Geometric Shapes by Use of Stroop Effects - Research Paper Example

GEOMETRIC SHAPES BY USE OF STROOP EFFECTS Insert Insert Study of the perception of geometric shapes by the use of the Stroop effectAbstract The Stroop effects of geometric shapes are analyzed in this paper. Its key objective is to find the time response average of students in identifying the shapes but not the words written in the shapes in either congruent or incongruent case as well as the number of errors. The students must contest against the clock to make as many matches as possible without being abstracted. In particular, the participants involved in the race had to identify the shapes of geometric displayed on the screen ignoring the inner name. The outcome of the experiment led to a conclusion that there was a significant different between the incongruent and congruent times about the reaction time. This difference in reaction time supports an earlier conclusion by original Stroop task that it is easier for students to read words than paying attention to the shapes Introduction Scientists have done various studies on the capability of a brain to face conflicting information when it faces a suitable response. Psychologists understand how the brain assesses information through Stroop tests or Stroop effects. John Ridley Stroop in the 1930s noted that it was easier to read words than reciting their color. The same also applied to the geometric shapes as it was also easier to pick words than shapes. Naming of a shape also required more time and brain could read words faster than shapes. (Bower, 1992). Two variations in the regions of the brain are stimulated when words meaning is coupled with inconsistent information and the right side of the brain is responsible for decoding letters and read words but the left one is mandated to analyze colors and shapes. This shows that the slow reaction results due to intervention or processing delay those results due to the brain conflicting functions. The participants’ brains become abstracted due to the interfering data of words when trying to identify the shapes thus resulting in the delayed response. This puts participants in an in difficult of processing their answers because the task is not familiar with reading hence slow and delayed response but if it was similar information the participants would take less time. METHOD Participants Twenty undergraduate Emirati students carried out a miniature experiment at the age of 19-20 from Zayed University. A right-handed report was ensured in all subjects. Stimuli The sets of geometric shapes and words were provided for the stimuli and students passed through two stages in both of them. Congruent was the stimuli for the first stage such as the word square could be combined with the shape of a square but in the other, the stimuli was incongruent whereby the word triangle could be combined with a shape of a square. The two stimuli were then used the reaction time of the participants by using the comparison of the two situations. Geometric shapes were the main stimuli target and the participants were required to determine the shapes only. Observation made was that there was a slow reaction time on the incongruent stimuli with comparison to the congruent stimuli. Apparatus IPad and projectors were used in the experiment by the examiners to present the PowerPoint slides and show geometric shapes and their names. The timer was also used to monitor the time the participants took for the two stimuli and a record to monitor the total number of mistakes was used. Incongruent Design Two divisions of ten- ten students were created, and each group took part in two sessions were one was incongruent stimuli and other incongruent. The two sessions involved 40 stimuli with the congruent having 20 and the incongruent also having 20 stimuli. The stimuli involved geometric shapes and words such as square, circle or rectangle. Procedure Firstly, the set of geometric shapes and the word appeared on the screen within each geometric shape having a word. For congruent, the word square corresponded with the respective shape square and for incongruent the word square correspondent with a different shape like a circle. To determine and identify the shape was all the participants were required to do in the two trails and participants reaction time was calculated and recorded. The outcome was that the congruent took less reaction time compared to the incongruent stimuli. Some students were also confused resulting in incorrect answers. It took longer time in the incongruent because the participant’s brain took more time to recognize the word than to see the shape. Automatic processes make the brain analyze information unconsciously, but processes like shapes and words make brain have attention but unconscious processes disturb the attention which leads to delayed reaction time. Result The results were that the number of mistakes in the congruent trail was zero in each group, and the participants were able to identify 20 out of the 20 shapes properly. The results were different in the incongruent trial; the first group had six errors out of the 20 shapes while the second had three mistakes out of 20 resulting in nine errors in both groups. Both groups also named only 11 shapes correctly out of 20 each as in the graphs below. The result of the time is that incongruent trail the first group took 21 seconds with the second taking only 17 seconds a total of 38 seconds for the two groups. In incongruent case, it took 24 seconds for the first group and 21 seconds for the second group a total of 45 seconds for the two groups as shown in graph two. Graph1 (6+3=9) 9/20=0.45 0.45*100= 45% Graph2 (21+17=38) (24+21=45) Dissection The number of congruent identified shapes was higher compared to incongruent, as it was 20 out of 20 compared to incongruent which was 11 out of 20. The first group answers were correct for the congruent phase but with six mistakes in the incongruent trial. In the second group, answers are also correct incongruent as opposed to incongruent were three mistakes had been identified. In terms of consumed time, both groups used more time in incongruent slides as total time which had been used in identical slides was 38 Sec but in non-congruent slides was 45 Sec, therefore the difference is 7 Sec between two consumed times. From the investigations and examinations, the results clearly show that the experiment used Stroop theory that shows brain needs less attention in capturing words than shapes thus resulting in less time in identifying a word than a shape. Conclusion According to our investigations and examinations concerning the congruent and incongruent trials, we can conclude that, it will take less time in identifying a word if is similar to the shape and is easy to identify the shape correctly. Concerning incongruent we can conclude that more time is taken in identifying a word, which is different from the shape, and there are high chances to identify the shapes incorrectly. Reference Bower, B. (1992). Brothers Stroop’s Enduring Effect. Science News, Vol.141, Issue 19. Read More