This activity illustrates the widely known phenomenon called Stroop effect, which measures how interference affects reaction time in a task. This effect was first described by J. Ridley Stroop in 1935, and is now widely used by psychologists to understand how our brain works. This task can be adapted for any ages, as long as the participants are able to read. Participants learn about this cognitive psychology phenomenon, as well as attention, interference, and reaction times. This activity should emphasize the idea that interference, or conflicting information, affects the way our brains process information.
This activity is a great way of demonstrating how our brain processes conflicting information and also of showing how psychologists and neuroscientists can measure interference in an experimental setting.