Interference and facilitation for color naming with separate bilateral presentations of the word and color.

Abstract

A new procedure was found to be effective for generation of interference to color naming. In this procedure, separate word and color stimuli are presented to the right and left of fixation. Incongruent names delayed color naming, and congruent combinations of words and colors produced a facilitation of color naming relative to a control condition in which Xs were presented opposite the color. This bilatefal presentation procedure makes it possible to study interference to dimension naming for dimensions that .cannot be integrally combined with words. The procedure also has potential for study of parallel processing, selective attention, and functional differences between the hemispheres. Naming the color of a color patch when the patch is shaped to spell a color name incongruent to the color takes considerably longer than naming of a nonword color patch (Stroop, 1935). Kamlet and Egeth (1969) presented white words on small rectangles of color and found a similar delay of background color naming when the words were incongruent color names. Using a modified individual stimulus procedure, Dyer and Severance (1973) presented the word denoting a color in black ink in a tachistoscope and followed it immediately, or after a short interval, by a color patch that was a series of Xs. Delays for color naming occurred for conditions where the black word was incongruent to the color of the Xs. Some speeding of color naming occurred when the black word was congruent to the color of the Xs. This delay and facilitation of color naming was relative to a control condition where the colored Xs were preceded by a series of black Vs. Although significant, the delay in color naming was less than that obtained in studies with the word and color physically combined. In the present study, black color names