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Focus3 min read

The Stroop effect: why ink colors trip you up

The Stroop effect is the slowdown you feel when naming the ink color of a word that spells a different color. Here’s what it is and how Color Clash uses it.

Wits teamPublished

What it is

Try naming the ink color of the word BLUE printed in red. Most people are slower, and make more mistakes, than when the word and ink match. This is the Stroop effect, described by John Ridley Stroop in 1935.

Why it happens

Key idea

For practiced readers, reading a word is close to automatic. Naming an ink color takes more deliberate attention, so the word you read gets in the way of the color you’re trying to name.

How Color Clash uses it

Color Clash shows a color word in a different ink. Usually you tap the ink. When the banner says WORD, you tap what the word says instead, so you can’t settle into one habit. From level 8 the answer buttons are printed in clashing inks too.

Tips

Check the banner before the word, look at the shape of the color rather than the letters, and keep a steady pace instead of rushing.

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