Comparison of Stroop Effect on Turkish and English Bilinguals and the Effect of Proficiency Level on English
Running head: STROOP EFFECT STUDY ON BILINGUALS
Comparison of Stroop Effect on Turkish and English Bilinguals and the Effect of Proficiency Level on English
In partial fulfilment of the requirements for Statistics and Research Methods
5 June 2008
Abstract
People identify the color of a word faster if the word color is congruent with the ink color, than if the color is incongruent with the ink color. This is called Stroop Effect. In the present study the aim was to find whether language, which was used in order to express the word, affects the reaction time and whether the interference level increases in relation with the proficiency level in a language. Therefore stroop effect on Turkish-English bilinguals with Turkish as a dominant language was explored. The findings indicated our hypothesis was wrong there was no significant difference when the response language was English. However these findings contradict with the literature, according to the literature number of wrong responses and reaction time in the incongruent condition should be statistically more significant. If the language is more dominant, caused by the automaticity to the native language and automatic responses are more difficult to control. However there is no exact statement about it, different studies indicate different results. In addition to this there is no exact replication of the present experiment in literature since numerical pad was used instead of verbal task and it may have an caused the caused the contradictory results. On the other hand the findings suggest that proficiency in language does not have any influence on Stroop Effect. These findings are supported by some literature studies while it contradicts with some. This shows that the findings were inconclusive.
Comparison of Stroop Effect on Turkish and English Bilinguals and the Effect of Proficiency Level on English
Earlier studies show that; the performance in naming the congruent color words (e.g. the
Comparison of Stroop Effect on Turkish and English Bilinguals and the Effect of Proficiency Level on English
In partial fulfilment of the requirements for Statistics and Research Methods
5 June 2008
Abstract
People identify the color of a word faster if the word color is congruent with the ink color, than if the color is incongruent with the ink color. This is called Stroop Effect. In the present study the aim was to find whether language, which was used in order to express the word, affects the reaction time and whether the interference level increases in relation with the proficiency level in a language. Therefore stroop effect on Turkish-English bilinguals with Turkish as a dominant language was explored. The findings indicated our hypothesis was wrong there was no significant difference when the response language was English. However these findings contradict with the literature, according to the literature number of wrong responses and reaction time in the incongruent condition should be statistically more significant. If the language is more dominant, caused by the automaticity to the native language and automatic responses are more difficult to control. However there is no exact statement about it, different studies indicate different results. In addition to this there is no exact replication of the present experiment in literature since numerical pad was used instead of verbal task and it may have an caused the caused the contradictory results. On the other hand the findings suggest that proficiency in language does not have any influence on Stroop Effect. These findings are supported by some literature studies while it contradicts with some. This shows that the findings were inconclusive.
Comparison of Stroop Effect on Turkish and English Bilinguals and the Effect of Proficiency Level on English
Earlier studies show that; the performance in naming the congruent color words (e.g. the
References: • L. Goldfarb, J. Tzelgof (2007), The cause of the within-language Stroop superiority effect and its implications • Edith Magiste (1984) Stroop Tasks and Dichotic Translation: The Development of Interference Patterns in Bilinguals • M. Botvinick, C.S Carter, J.D Cohen, K. Fissell, L.E Nystrom (1999), Confict monitoring versus selectionfor-action in anterior cingulate cortex. Vol. 402 • Colin MacLeod (1991), Half a Century of Research on the Stroop Effect: An Integrative Review • L.Tracy Brown, Thomas H. Carr, Chiristopher L. Gore (2002), Visual Attention and Word Recognition in Stroop Color Naming: Is Word Recognition “Automatic”? Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Vol. 131, No. 2 • Ben A