Question

question 19

what does the stroop task measure?

vision loss
auditory impairment
selective attention
long-term memory

Explanation:

Define the Stroop task

The Stroop task is a classic psychological test where participants are shown color words (e.g., "RED", "BLUE") printed in ink that either matches or conflicts with the written word. The task is to name the ink color while ignoring the printed word itself.

Identify the cognitive mechanism

Because reading is an automatic process for fluent adults, it interferes with the less automatic task of naming the ink color. To succeed, a person must focus on the relevant stimulus (the ink color) and suppress the irrelevant, automatic response (reading the word). This process relies heavily on Selective Attention and cognitive control.

Evaluate the given options

• Vision loss: Incorrect. While normal color vision is required, the task is not a diagnostic tool for vision loss.
• Auditory impairment: Incorrect. The task is entirely visual and does not measure hearing.
• Selective attention: Correct. It directly measures the ability to selectively attend to one visual feature while ignoring another competing feature.
• Long-term memory: Incorrect. The task measures real-time processing and attention, not the retrieval of stored long-term memories.

Answer:

• (A) Vision loss
• (B) Auditory impairment
• (C) Selective attention (Correct answer)
• (D) Long-term memory