahiro; Isomura, Tomoko; Masataka, Nobuo

2016-01-01

In orthographic reading, the transposed-letter effect (TLE) is the perception of a transposed-letter position word such as "cholocate" as the correct word "chocolate." Although previous studies on dyslexic children using alphabetic languages have reported such orthographic reading deficits, the extent of orthographic reading impairment in dyslexic Japanese children has remained unknown. This study examined the TLE in dyslexic Japanese children using the color-word Stroop paradigm comprising congruent and incongruent Japanese hiragana words with correct and transposed-letter positions. We found that typically developed children exhibited Stroop effects in Japanese hiragana words with both correct and transposed-letter positions, thus indicating the presence of TLE. In contrast, dyslexic children indicated Stroop effects in correct letter positions in Japanese words but not in transposed, which indicated an absence of the TLE. These results suggest that dyslexic Japanese children, similar to dyslexic children using alphabetic languages, may also have a problem with orthographic reading.

More than words (and faces): evidence for a Stroop effect of prosody in emotion word processing.

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Filippi, Piera; Ocklenburg, Sebastian; Bowling, Daniel L; Heege, Larissa; Güntürkün, Onur; Newen, Albert; de Boer, Bart

2017-08-01

Humans typically combine linguistic and nonlinguistic information to comprehend emotions. We adopted an emotion identification Stroop task to investigate how different channels interact in emotion communication. In experiment 1, synonyms of "happy" and "sad" were spoken with happy and sad prosody. Participants had more difficulty ignoring prosody than ignoring verbal content. In experiment 2, synonyms of "happy" and "sad" were spoken with happy and sad prosody, while happy or sad faces were displayed. Accuracy was lower when two channels expressed an emotion that was incongruent with the channel participants had to focus on, compared with the cross-channel congruence condition. When participants were required to focus on verbal content, accuracy was significantly lower also when prosody was incongruent with verbal content and face. This suggests that prosody biases emotional verbal content processing, even when conflicting with verbal content and face simultaneously. Implications for multimodal communication and language evolution studies are discussed.

Decision-making in research tasks with sequential testing.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas Pfeiffer

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: In a recent controversial essay, published by JPA Ioannidis in PLoS Medicine, it has been argued that in some research fields, most of the published findings are false. Based on theoretical reasoning it can be shown that small effect sizes, error-prone tests, low priors of the tested hypotheses and biases in the evaluation and publication of research findings increase the fraction of false positives. These findings raise concerns about the reliability of research. However, they are based on a very simple scenario of scientific research, where single tests are used to evaluate independent hypotheses. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this study, we present computer simulations and experimental approaches for analyzing more realistic scenarios. In these scenarios, research tasks are solved sequentially, i.e. subsequent tests can be chosen depending on previous results. We investigate simple sequential testing and scenarios where only a selected subset of results can be published and used for future rounds of test choice. Results from computer simulations indicate that for the tasks analyzed in this study, the fraction of false among the positive findings declines over several rounds of testing if the most informative tests are performed. Our experiments show that human subjects frequently perform the most informative tests, leading to a decline of false positives as expected from the simulations. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: For the research tasks studied here, findings tend to become more reliable over time. We also find that the performance in those experimental settings where not all performed tests could be published turned out to be surprisingly inefficient. Our results may help optimize existing procedures used in the practice of scientific research and provide guidance for the development of novel forms of scholarly communication.

Functional Task Test: 3. Skeletal Muscle Performance Adaptations to Space Flight

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Ryder, Jeffrey W.; Wickwire, P. J.; Buxton, R. E.; Bloomberg, J. J.; Ploutz-Snyder, L.

2011-01-01

The functional task test is a multi-disciplinary study investigating how space-flight induced changes to physiological systems impacts functional task performance. Impairment of neuromuscular function would be expected to negatively affect functional performance of crewmembers following exposure to microgravity. This presentation reports the results for muscle performance testing in crewmembers. Functional task performance will be presented in the abstract "Functional Task Test 1: sensory motor adaptations associated with postflight alternations in astronaut functional task performance." METHODS: Muscle performance measures were obtained in crewmembers before and after short-duration space flight aboard the Space Shuttle and long-duration International Space Station (ISS) missions. The battery of muscle performance tests included leg press and bench press measures of isometric force, isotonic power and total work. Knee extension was used for the measurement of central activation and maximal isometric force. Upper and lower body force steadiness control were measured on the bench press and knee extension machine, respectively. Tests were implemented 60 and 30 days before launch, on landing day (Shuttle crew only), and 6, 10 and 30 days after landing. Seven Space Shuttle crew and four ISS crew have completed the muscle performance testing to date. RESULTS: Preliminary results for Space Shuttle crew reveal significant reductions in the leg press performance metrics of maximal isometric force, power and total work on R+0 (pperformance metrics were observed in returning Shuttle crew and these adaptations are likely contributors to impaired functional tasks that are ambulatory in nature (See abstract Functional Task Test: 1). Interestingly, no significant changes in central activation capacity were detected. Therefore, impairments in muscle function in response to short-duration space flight are likely myocellular rather than neuromotor in nature.

Effects of Gait and Cognitive Task Difficulty on Cognitive-Motor Interference in Aging

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Prudence Plummer-D'Amato

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Although gait-related dual-task interference in aging is well established, the effect of gait and cognitive task difficulty on dual-task interference is poorly understood. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of gait and cognitive task difficulty on cognitive-motor interference in aging. Fifteen older adults (72.1 years, SD 5.2 and 20 young adults (21.7 years, SD 1.6 performed three walking tasks of varying difficulty (self-selected speed, fast speed, and fast speed with obstacle crossing under single- and dual-task conditions. The cognitive tasks were the auditory Stroop task and the clock task. There was a significant Group × Gait Task × Cognitive Task interaction for the dual-task effect on gait speed. After adjusting for education, there were no significant effects of gait or cognitive task difficulty on the dual-task effects on cognitive task performance. The results of this study provide evidence that gait task difficulty influences dual-task effects on gait speed, especially in older adults. Moreover, the effects of gait task difficulty on dual-task interference appear to be influenced by the difficulty of the cognitive task. Education is an important factor influencing cognitive-motor interference effects on cognition, but not gait.

The neural dynamics of stimulus and response conflict processing as a function of response complexity and task demands

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Donohue, Sarah E.; Appelbaum, Lawrence G.; McKay, Cameron C.; Woldorff, Marty G.

2016-01-01

Both stimulus and response conflict can disrupt behavior by slowing response times and decreasing accuracy. Although several neural activations have been associated with conflict processing, it is unclear how specific any of these are to the type of stimulus conflict or the amount of response conflict. Here, we recorded electrical brain activity, while manipulating the type of stimulus conflict in the task (spatial [Flanker] versus semantic [Stroop]) and the amount of response conflict (two versus four response choices). Behaviorally, responses were slower to incongruent versus congruent stimuli across all task and response types, along with overall slowing for higher response-mapping complexity. The earliest incongruency-related neural effect was a short-duration frontally-distributed negativity at ~200 ms that was only present in the Flanker spatial-conflict task. At longer latencies, the classic fronto-central incongruency-related negativity ‘Ninc’ was observed for all conditions, which was larger and ~100 ms longer in duration with more response options. Further, the onset of the motor-related lateralized readiness potential (LRP) was earlier for the two vs. four response sets, indicating that smaller response sets enabled faster motor-response preparation. The late positive complex (LPC) was present in all conditions except the two-response Stroop task, suggesting this late conflict-related activity is not specifically related to task type or response-mapping complexity. Importantly, across tasks and conditions, the LRP onset at or before the conflict-related Ninc, indicating that motor preparation is a rapid, automatic process that interacts with the conflict-detection processes after it has begun. Together, these data highlight how different conflict-related processes operate in parallel and depend on both the cognitive demands of the task and the number of response options. PMID:26827917

Acute effects of exercise posture on executive function in transient ischemic attack patients.

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Faulkner, James; Stoner, Lee; Grigg, Rebecca; Fryer, Simon; Stone, Keeron; Lambrick, Danielle

2017-08-01

In patients with stroke or transient ischemic attacks (TIA), a decline in executive function may limit an individual's ability to process motor tasks and relearn motor skills. The purpose of this study was to assess the acute effect of exercise posture (seated vs. supine cycle ergometry) on executive function and prefrontal cortex perfusion in patients with TIA. Eleven TIA patients (65 ± 10 years) and 15 age-matched, healthy controls (HC; 62 ± 7 years) completed two exercise tests to maximal capacity (one seated, one supine) and two 30-min submaximal exercise tests (one seated, one supine). Executive function was assessed prior to and following (1.5 min post, 15 min post) the submaximal exercise tests using a Stroop task. Prefrontal cortex perfusion (total hemoglobin) was continuously recorded using near-infrared spectroscopy. There was no Posture (seated, supine) × Group (TIA, HC) interaction for the Stroop task (p > .05). HC completed Stroop tasks significantly faster than TIA (51.9[SD = 10.3] vs. 64.2[8.5] s, respectively), while Stroop completion time significantly improved between baseline and 1.5 min post (61.3[10] vs. 58.1[9.4] s, respectively) and 1.5 min post and 15 min post (54.8[8.9] s). Posture and group had no significant influence on prefrontal cortex perfusion (p > .05). In summary, executive function improves to a similar extent in TIA and age-matched, healthy controls following an acute bout of exercise, regardless of exercise posture. As acute improvements in executive function were maintained for 15 min, there could be an important window of opportunity for assigning executive tasks following exercise rehabilitation for patients with TIA. © 2017 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Differential therapeutic effects of 12-week treatment of atomoxetine and methylphenidate on drug-naïve children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A counting Stroop functional MRI study.

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Chou, Tai-Li; Chia, Seng; Shang, Chi-Yung; Gau, Susan Shur-Fen

2015-12-01

Methylphenidate and atomoxetine are effective in treating attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with underlying distinct pharmacological mechanisms. To relate neural mechanisms to clinical response, we conducted a comparative trial to differentiate the changes in brain activation of drug-naïve children with ADHD when performing neuropsychological tasks after 12 weeks of pharmacotherapy. We randomized 50 drug-naïve children with ADHD, aged 7-17, to treatment with methylphenidate (n=25) or atomoxetine (n=25). These children were scanned twice with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during the counting Stroop task before and after treatment. Focused attention and impulsivity were assessed twice by using the Conner's Continuous Performance Test (CCPT). The final sample for fMRI analysis comprised 20 in the methylphenidate group and 22 in the atomoxetine group. Atomoxetine decreased activations in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which correlated with improvement in focused attention assessed by the CCPT. In contrast, methylphenidate increased activations in the inferior frontal gyrus, which correlated with the decreasing severity of impulsivity assessed by the CCPT. The current findings suggest that differential therapeutic effects on neuronal changes induced by 12-week treatment atomoxetine and methylphenidate may contribute to behavioral improvement. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. and ECNP. All rights reserved.

Technical task plan for testing filter box sorbent-paint filter test

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kilpatrick, L.L.

1993-01-01

At the Savannah River Plant, High Level Waste Engineering (HLWE) asked Interim Waste Technology (IWT) to choose and test a sorbent to add to the ITP filter box that meets the EPA requirement for land disposal of containerized liquid hazardous wastes per Paint Filter Liquids (PFL) test method 9095. This report outlines the process to be used in accomplishing this task

Response competition and response inhibition during different choice-discrimination tasks: evidence from ERP measured inside MRI scanner.

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Gonzalez-Rosa, Javier J; Inuggi, Alberto; Blasi, Valeria; Cursi, Marco; Annovazzi, Pietro; Comi, Giancarlo; Falini, Andrea; Leocani, Letizia

2013-07-01

We investigated the neural correlates underlying response inhibition and conflict detection processes using ERPs and source localization analyses simultaneously acquired during fMRI scanning. ERPs were elicited by a simple reaction time task (SRT), a Go/NoGo task, and a Stroop-like task (CST). The cognitive conflict was thus manipulated in order to probe the degree to which information processing is shared across cognitive systems. We proposed to dissociate inhibition and interference conflict effects on brain activity by using identical Stroop-like congruent/incongruent stimuli in all three task contexts and while varying the response required. NoGo-incongruent trials showed a larger N2 and enhanced activations of rostral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and pre-supplementary motor area, whereas Go-congruent trials showed a larger P3 and increased parietal activations. Congruent and incongruent conditions of the CST task also elicited similar N2, P3 and late negativity (LN) ERPs, though CST-incongruent trials revealed a larger LN and enhanced prefrontal and ACC activations. Considering the stimulus probability and experimental manipulation of our study, current findings suggest that NoGo N2 and frontal NoGo P3 appear to be more associated to response inhibition rather than a specific conflict monitoring, whereas occipito-parietal P3 of Go and CST conditions may be more linked to a planned response competition between the prepared and required response. LN, however, appears to be related to higher level conflict monitoring associated with response choice-discrimination but not when the presence of cognitive conflict is associated with response inhibition. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Stroop-like effects in a new-code learning task: A cognitive load theory perspective.

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Hazan-Liran, Batel; Miller, Paul

2017-09-01

To determine whether and how learning is biased by competing task-irrelevant information that creates extraneous cognitive load, we assessed the efficiency of university students with a learning paradigm in two experiments. The paradigm asked participants to learn associations between eight words and eight digits. We manipulated congruity of the digits' ink colour with the words' semantics. In Experiment 1 word stimuli were colour words (e.g., blue, yellow) and in Experiment 2 colour-related word concepts (e.g., sky, banana). Marked benefits and costs on learning due to variation in extraneous cognitive load originating from processing task-irrelevant information were evident. Implications for cognitive load theory and schooling are discussed.

The use of cognitive cues for anticipatory strategies in a dynamic postural control task - validation of a novel approach to dual-task testing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Læssøe, Uffe; Grarup, Bo; Bangshaab, Jette

2016-01-01

Introduction: Dual-task testing is relevant in the assessment of postural control. A combination of a primary (motor) and a secondary (distracting cognitive) tasks is most often used. It remains a challenge however, to standardize and monitor the cognitive task. In this study a new dual......-task testing approach with a facilitating, rather than distracting, cognitive component was evaluated. Methods: Thirty-one community-dwelling elderly and fifteen young people were tested with respect to their ability to use anticipatory postural control strategies. The motor task consisted of twenty...... two sessions. Conclusion: The dual-task test was sensitive enough to discriminate between elderly and young people. It revealed that the elderly did not utilize cognitive cues for their anticipatory postural control strategies as well as the young were able to. The test procedure was feasible...

Inhibitory ability of children with developmental dyscalculia.

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Zhang, Huaiying; Wu, Hanrong

2011-02-01

Inhibitory ability of children with developmental dyscalculia (DD) was investigated to explore the cognitive mechanism underlying DD. According to the definition of developmental dyscalculia, 19 children with DD-only and 10 children with DD&RD (DD combined with reading disability) were selected step by step, children in two control groups were matched with children in case groups by gender and age, and the match ratio was 1:1. Psychological testing software named DMDX was used to measure inhibitory ability of the subjects. The differences of reaction time in number Stroop tasks and differences of accuracy in incongruent condition of color-word Stroop tasks and object inhibition tasks between DD-only children and their controls reached significant levels (P<0.05), and the differences of reaction time in number Stroop tasks between dyscalculic and normal children did not disappear after controlling the non-executive components. The difference of accuracy in color-word incongruent tasks between children with DD&RD and normal children reached significant levels (P<0.05). Children with DD-only confronted with general inhibitory deficits, while children with DD&RD confronted with word inhibitory deficits only.

The reliability paradox: Why robust cognitive tasks do not produce reliable individual differences.

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Hedge, Craig; Powell, Georgina; Sumner, Petroc

2017-07-19

Individual differences in cognitive paradigms are increasingly employed to relate cognition to brain structure, chemistry, and function. However, such efforts are often unfruitful, even with the most well established tasks. Here we offer an explanation for failures in the application of robust cognitive paradigms to the study of individual differences. Experimental effects become well established - and thus those tasks become popular - when between-subject variability is low. However, low between-subject variability causes low reliability for individual differences, destroying replicable correlations with other factors and potentially undermining published conclusions drawn from correlational relationships. Though these statistical issues have a long history in psychology, they are widely overlooked in cognitive psychology and neuroscience today. In three studies, we assessed test-retest reliability of seven classic tasks: Eriksen Flanker, Stroop, stop-signal, go/no-go, Posner cueing, Navon, and Spatial-Numerical Association of Response Code (SNARC). Reliabilities ranged from 0 to .82, being surprisingly low for most tasks given their common use. As we predicted, this emerged from low variance between individuals rather than high measurement variance. In other words, the very reason such tasks produce robust and easily replicable experimental effects - low between-participant variability - makes their use as correlational tools problematic. We demonstrate that taking such reliability estimates into account has the potential to qualitatively change theoretical conclusions. The implications of our findings are that well-established approaches in experimental psychology and neuropsychology may not directly translate to the study of individual differences in brain structure, chemistry, and function, and alternative metrics may be required.

Why do interracial interactions impair executive function? A resource depletion account.

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Richeson, Jennifer A; Trawalter, Sophie

2005-06-01

Three studies investigated the veracity of a resource depletion account of the impairment of inhibitory task performance after interracial contact. White individuals engaged in either an interracial or same-race interaction, then completed an ostensibly unrelated Stroop color-naming test. In each study, the self-regulatory demands of the interaction were either increased (Study 1) or decreased (Studies 2 and 3). Results revealed that increasing the self-regulatory demands of an interracial interaction led to greater Stroop interference compared with control, whereas reducing self-regulatory demands led to less Stroop interference. Manipulating self-regulatory demands did not affect Stroop performance after same-race interactions. Taken together, the present studies point to resource depletion as the likely mechanism underlying the impairment of cognitive functioning after interracial dyadic interactions.

The very low-frequency band of heart rate variability represents the slow recovery component after a mental stress task.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Harunobu Usui

Full Text Available The very low-frequency (VLF band of heart rate variability (HRV has different characteristics compared with other HRV components. Here we investigated differences in HRV changes after a mental stress task. After the task, the high-frequency (HF band and ratio of high- to low-frequency bands (LF/HF immediately returned to baseline. We evaluated the characteristics of VLF band changes after a mental stress task. We hypothesized that the VLF band decreases during the Stroop color word task and there would be a delayed recovery for 2 h after the task (i.e., the VLF change would exhibit a "slow recovery". Nineteen healthy, young subjects were instructed to rest for 10 min, followed by a Stroop color word task for 20 min. After the task, the subjects were instructed to rest for 120 min. For all subjects, R-R interval data were collected; analysis was performed for VLF, HF, and LF/HF ratio. HRV during the rest time and each 15-min interval of the recovery time were compared. An analysis of the covariance was performed to adjust for the HF band and LF/HF ratio as confounding variables of the VLF component. HF and VLF bands significantly decreased and the LF/HF ratio significantly increased during the task compared with those during rest time. During recovery, the VLF band was significantly decreased compared with the rest time. After the task, the HF band and LF/HF ratio immediately returned to baseline and were not significantly different from the resting values. After adjusting for HF and LF/HF ratio, the VLF band had significantly decreased compared with that during rest. The VLF band is the "slow recovery" component and the HF band and LF/HF ratio are the "quick recovery" components of HRV. This VLF characteristic may clarify the unexplained association of the VLF band in cardiovascular disease prevention.

Tracking Eye Movements to Localize Stroop Interference in Naming: Word Planning Versus Articulatory Buffering

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Roelofs, A.P.A.

2014-01-01

Investigators have found no agreement on the functional locus of Stroop interference in vocal naming. Whereas it has long been assumed that the interference arises during spoken word planning, more recently some investigators have revived an account from the 1960s and 1970s holding that the

Avoiding the Approach Trap: A Response Bias Theory of the Emotional Stroop Effect

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Chajut, Eran; Mama, Yaniv; Levy, Leora; Algom, Daniel

2010-01-01

In the laboratory, people classify the color of emotion-laden words slower than they do that of neutral words, the emotional Stroop effect. Outside the laboratory, people react to features of emotion-laden stimuli or threatening stimuli faster than they do to those of neutral stimuli. A possible resolution to the conundrum implicates the…

Higher levels of cardiovascular fitness are associated with better executive function and prefrontal oxygenation in younger and older women

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Olivier eDupuy

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Aim: Many studies have suggested that physical exercise training improves cognition and more selectively executive functions. There is a growing interest to clarify the neurophysiological mechanisms that underlie this effect. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the neurophysiological changes in cerebral oxygenation associated with physical fitness level and executive functions. Method: In this study, 22 younger and 36 older women underwent a maximal graded continuous test (i.e., O2max in order to classifyassign them into a fitness group (higher vs. lower fit. All participants completed neuropsychological paper and pencil testing and a computerized Stroop task (which contained executive and non-executive conditions in which the change in pPrefrontal cortex oxygenation change was evaluated in all participants with a near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS. system during a computerized Stroop task (which contains executive and non-executive conditions. Results: Our findings revealed a Fitness x Condition interaction (p < .05 such that higher fit women scored better on measures of executive functions than lower fit women. In comparison to lower fit women, higher fit women had faster reaction times in the switching (executiveExecutive condition of the computerized Stroop task. No significant effect was observed ion the non-executive condition of the test and no interactions were found with age. In measures of cerebral oxygenation (ΔHbT and ΔHbO2, we found a main effect of fitness on cerebral oxygenation during the Stroop task such that only high fit women demonstrated a significant increase in the right inferior frontal gyrus. Discussion/Conclusion:Higher fit individuals who demonstrate better cardiorespiratory functions (as measured by O2max show faster reaction times and greater cerebral oxygenation in the right inferior frontal gyrus than women with lower fitness levels. The lack of interaction with age, suggests that good

Effects of modafinil on attention performance, short-term memory and executive function in university students: a randomized trial.

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Fernández, Alejandro; Mascayano, Franco; Lips, Walter; Painel, Andrés; Norambuena, Jonathan; Madrid, Eva

2015-06-30

Modafinil is a drug developed and used for the treatment of excessive lethargy. Even though very effective for sleep disorders, it is still controversial whether modafinil can improve performance in high-order cognitive processes such as memory and executive function. This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial was designed to evaluate the effect of modafinil (compared to placebo) on the cognitive functions of healthy students. 160 volunteers were recruited and allocated randomly to modafinil or placebo group, and were assessed using the Stroop Test, BCET test and Digit span test. We found a significant difference in favor of modafinil compared to placebo in the proportion of correct answers of Stroop Test in congruent situation. A significant shorter latency of modafinil group in the incongruent situation of Stroop test was also found. No differences were found in Digit Span, or BCET tests. The study demonstrated that modafinil does not enhance the global cognitive performance of healthy non-sleep deprived students, except regarding non-demanding tasks. In particular, this drug does not seem to have positive effects on mental processes that sustain studying tasks in the college population under normal conditions. We expect these findings to demystify the use of this drug and help decision making concerning pharmacological public policies.

The influence of cross-language similarity on within- and between-language Stroop effects in trilinguals

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heuven, W.J.B. van; Conklin, K.; Coderre, E.L.; Guo, T.; Dijkstra, A.F.J.

2011-01-01

This study investigated effects of cross-language similarity on within- and between-language Stroop interference and facilitation in three groups of trilinguals. Trilinguals were either proficient in three languages that use the same-script (alphabetic in German–English–Dutch trilinguals), two

The association between aerobic fitness and cognitive function in older men mediated by frontal lateralization.

Science.gov (United States)

Hyodo, Kazuki; Dan, Ippeita; Kyutoku, Yasushi; Suwabe, Kazuya; Byun, Kyeongho; Ochi, Genta; Kato, Morimasa; Soya, Hideaki

2016-01-15

Previous studies have shown that higher aerobic fitness is related to higher cognitive function and higher task-related prefrontal activation in older adults. However, a holistic picture of these factors has yet to be presented. As a typical age-related change of brain activation, less lateralized activity in the prefrontal cortex during cognitive tasks has been observed in various neuroimaging studies. Thus, this study aimed to reveal the relationship between aerobic fitness, cognitive function, and frontal lateralization. Sixty male older adults each performed a submaximal incremental exercise test to determine their oxygen intake (V·O2) at ventilatory threshold (VT) in order to index their aerobic fitness. They performed a color-word Stroop task while prefrontal activation was monitored using functional near infrared spectroscopy. As an index of cognitive function, Stroop interference time was analyzed. Partial correlation analyses revealed significant correlations among higher VT, shorter Stroop interference time and greater left-lateralized dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) activation when adjusting for education. Moreover, mediation analyses showed that left-lateralized DLPFC activation significantly mediated the association between VT and Stroop interference time. These results suggest that higher aerobic fitness is associated with cognitive function via lateralized frontal activation in older adults. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evaluating the contributions of task expectancy in the testing and guessing benefits on recognition memory.

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Huff, Mark J; Yates, Tyler J; Balota, David A

2018-05-03

Recently, we have shown that two types of initial testing (recall of a list or guessing of critical items repeated over 12 study/test cycles) improved final recognition of related and unrelated word lists relative to restudy. These benefits were eliminated, however, when test instructions were manipulated within subjects and presented after study of each list, procedures designed to minimise expectancy of a specific type of upcoming test [Huff, Balota, & Hutchison, 2016. The costs and benefits of testing and guessing on recognition memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 42, 1559-1572. doi: 10.1037/xlm0000269 ], suggesting that testing and guessing effects may be influenced by encoding strategies specific for the type of upcoming task. We follow-up these experiments by examining test-expectancy processes in guessing and testing. Testing and guessing benefits over restudy were not found when test instructions were presented either after (Experiment 1) or before (Experiment 2) a single study/task cycle was completed, nor were benefits found when instructions were presented before study/task cycles and the task was repeated three times (Experiment 3). Testing and guessing benefits emerged only when instructions were presented before a study/task cycle and the task was repeated six times (Experiments 4A and 4B). These experiments demonstrate that initial testing and guessing can produce memory benefits in recognition, but only following substantial task repetitions which likely promote task-expectancy processes.

A neurobehavioral examination of individuals with high-functioning autism and Asperger's disorder using a fronto-striatal model of dysfunction.

Science.gov (United States)

Rinehart, Nicole J; Bradshaw, John L; Tonge, Bruce J; Brereton, Avril V; Bellgrove, Mark A

2002-06-01

The repetitive, stereotyped, and obsessive behaviors that characterize autism may in part be attributable to disruption of the region of the fronto-striatal system, which mediates executive abilities. Neuropsychological testing has shown that children with autism exhibit set-shifting deficiencies on tests such as the Wisconsin Card Sorting task but show normal inhibitory ability on variants of the Stroop color-word test. According to Minshew and Goldstein's multiple primary deficit theory, the complexity of the executive functioning task is important in determining the performance of individuals with autism. This study employed a visual-spatial task (with a Stroop-type component) to examine the integrity of executive functioning, in particular inhibition, in autism (n = 12) and Asperger's disorder (n = 12) under increasing levels of cognitive complexity. Whereas the Asperger's disorder group performed similarly to age- and IQ-matched control participants, even at the higher levels of cognitive complexity, the high-functioning autism group displayed inhibitory deficits specifically associated with increasing cognitive load.

Cognitive bias in spider-phobic children: Comparison of a pictorial and a linguistic spider Stroop.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kindt, M.; Brosschot, J.F.

1999-01-01

Examined the relation between spider fear in children and cognitive processing bias toward threatening information. It was investigated whether spider fear in children is related to a cognitive bias for threatening pictures and words. Pictorial and linguistic Stroop stimuli were administered to 28

Inhibition Efficiency in Highly Proficient Bilinguals and Simultaneous Interpreters: Evidence from Language Switching and Stroop Tasks

OpenAIRE

Aparicio, X.; Heidlmayr, K.; Isel, F.

2017-01-01

The present behavioral study aimed to examine the impact of language control expertise on two domain-general control processes, i.e. active inhibition of competing representations and overcoming of inhibition. We compared how Simultaneous Interpreters (SI) and Highly Proficient Bilinguals—two groups assumed to differ in language control capacity—performed executive tasks involving specific inhibition processes. In Experiment 1 (language decision task), both active and overcoming of inhibition...

Validating emotional attention regulation as a component of emotional intelligence: A Stroop approach to individual differences in tuning in to and out of nonverbal cues.

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Elfenbein, Hillary Anger; Jang, Daisung; Sharma, Sudeep; Sanchez-Burks, Jeffrey

2017-03-01

Emotional intelligence (EI) has captivated researchers and the public alike, but it has been challenging to establish its components as objective abilities. Self-report scales lack divergent validity from personality traits, and few ability tests have objectively correct answers. We adapt the Stroop task to introduce a new facet of EI called emotional attention regulation (EAR), which involves focusing emotion-related attention for the sake of information processing rather than for the sake of regulating one's own internal state. EAR includes 2 distinct components. First, tuning in to nonverbal cues involves identifying nonverbal cues while ignoring alternate content, that is, emotion recognition under conditions of distraction by competing stimuli. Second, tuning out of nonverbal cues involves ignoring nonverbal cues while identifying alternate content, that is, the ability to interrupt emotion recognition when needed to focus attention elsewhere. An auditory test of valence included positive and negative words spoken in positive and negative vocal tones. A visual test of approach-avoidance included green- and red-colored facial expressions depicting happiness and anger. The error rates for incongruent trials met the key criteria for establishing the validity of an EI test, in that the measure demonstrated test-retest reliability, convergent validity with other EI measures, divergent validity from factors such as general processing speed and mostly personality, and predictive validity in this case for well-being. By demonstrating that facets of EI can be validly theorized and empirically assessed, results also speak to the validity of EI more generally. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Testing the Limits of Optimizing Dual-Task Performance in Younger and Older Adults

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Strobach, Tilo; Frensch, Peter; Müller, Herrmann Josef; Schubert, Torsten

2012-01-01

Impaired dual-task performance in younger and older adults can be improved with practice. Optimal conditions even allow for a (near) elimination of this impairment in younger adults. However, it is unknown whether such (near) elimination is the limit of performance improvements in older adults. The present study tests this limit in older adults under conditions of (a) a high amount of dual-task training and (b) training with simplified component tasks in dual-task situations. The data showed that a high amount of dual-task training in older adults provided no evidence for an improvement of dual-task performance to the optimal dual-task performance level achieved by younger adults. However, training with simplified component tasks in dual-task situations exclusively in older adults provided a similar level of optimal dual-task performance in both age groups. Therefore through applying a testing the limits approach, we demonstrated that older adults improved dual-task performance to the same level as younger adults at the end of training under very specific conditions. PMID:22408613

The Effect of Corrective Feedback on Performance in Basic Cognitive Tasks: An Analysis of RT Components

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Carmen Moret-Tatay

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The current work examines the effect of trial-by-trial feedback about correct and error responding on performance in two basic cognitive tasks: a classic Stroop task (n = 40 and a color-word matching task ('n' = 30. Standard measures of both RT and accuracy were examined in addition to measures obtained from fitting the ex-Gaussian distributional model to the correct RTs. For both tasks, RTs were faster in blocks of trials with feedback than in blocks without feedback, but this difference was not significant. On the other hand, with respect to the distributional analyses, providing feedback served to significantly reduce the size of the tails of the RT distributions. Such results suggest that, for conditions in which accuracy is fairly high, the effect of corrective feedback might either be to reduce the tendency to double-check before responding or to decrease the amount of attentional lapsing.

Performance costs when emotion tunes inappropriate cognitive abilities: implications for mental resources and behavior.

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Storbeck, Justin

2012-08-01

Emotion tunes cognition, such that approach-motivated positive states promote verbal cognition, whereas withdrawal-motivated negative states promote spatial cognition (Gray, 2001). The current research examined whether self-control resources become depleted and influence subsequent behavior when emotion tunes an inappropriate cognitive tendency. In 2 experiments, either an approach-motivated positive state or a withdrawal-motivated negative state was induced, and then participants completed a verbal or a spatial working memory task creating conditions of emotion-cognition alignment (e.g., approach/verbal) or misalignment (e.g., approach/spatial). A control condition was also included. To examine behavioral costs due to depleted self-control resources, participants completed either a Stroop task (Stroop, 1935; Experiment 1) or a Black/White implicit association test (IAT; Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998; Experiment 2). Participants in the misalignment conditions performed worse on the Stroop task, and they were worse at controlling their implicit attitude biases on the IAT. Thus, when emotion tunes inappropriate cognitive tendencies for one's current environment, self-control resources become depleted, impairing behavioral control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).

Topical Knowledge in L2 Speaking Assessment: Comparing Independent and Integrated Speaking Test Tasks

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Huang, Heng-Tsung Danny; Hung, Shao-Ting Alan; Plakans, Lia

2018-01-01

Integrated speaking test tasks (integrated tasks) provide reading and/or listening input to serve as the basis for test-takers to formulate their oral responses. This study examined the influence of topical knowledge on integrated speaking test performance and compared independent speaking test performance and integrated speaking test performance…

Cycling on a Bike Desk Positively Influences Cognitive Performance.

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Tine Torbeyns

Full Text Available Cycling desks as a means to reduce sedentary time in the office has gained interest as excessive sitting has been associated with several health risks. However, the question rises if people will still be as efficient in performing their desk-based office work when combining this with stationary cycling. Therefore, the effect of cycling at 30% Wmax on typing, cognitive performance and brain activity was investigated.After two familiarisation sessions, 23 participants performed a test battery [typing test, Rey auditory verbal learning test (RAVLT, Stroop test and Rosvold continuous performance test (RCPT] with electroencephalography recording while cycling and sitting on a conventional chair.Typing performance, performance on the RAVLT and accuracy on the Stroop test and the RCPT did not differ between conditions. Reaction times on the Stroop test and the RCPT were shorter while cycling relative to sitting (p < 0.05. N200, P300, N450 and conflict SP latency and amplitude on the Stroop test and N200 and P300 on the RCPT did not differ between conditions.This study showed that typing performance and short-term memory are not deteriorated when people cycle at 30% Wmax. Furthermore, cycling had a positive effect on response speed across tasks requiring variable amounts of attention and inhibition.

Selective processing of smoking-related cues in smokers: manipulation of deprivation level and comparison of three measures of processing bias.

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Mogg, Karin; Bradley, Brendan P

2002-12-01

Recent theories of addiction suggest that an attentional bias for drug-related cues plays an important role in maintaining drug-taking behaviours. A key feature of the present study is that it used three different measures of processing bias for linguistic and pictorial smoking-related cues: masked and unmasked conditions of the modified Stroop task, and a pictorial version of the visual probe task. Participants were smokers (n = 27), who were tested twice, with deprivation level manipulated as a within-subjects variable. They were asked to abstain from smoking for 12 h before one session, and to smoke normally before the other. Results were consistent with an attentional bias for smoking-related pictures on the visual probe task, and for smoking-related words in the unmasked condition of the modified Stroop task. The latter bias was most strongly predicted by self-reported urge to smoke, rather than by the deprivation manipulation. There was no evidence of a preconscious bias for smoking cues. The three measures of cognitive bias (from masked and unmasked Stroop and visual probe tasks) were not significantly correlated with each other, which suggests they may tap different underlying mechanisms. We discuss the results with respect to conceptualizations of selective attention, addiction and motivational states in general.

Functional Task Test: 1. Sensorimotor changes Associated with Postflight Alterations in Astronaut Functional Task Performance

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Bloomberg, J. J.; Arzeno, N. H.; Buxton, R. E.; Feiveson, A. H.; Kofman, I. S.; Lee, S. M. C.; Miller, C. A.; Mulavara, A. P.; Platts, S. H.; Peters, B. T.;

Identification of Resting State Networks Involved in Executive Function.

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Connolly, Joanna; McNulty, Jonathan P; Boran, Lorraine; Roche, Richard A P; Delany, David; Bokde, Arun L W

2016-06-01

The structural networks in the human brain are consistent across subjects, and this is reflected also in that functional networks across subjects are relatively consistent. These findings are not only present during performance of a goal oriented task but there are also consistent functional networks during resting state. It suggests that goal oriented activation patterns may be a function of component networks identified using resting state. The current study examines the relationship between resting state networks measured and patterns of neural activation elicited during a Stroop task. The association between the Stroop-activated networks and the resting state networks was quantified using spatial linear regression. In addition, we investigated if the degree of spatial association of resting state networks with the Stroop task may predict performance on the Stroop task. The results of this investigation demonstrated that the Stroop activated network can be decomposed into a number of resting state networks, which were primarily associated with attention, executive function, visual perception, and the default mode network. The close spatial correspondence between the functional organization of the resting brain and task-evoked patterns supports the relevance of resting state networks in cognitive function.

Preparatory neural activity predicts performance on a conflict task.

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Stern, Emily R; Wager, Tor D; Egner, Tobias; Hirsch, Joy; Mangels, Jennifer A

2007-10-24

Advance preparation has been shown to improve the efficiency of conflict resolution. Yet, with little empirical work directly linking preparatory neural activity to the performance benefits of advance cueing, it is not clear whether this relationship results from preparatory activation of task-specific networks, or from activity associated with general alerting processes. Here, fMRI data were acquired during a spatial Stroop task in which advance cues either informed subjects of the upcoming relevant feature of conflict stimuli (spatial or semantic) or were neutral. Informative cues decreased reaction time (RT) relative to neutral cues, and cues indicating that spatial information would be task-relevant elicited greater activity than neutral cues in multiple areas, including right anterior prefrontal and bilateral parietal cortex. Additionally, preparatory activation in bilateral parietal cortex and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex predicted faster RT when subjects responded to spatial location. No regions were found to be specific to semantic cues at conventional thresholds, and lowering the threshold further revealed little overlap between activity associated with spatial and semantic cueing effects, thereby demonstrating a single dissociation between activations related to preparing a spatial versus semantic task-set. This relationship between preparatory activation of spatial processing networks and efficient conflict resolution suggests that advance information can benefit performance by leading to domain-specific biasing of task-relevant information.

Attentional bias and drinking to cope with social anxiety.

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Carrigan, Maureen H; Drobes, David J; Randall, Carrie L

2004-12-01

This study investigated the sensitivity of the emotional Stroop test for identifying individuals who reported drinking to cope with social fears. Community volunteers completed a modified Stroop task during which social threat, alcohol-related, and control words were presented. High scores on drinking-to-cope measures were hypothesized to be associated with longer response latencies to both social threat and alcohol-related words. Consistent with previous studies, alcohol dependence was correlated with latencies for alcohol-related words, and level of social anxiety was correlated with response latency to social threat words. As expected, drinking-to-cope measures predicted response latency to alcohol-related and social threat words. These results suggest that the emotional Stroop test is useful in studying the relationship between social anxiety and alcohol consumption. Copyright 2005 APA.

Dual-task results and the lateralization of spatial orientation: artifact of test selection?

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Bowers, C A; Milham, L M; Price, C

1998-01-01

An investigation was conducted to identify the degree to which results regarding the lateralization of spatial orientation among men and women are artifacts of test selection. A dual-task design was used to study possible lateralization differences, providing baseline and dual-task measures of spatial-orientation performance, right- and left-hand tapping, and vocalization of "cat, dog, horse." The Guilford-Zimmerman Test (Guilford & Zimmerman, 1953), the Eliot-Price Test (Eliot & Price, 1976), and the Stumpf-Fay Cube Perspectives Test (Stumpf & Fay, 1983) were the three spatial-orientation tests used to investigate possible artifacts of test selection. Twenty-eight right-handed male and 39 right-handed female undergraduates completed random baseline and dual-task sessions. Analyses indicated no significant sex-related differences in spatial-orientation ability for all three tests. Furthermore, there was no evidence of differential lateralization of spatial orientation between the sexes.

The benefit of expecting no conflict--Stronger influence of self-generated than cue-induced conflict expectations on Stroop performance.

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Kemper, Maike; Gaschler, Robert; Schwager, Sabine; Schubert, Torsten

2016-01-01

The role of expectations in sequential adaptation to cognitive conflict has been debated controversially in prior studies. On the one hand, a sequential congruency effect (SCE) has been reported for trials in which participants expect a repetition of conflict level. On the other hand, conflict level expectations vs. the SCE have been shown to develop differentially across runs of trials with the same conflict level, arguing against the theory that the SCE is purely driven by expectation. The current verbal Stroop experiment addresses this controversy by two means. First, we tested which specific type of expectation (cue-induced expectations vs. self-generated predictions) might affect the SCE. Second, we assessed the impact of expectation on the SCE as well as the development of SCE and expectation with congruency level run length in one design. We observed a dissociation between expectations and SCE, demonstrating that the SCE is not exclusively driven by expectations. At the same time, we found evidence that (self-generated) expectations do have an impact on the SCE. Our data document especially high performance for one specific combination of task events: congruent trial accompanied by congruent prediction and conflict level repetition. Our results are in line with theories attributing conflict adaptation effects to the "adaption to the lack of conflict". We discuss our results in a broader context of theories about conflict monitoring. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

NASA's Functional Task Test: Providing Information for an Integrated Countermeasure System

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Bloomberg, J. J.; Feiveson, A. H.; Laurie, S. S.; Lee, S. M. C.; Mulavara, A. P.; Peters, B. T.; Platts, S. H.; Ploutz-Snyder, L. L.; Reschke, M. F.; Ryder, J. W.;

The director task: A test of Theory-of-Mind use or selective attention?

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Rubio-Fernández, Paula

2017-08-01

Over two decades, the director task has increasingly been employed as a test of the use of Theory of Mind in communication, first in psycholinguistics and more recently in social cognition research. A new version of this task was designed to test two independent hypotheses. First, optimal performance in the director task, as established by the standard metrics of interference, is possible by using selective attention alone, and not necessarily Theory of Mind. Second, pragmatic measures of Theory-of-Mind use can reveal that people actively represent the director's mental states, contrary to recent claims that they only use domain-general cognitive processes to perform this task. The results of this study support both hypotheses and provide a new interactive paradigm to reliably test Theory-of-Mind use in referential communication.

The Influence of Stimulus Discriminability on Young Children's Interference Control in the Stroop-Like Happy-Sad Task

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Bluell, Alexandra M.; Montgomery, Derek E.

2014-01-01

The day-night paradigm, where children respond to a pair of pictures with opposite labels for a series of trials, is a widely used measure of interference control. Recent research has shown that a happy-sad variant of the day-night task was significantly more difficult than the standard day-night task. The present research examined whether the…

Test-Taking Strategies and Task-based Assessment: The Case of Iranian EFL Learners

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Hossein Barati

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The present study examined the effect of task-based assessment on the type and frequency of test-taking strategies that three proficiency groups of Iranian adult EFL learners used when completing the First Certificate in English FCE reading paper. A total of 70 EFL university undergraduates (53 females and 17 males took part in the main phase of this study. They were divided into three proficiency groups: high, intermediate, and low. A set of Chi-square analyses was used to explore the type and frequency of test-taking strategies used by participants. The results suggested that the intermediate group test takers used the strategies significantly different after completing each task (sub-test in the FCE reading paper. However, the high and low proficient test takers› use of strategies was only significant after completing the third task of the FCE reading paper. The findings also revealed that a pattern could be drawn of the type of strategies used by the three proficiency groups who participated in this study. Nonetheless, such a pattern shifted at times depending on the ability of the test takers and/or the task under study.

Posttraumatic stress and alcohol use among veterans: Amygdala and anterior cingulate activation to emotional cues.

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Simons, Raluca M; Simons, Jeffrey S; Olson, Dawne; Baugh, Lee; Magnotta, Vincent; Forster, Gina

2016-11-01

This fMRI study tested a model of combat trauma, posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), alcohol use, and behavioral and neural responses to emotional cues in 100 OIF/OEF/OND veterans. Multilevel structural equation models were tested for left and right dorsal ACC (dACC), rostral ACC (rACC), and amygdala blood-oxygen- level dependent responses during the emotional counting Stroop test and masked faces task. In the Stroop task, combat exposure moderated the effect of combat stimuli resulting in hyperactivation in the rACC and dACC. Activation in the left amygdala also increased in response to combat stimuli, but effects did not vary as a function of combat severity. In the masked faces task, activation patterns did not vary as a function of stimulus. However, at the between-person level, amygdala activation during the masked faces task was inversely associated with PTSS. In respect to behavioral outcomes, higher PTSS were associated with a stronger Stroop effect, suggesting greater interference associated with combat words. Results are consistent with the premise that combat trauma results in hyperactivation in the ACC in response to combat stimuli, and, via its effect on PTSS, is associated with deficits in cognitive performance in the presence of combat stimuli. Across tasks, predeployment drinking was inversely associated with activation in the dACC but not the rACC or amygdala. Drinking may be a buffering factor, or negatively reinforcing in part because of its effects on normalizing brain response following trauma exposure. Alternatively, drinking may undermine adaptive functioning of the dACC when responding to traumatic stress cues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Emotional Stroop interference for threatening words is related to reduced EEG δ-β coupling and low attentional control.

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Putman, Peter; Arias-Garcia, Elsa; Pantazi, Ioanna; van Schie, Charlotte

2012-05-01

Previously, electroencephalographic (EEG) delta-beta coupling (positive correlation between power in the fast beta and slow delta frequency bands) has been related to affective processing. For instance, differences in delta-beta coupling have been observed between people in a psychological stress condition and controls. We previously reported relationships between attentional threat processing and delta-beta coupling and individual differences in attentional control. The present study extended and replicated these findings in a large mixed gender sample (N=80). Results demonstrated that emotional Stroop task interference for threatening words was related to self-reported attentional inhibition capacity and frontal delta-beta coupling. There was no clear gender difference for delta-beta coupling (only a non-significant trend) and the relationship between delta-beta coupling and attentional threat-processing was not affected by gender. These results replicate and extend an earlier finding concerning delta-beta coupling and cognitive affect regulation and further clarify relationships between delta-beta coupling, attentional control, and threat-processing. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

ASSISTING STUDENTS TO ATTACK WRITING TASKS ON IELTS TEST WITH “PROBING TECHNIQUE”

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Tedi Rohadi

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Writing section on IELTS test is commonly considered one of the most difficult parts of test. The test takers can’t even understand what to do with the tasks provided. They eventually write without clearly knowing the expected direction. Therefore, there should be a fastest way to well equip students to successfully cope with such hindrances. This paper is an action research report of how to make students better understand and answer writing tasks on IELTS test by employing probing techniques as one of test taking strategies. The paper will preliminarily elaborate the characteristics or nature of IELTS test in general and writing section consisting two different tasks in particular including its indicators of what expected kind of writing the testees should be aware of. It will then discuss probing techniques in details. The attack strategies and their sequential implementation will afterward be discussed. The technique will assist students to respectively understand what and how to plan and write effectively on the test.

Fostering a student's skill for analyzing test items through an authentic task

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Setiawan, Beni; Sabtiawan, Wahyu Budi

2017-08-01

Analyzing test items is a skill that must be mastered by prospective teachers, in order to determine the quality of test questions which have been written. The main aim of this research was to describe the effectiveness of authentic task to foster the student's skill for analyzing test items involving validity, reliability, item discrimination index, level of difficulty, and distractor functioning through the authentic task. The participant of the research is students of science education study program, science and mathematics faculty, Universitas Negeri Surabaya, enrolled for assessment course. The research design was a one-group posttest design. The treatment in this study is that the students were provided an authentic task facilitating the students to develop test items, then they analyze the items like a professional assessor using Microsoft Excel and Anates Software. The data of research obtained were analyzed descriptively, such as the analysis was presented by displaying the data of students' skill, then they were associated with theories or previous empirical studies. The research showed the task facilitated the students to have the skills. Thirty-one students got a perfect score for the analyzing, five students achieved 97% mastery, two students had 92% mastery, and another two students got 89% and 79% of mastery. The implication of the finding was the students who get authentic tasks forcing them to perform like a professional, the possibility of the students for achieving the professional skills will be higher at the end of learning.

Diseño y validación de una tarea computarizada tipo Stroop para evaluar sesgos de la atención en bulimia nerviosa

OpenAIRE

Camacho-Ruíz, Esteban Jaime; Mancilla-Díaz, Juan Manuel; Escoto-Ponce De León, María Del Consuelo; Yáñez-Tellez, María Guillermina

2009-01-01

Objetivo: Desarrollar una tarea computarizada tipo Stroop para evaluar sesgos en la atención hacia palabras relacionadas con la comida y la figura, en pacientes con bulimia nerviosa. Se desarrollaron cuatro listas de palabras con valencia positiva y negativa, relacionadas con la comida y la figura corporal. Método: treinta y dos mujeres con bulimia nerviosa emparejadas con 32 mujeres sin trastorno, respondieron la versión original y una modificada de la Prueba de Stroop computarizada. Resulta...

Diseño y Validación de una Tarea Computarizada Tipo Stroop para Evaluar Sesgos de la Atención en Bulimia Nerviosa

OpenAIRE

Esteban Jaime Camacho-Ruíz

2009-01-01

Objetivo: Desarrollar una tarea computarizada tipo Stroop para evaluar sesgos en la atención hacia palabras relacionadas con la comida y la figura, en pacientes con bulimia nerviosa. Se desarrollaron cuatro listas de palabras con valencia positiva y negativa, relacionadas con la comida y la figura corporal. Método: treinta y dos mujeres con bulimia nerviosa emparejadas con 32 mujeres sin trastorno, respondieron la versión original y una modificada de la Prueba de Stroop computarizada. Resulta...

Attentional bias and anxiety in individuals with coronary heart disease

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ginting, H.; Näring, G.W.B.; Becker, E.S.

2013-01-01

This study examined whether in an emotional Stroop task, individuals with coronary heart disease (CHD) would show greater attention towards the threatening words related to their disease than healthy persons, and if such an attentional bias is associated with anxiety. An emotional Stroop task with

Chronic stress induces a hyporeactivity of the autonomic nervous system in response to acute mental stressor and impairs cognitive performance in business executives.

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Renata Roland Teixeira

Full Text Available The present study examined the incidence of chronic stress in business executives (109 subjects: 75 male and 34 female and its relationship with cortisol levels, cognitive performance, and autonomic nervous system (ANS reactivity after an acute mental stressor. Blood samples were collected from the subjects to measure cortisol concentration. After the sample collection, the subjects completed the Lipp Inventory of Stress Symptoms for Adults and the Stroop Color-Word Test to evaluate stress and cognitive performance levels, respectively. Saliva samples were collected prior to, immediately after, and five minutes after the test. The results revealed that 90.1% of the stressed subjects experienced stress phases that are considered chronic stress. At rest, the subjects with chronic stress showed higher cortisol levels, and no gender differences were observed. No differences were found between the stressed and non-stressed subjects regarding salivary amylase activity prior to test. Chronic stress also impaired performance on the Stroop test, which revealed higher rates of error and longer reaction times in the incongruent stimulus task independently of gender. For the congruent stimulus task of the Stroop test, the stressed males presented a higher rate of errors than the non-stressed males and a longer reaction time than the stressed females. After the acute mental stressor, the non-stressed male group showed an increase in salivary alpha-amylase activity, which returned to the initial values five minutes after the test; this ANS reactivity was not observed in the chronically stressed male subjects. The ANS responses of the non-stressed vs stressed female groups were not different prior to or after the Stroop test. This study is the first to demonstrate a blunted reactivity of the ANS when male subjects with chronic psychological stress were subjected to an acute mental stressor, and this change could contribute to impairments in cognitive

Chronic stress induces a hyporeactivity of the autonomic nervous system in response to acute mental stressor and impairs cognitive performance in business executives.

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Teixeira, Renata Roland; Díaz, Miguel Mauricio; Santos, Tatiane Vanessa da Silva; Bernardes, Jean Tofoles Martins; Peixoto, Leonardo Gomes; Bocanegra, Olga Lucia; Neto, Morun Bernardino; Espindola, Foued Salmen

2015-01-01

The present study examined the incidence of chronic stress in business executives (109 subjects: 75 male and 34 female) and its relationship with cortisol levels, cognitive performance, and autonomic nervous system (ANS) reactivity after an acute mental stressor. Blood samples were collected from the subjects to measure cortisol concentration. After the sample collection, the subjects completed the Lipp Inventory of Stress Symptoms for Adults and the Stroop Color-Word Test to evaluate stress and cognitive performance levels, respectively. Saliva samples were collected prior to, immediately after, and five minutes after the test. The results revealed that 90.1% of the stressed subjects experienced stress phases that are considered chronic stress. At rest, the subjects with chronic stress showed higher cortisol levels, and no gender differences were observed. No differences were found between the stressed and non-stressed subjects regarding salivary amylase activity prior to test. Chronic stress also impaired performance on the Stroop test, which revealed higher rates of error and longer reaction times in the incongruent stimulus task independently of gender. For the congruent stimulus task of the Stroop test, the stressed males presented a higher rate of errors than the non-stressed males and a longer reaction time than the stressed females. After the acute mental stressor, the non-stressed male group showed an increase in salivary alpha-amylase activity, which returned to the initial values five minutes after the test; this ANS reactivity was not observed in the chronically stressed male subjects. The ANS responses of the non-stressed vs stressed female groups were not different prior to or after the Stroop test. This study is the first to demonstrate a blunted reactivity of the ANS when male subjects with chronic psychological stress were subjected to an acute mental stressor, and this change could contribute to impairments in cognitive performance.

The Functional Task Test (FTT): An Interdisciplinary Testing Protocol to Investigate the Factors Underlying Changes in Astronaut Functional Performance

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Bloomberg, J. J.; Lawrence, E. L.; Arzeno, N. M.; Buxton, R. E.; Feiveson, A. H.; Kofman, I. S.; Lee, S. M. C.; Mulavara, A. P.; Peters, B. T.; Platts. S. H.;

Attentional bias in excessive Internet gamers: Experimental investigations using an addiction Stroop and a visual probe.

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Jeromin, Franziska; Nyenhuis, Nele; Barke, Antonia

2016-03-01

Background and aims Internet Gaming Disorder is included in the Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5 th edition) as a disorder that merits further research. The diagnostic criteria are based on those for Substance Use Disorder and Gambling Disorder. Excessive gamblers and persons with Substance Use Disorder show attentional biases towards stimuli related to their addictions. We investigated whether excessive Internet gamers show a similar attentional bias, by using two established experimental paradigms. Methods We measured reaction times of excessive Internet gamers and non-gamers (N = 51, 23.7 ± 2.7 years) by using an addiction Stroop with computer-related and neutral words, as well as a visual probe with computer-related and neutral pictures. Mixed design analyses of variance with the between-subjects factor group (gamer/non-gamer) and the within-subjects factor stimulus type (computer-related/neutral) were calculated for the reaction times as well as for valence and familiarity ratings of the stimulus material. Results In the addiction Stroop, an interaction for group × word type was found: Only gamers showed longer reaction times to computer-related words compared to neutral words, thus exhibiting an attentional bias. In the visual probe, no differences in reaction time between computer-related and neutral pictures were found in either group, but the gamers were faster overall. Conclusions An attentional bias towards computer-related stimuli was found in excessive Internet gamers, by using an addiction Stroop but not by using a visual probe. A possible explanation for the discrepancy could lie in the fact that the visual probe may have been too easy for the gamers.

Effects of Concurrent Music Listening on Emotional Processing

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Graham, Rodger; Robinson, Johanna; Mulhall, Peter

2009-01-01

Increased processing time for threatening stimuli is a reliable finding in emotional Stroop tasks. This is particularly pronounced among individuals with anxiety disorders and reflects heightened attentional bias for perceived threat. In this repeated measures study, 35 healthy participants completed a randomized series of Stroop tasks involving…

The Functional Task Test: Results from the One-Year Mission

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Bloomberg, J. J; Batson, C. D.; Buxton, R. E.; Feiveson, A. H.; Kofman, I. S.; Laurie, S.; Lee, S. M. C.; Miller, C. A.; Mulavara, A. P.; Peters, B. T.;

How holistic processing of faces relates to cognitive control and intelligence.

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Gauthier, Isabel; Chua, Kao-Wei; Richler, Jennifer J

2018-04-16

The Vanderbilt Holistic Processing Test for faces (VHPT-F) is the first standard test designed to measure individual differences in holistic processing. The test measures failures of selective attention to face parts through congruency effects, an operational definition of holistic processing. However, this conception of holistic processing has been challenged by the suggestion that it may tap into the same selective attention or cognitive control mechanisms that yield congruency effects in Stroop and Flanker paradigms. Here, we report data from 130 subjects on the VHPT-F, several versions of Stroop and Flanker tasks, as well as fluid IQ. Results suggested a small degree of shared variance in Stroop and Flanker congruency effects, which did not relate to congruency effects on the VHPT-F. Variability on the VHPT-F was also not correlated with Fluid IQ. In sum, we find no evidence that holistic face processing as measured by congruency in the VHPT-F is accounted for by domain-general control mechanisms.

Operational testing of a figure of merit for overall task performance

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Lemay, Moira

1990-01-01

An overall indicator or figure of merit (FOM), for the quality of pilot performance is needed to define optimal workload levels, predict system failure, measure the impact of new automation in the cockpit, and define the relative contributions of subtasks to overall task performance. A normative FOM was developed based on the calculation of a standard score for each component of a complex task. It reflected some effects, detailed in an earlier study, of the introduction of new data link technology into the cockpit. Since the technique showed promise, further testing was done. A new set of data was obtained using the recently developed Multi-Attribute Task Battery. This is a complex battery consisting of four tasks which can be varied in task demand, and on which performance measures can be obtained. This battery was presented to 12 subjects in a 20 minute trial at each of three levels of workload or task demand, and performance measures collected on all four tasks. The NASA-TLX workload rating scale was presented at minutes 6, 12, and 18, of each trial. A figure of merit was then obtained for each run of the battery by calculating a mean, SD, and standard score for each task. Each task contributed its own proportion to the overall FOM, and relative contributions changed with increasing workload. Thus, the FOM shows the effect of task changes, not only on the individual task that is changed, but also on the performance of other tasks and of the whole task. The cost to other tasks of maintaining constant performance on an individual task can be quantified.

Sharing Data between Mobile Devices, Connected Vehicles and Infrastructure Task 6: Prototype Acceptance Test Summary Report

Science.gov (United States)

2017-10-30

The Task 6 Prototype Acceptance Test Summary Report summarizes the results of Acceptance Testing carried out at Battelle facilities in accordance with the Task 6 Acceptance Test Plan. The Acceptance Tests were designed to verify that the prototype sy...

Lexical selection in the semantically blocked cyclic naming task: The role of cognitive control and learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jason E. Crowther

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Studies of semantic interference in language production have provided evidence for a role of cognitive control mechanisms in regulating the activation of semantic competitors during naming. The present study investigated the relationship between individual differences in cognitive control abilities, for both younger and older adults, and the degree of semantic interference in a blocked cyclic naming task. We predicted that individuals with lower working memory capacity (as measured by word span, lesser ability to inhibit distracting responses (as measured by Stroop interference, and a lesser ability to resolve proactive interference (as measured by a recent negatives task would show a greater increase in semantic interference in naming, with effects being larger for older adults. Instead, measures of cognitive control were found to relate to specific indices of semantic interference in the naming task, rather than overall degree of semantic interference, and few interactions with age were found, with younger and older adults performing similarly. The increase in naming latencies across naming trials within a cycle were negatively correlated with word span for both related and unrelated conditions, suggesting a strategy of narrowing response alternatives based upon memory for the set of item names. Evidence for a role of inhibition in response selection was obtained, as Stroop interference correlated positively with the change in naming latencies across cycles for the related, but not unrelated, condition. In contrast, recent negatives interference correlated negatively with the change in naming latencies across unrelated cycles, suggesting that individual differences in this tap the degree of strengthening of links in a lexical network based upon prior exposure. Results are discussed in terms of current models of lexical selection and consequences for word retrieval in more naturalistic production.

Visual processing as a potential endophenotype in youths with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A sibling study design using the counting Stroop functional MRI.

Science.gov (United States)

Fan, Li-Ying; Shang, Chi-Yung; Tseng, Wen-Yih Isaac; Gau, Susan Shur-Fen; Chou, Tai-Li

2018-05-10

Deficits in inhibitory control and visual processing are common in youths with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but little is known about endophenotypes for unaffected siblings of youths with ADHD. This study aimed to investigate the potential endophenotypes of brain activation and performance in inhibitory control and visual processing among ADHD probands, their unaffected siblings, and neurotypical youths. We assessed 27 ADHD probands, 27 unaffected siblings, and 27 age-, gender-, and IQ-matched neurotypical youths using the counting Stroop functional magnetic resonance imaging and two tasks of the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB): rapid visual information processing (RVP) for inhibitory control and spatial span (SSP) for visual processing. ADHD probands showed greater activation than their unaffected siblings and neurotypical youths in the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and anterior cingulate cortex. Increased activation in the right IFG was positively correlated with the mean latency of the RVP in ADHD probands. Moreover, ADHD probands and their unaffected siblings showed less activation in the left superior parietal lobule (SPL) than neurotypical youths. Increased activation in the left SPL was positively correlated with the spatial length of the SSP in neurotypical youths. Our findings suggest that less activation in the left SPL might be considered as a candidate imaging endophenotype for visual processing in ADHD. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The Influence of Math Anxiety, Math Performance, Worry, and Test Anxiety on the Iowa Gambling Task and Balloon Analogue Risk Task.

Science.gov (United States)

Buelow, Melissa T; Barnhart, Wesley R

2017-01-01

Multiple studies have shown that performance on behavioral decision-making tasks, such as the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), is influenced by external factors, such as mood. However, the research regarding the influence of worry is mixed, and no research has examined the effect of math or test anxiety on these tasks. The present study investigated the effects of anxiety (including math anxiety) and math performance on the IGT and BART in a sample of 137 undergraduate students. Math performance and worry were not correlated with performance on the IGT, and no variables were correlated with BART performance. Linear regressions indicated math anxiety, physiological anxiety, social concerns/stress, and test anxiety significantly predicted disadvantageous selections on the IGT during the transition from decision making under ambiguity to decision making under risk. Implications for clinical evaluation of decision making are discussed. © The Author(s) 2015.

Neuropsychological mechanisms of Digit Symbol Substitution Test impairment in Asperger Disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Yoran-Hegesh, Roni; Kertzman, Semion; Vishne, Tali; Weizman, Abraham; Kotler, Moshe

2009-03-31

Our aim was to investigate the neurocognitive mechanisms recruited by adolescents with Asperger Disorder (AD), in comparison to controls, and to detect the underlying mechanisms during the complex information processing required for the performance of the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST). Male adolescents (n=23; mean age 15.1+/-3.6 years) with a DSM-IV diagnosis of AD were compared with a normal male control group with similar demographic characteristics (n=43; mean age: 15.1+/-3.6 years). A computerized neurocognitive battery was administered and included: Inspection Time (IT), Finger Tapping Test (FTT), Simple Reaction Time (SRT), Choice Reaction Time (CRT), Digit Running task (DRT), Stroop test and Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST). Adolescents with AD performed significantly worse than controls on the DSST. This impaired DSST performance was related to cognitive mechanisms different from those employed by normal controls. Motor slowness and inability to deal with increased amounts of information affected the performance of the AD group, while shifting of attention was the limiting factor in the controls. Both groups were similarly dependent on response selection. This study demonstrated differences in performance in complex cognitive tasks between adolescents with AD and normal controls that may be related to differences in neurocognitive mechanisms underlying information processing. Future neuroimaging studies are needed to clarify the neural network involved in the differences in cognitive performance between AD subjects and normal controls.

Validation of Cardiovascular Parameters during NASA's Functional Task Test