Tests of a translational model of Stroop interference: Translation or attention?

Virzi and Egeth (1985) have proposed a model of Stroop interference in which interference is attributed to the translation of information from one processing system to another. They used a task that should not require translation: manually signalling the position of a conflicting position word or vocally reading the word. Because little interference occurred, they concluded that translation is not obligatory. The present Experiment 1 showed that substantial interference occurs when participants must be prepared to respond to either dimension, suggesting that translation is an obligatory process when attention is divided between the two dimensions. Experiment 2 showed that this interference is reduced if a cue that indicates the relevant dimension is presented 300 or 1000 ms prior to the stimulus. These results are discussed in terms of a strength of processing model in which the degree of Stroop interference is attributed to the degree of attention to the irrelevant dimension of the Stroop stimulus. This model assumes that the degree of attention to a stimulus dimension is subject to both top-down and bottom-up influences.