Read out loud the colors of the following words as fast as you can

[Count Iblis]

red green red green green blue blue red red red red green green green red blue red red red red red green blue red green green blue red green green green blue red blue blue green green blue blue red blue green green green blue red red blue blue blue green blue blue green red green blue blue blue red red blue blue red green red red green blue red red red blue green blue green blue blue green blue green red green red red green blue green blue red red green blue blue blue blue green blue red blue green green red green green green red red green red green green blue green blue red red blue blue green green green green green blue green red blue green green red green red blue red green blue blue red green green blue green blue green green green red green red blue blue green green green green blue green green red blue red blue red green green red green blue red green green red green green green red green blue red red blue red green green red blue green blue green blue blue green green red red red red red blue blue green green green red red red green green red green red blue red blue blue red red green red red blue green green blue red red red blue green blue green green red blue red green blue blue green blue green blue green blue red green red red red green green green green red green red blue blue blue red blue green red green blue red blue blue blue red red blue blue red green green green blue red red red red blue green green green green red red blue red green red blue blue green red blue red green red blue blue green blue blue blue blue green blue red blue red blue blue green red blue red green green blue blue red blue green green blue red green red green blue blue red red red red green red green green red green green green red green green blue blue red green blue red red green red red red green blue green red blue red red blue blue green blue blue blue red blue blue red red green red red green blue green green red green red red red green red green green red red green green blue blue blue green green green red red green green blue red blue red green blue red blue blue blue blue red red red blue blue blue red red green green blue blue green green blue green red blue blue red green red green red red red green green blue blue blue green red green blue blue blue blue blue blue blue blue green red blue blue blue red blue red green green green green red blue green green blue green green red blue blue blue red green green blue blue red red blue blue green blue blue blue red green blue blue red blue green green red blue green red blue green blue green red green red green red blue green blue green green green green green red red green green green blue blue red green blue red blue red red red red blue green red red green red blue green blue blue blue green red green green red green blue blue green blue blue green blue green green red green green green red red blue green blue green red blue red green red red red blue red blue red blue blue green blue green blue blue blue blue green red green red blue blue red red red red red blue green blue red blue red blue green red red blue blue blue blue green blue red red blue red red red red red blue blue green red red red red green blue blue blue red red green red blue green blue green green blue green blue blue green blue green blue blue green red red green red red blue blue blue blue green blue green red red green red red green green green blue red blue red blue red green red green blue blue blue red green blue red blue red blue red blue red blue red red green green blue red red red green blue red blue green green red green blue blue green green red blue red red blue

 

[junglebeast]

After a while you don't even see the code. All I see is blonde, brunette, red-head.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

I got them all right except for the 127th one for which I said red. Actually the color of the word is green but the word is "red" so I became confused on that one. Is that the idea?

 

[OAQfirst]

They should do this with traffic lights!

GO
STOP

 

[theCandyman]

lol OAQ, that would definitely mess with people's heads.

I can say the colour just fine. Brain Age for the Nintendo DS has a game like this. My brother had gotten me a DSi and the game for my birthday last April. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to do it.

 

[lisab]

...it makes my brain hurt...

 

[Math Is Hard]

A history of the study of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stroop_effect" , that the first post demonstrates, for those interested:

http://www.linguistics.pomona.edu/LGCS121Spring2005/Reading/macleod%20stroop%20review.pdf

It's a long read, but the different variations on it are fascinating.

 

[Math Is Hard]

They should do this with traffic lights!

GO
STOP

Something that I wanted to study, but I couldn't ever work out well in experimental design, was the effect on temperature perception and labeling. In other words, would it slow you down to touch a cold object labeled "hot" and name it accurately, and vice versa, a hot object labeled "cold"?

 

[Moonbear]

Just reading them is easy enough for me. But, I had come across a website at some point with a quiz or survey that had you try to match things like that where the word says one color and the font is another color, and you had to match the word with a colored shape I think. That started to get more difficult.

 

[Phrak]

They should do this with traffic lights!

GO
STOP

I wouldn't survive two lights!

Some urgency to drive it home

GO !
STOP !

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

I think I'd have done better if the words were more separated from one another.

 

[Sorry!]

I've seen this done before. My psychology teacher opened up psychology with this test and some similar ones. It didn't struck me as odd that it was happening but did open my eyes.

 

[Cyrus]

This is a mystery for V.S. Ramashandran!

 

[zoobyshoe]

This is a mystery for V.S. Ramashandran!

This is actually already a test given by neurologists to assess impulse control. The ability to ignore the word and follow the instruction to say the color shows good impulse control. Inability to do it demonstrates poor impulse control and strongly suggests right frontal lobe problems. I saw footage of this test being given to a serial killer. He became so confused he started to stutter and broke down giggling.

Fascinated by that, I made a version of the test and gave it to a couple guys in my building who happened to be around. A Japanese college student passed with flying colors. A guy on Social Security diagnosed with a personality disorder reacted much like the serial killer. I reversed roles with the Japanese guy and had him administer the test to me and...I did not do so well.

StatutoryApe is right, though: in the version of the test I saw the words were in much larger type and arranged in columns; they weren't tiny and all bunched together.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

StatutoryApe is right, though: in the version of the test I saw the words were in much larger type and arranged in columns; they weren't tiny and all bunched together.

It makes me feel like I'm reading a sentence and I wind up reading the words instead of just noting the colour. I think if the words were arranged differently I might be able to ignore the word and focus on the colour better.

If I just read the words the colours don't effect me much. Is the potential deviation supposed to be stronger when you are going by colour rather than by word?

 

[zoobyshoe]

It makes me feel like I'm reading a sentence and I wind up reading the words instead of just noting the colour. I think if the words were arranged differently I might be able to ignore the word and focus on the colour better.

In the neurological test I saw the words are supposed to be separate enough that you can attend to one at a time. Then the task is to follow the instruction to say the color and ignore the meaning of the word. To do that requires impulse control since we're automatically going to have the urge to attend to the meaning first.

If I just read the words the colours don't effect me much. Is the potential deviation supposed to be stronger when you are going by colour rather than by word?

Announcing the colors out loud when the color differs from the word spelled out takes longer in all people. The poorer a person's impulse control the more often they break down and pronounce the word written rather than the color of the word.

 

[Dadface]

I just got confused then I started to stutter and broke down giggling.

 

[Negatron]

If I recall correctly, this is a popular test for pre-frontal damage. People with impaired executive function have particularly great difficulty in selecting the relevant stimuli.

Otherwise it's quite easy to focus on the color alone, in which case you can likely manage to move at normal reading pace.

 

[TVP45]

If you can read upside down (otherwise, it's not fair), do it that way. Shifts the brain part.

 

[zoobyshoe]

If I recall correctly, this is a popular test for pre-frontal damage. People with impaired executive function have particularly great difficulty in selecting the relevant stimuli.

Sounds familiar:

https://www.physicsforums.com/showpost.php?p=2222078&postcount=14

 

[zoobyshoe]

I just got confused then I started to stutter and broke down giggling.

The FBI has triangulated your position and is closing in fast.

 

[Huckleberry]

I got bored after about 10 lines. Is there something to be learned from line 36 that can't be discovered by line 12?