Stroop interference and color-word similarity

Stroop interference refers to the finding that it takes longer to name the color of an incorgruent color word (e.g., the word blue shown in green) than it does to name the color of a neutral stimulus (e.g., a series of number signs shown in green). Incongruent color-word stimuli can differ in the similarity between the color in which the word is printed and the color denoted by the word (e.g., the word blue shown in green vs. yellow). This research shows that the amount of interference obtained is related to color-word similarity, suggesting that word-reading and color-naming processes interact at a conceptual level prior to response emission.