Mark Smith

Foxcroft Academy
Upward Bound Regional Math Science
University of Maine
Karim Assous

Stroop Task and Sex Differences

Abstract

The present study examined sex differences in adolescents ages fifteen to twenty-four while
performing the Stroop task. This experiment was run in hopes of the researcher finding out
whether males or females were faster, more accurate, and more competitive while completing the
Stroop task. The alternate hypothesis was that males would be faster and more competitive,
while females were predicted to score better percentage-wise on the test. The speed, accuracy,
and competitiveness were all measured when the Stroop task was given, and the subjects were
deceived about average times to see what affect this had on the experiment. The experiment
failed to reject the null hypothesis because there was no statistical significant difference between
males and females speed, accuracy and competitiveness. The benefit of the research is that
scientists have data that works with all types of males’ subjects, as most studies on the Stroop
task exclude people who are colorblind, whereas this experiment included them. Colorblind
males allow male-to-female color recognition percentages to be more precise as one in ten males
are colorblind.

Introduction

The Stroop task tests the reaction time and color recognition of the human brain. The Stroop
Color and Word Recognition Test was introduced to America after being discovered in 1935,
when a study was conducted on Kuwaiti and British students, examining differences in cognitive
processes. The results of the study suggested that women did better because they were stronger at
recognizing and naming colors. The data obtained from the British students showed that the
differences were not statistically significant, with no obvious differences between males and
females being recorded. When conducting experiments in the past, researchers have focused on
reaction time, differences in performance between sexes, color recognition, and a Color Word
Interference Effect. According to Davidson (2003) and Alansari (2004) the color word
interference describes what happens when a subject’s educated mind reads the word instead of
recognizing what color the ink really is. Competition could also play a role in this experiment as
males and females may have different competitive levels. This could depend on whether or not
they play sports, take academics seriously, or a wide range of other things in which an individual
may compete.

The question is how competitiveness will affect speed and accuracy performances on the Stroop
task. Women will have better accuracies than men on the test, as they tend to pay more attention
to detail while being timed (Hibbard & Buhrmester, 2010). The difference between wanting to
win and excel, is winning could just include the time, where excelling is specifically talking
about percent correct or success. The alternative hypothesis is that females will be faster on the
test, and the males will have better color recognition skills. One study showed that females’
menstrual cycle could have benefits on their memory and their ability to perform while on the
Stroop task. The study said that this effect could happen because of the gonadal steroid hormones
estradiol and progesterone (Takeshi & Nagaya, 2009). The present study focuses on the
correlation between sex and speed on the Stroop task. The null hypothesis is that there is no
correlation between males and females Stroop task abilities. The variables for this study are
speed, sex, accuracy, and competitiveness.

Materials and Methods

To perform this experiment a computer program using the Stroop task was required. The
computer program asked the subjects to give the name of the color of the font, while the text may
or may not read a completely different color. To run the experiment 20 volunteers, consisting of
12 males and 8 females, were required to perform the Stroop task in an empty room with no
distractions. A Stroop task generator was found online, and was used for the experiment ("Online
stroop test"). The testing was run testing one subject at a time, allowing the same test to be run
on everyone. The subjects were given a run-through to get used to the program. The subjects
were all given a false average time of 15 seconds for the opposite gender for the 20 question
Stroop task, to see if this false time had an effect on their efficiency and accuracy and what each
sex will do better under the circumstances of competitiveness, whether they rush or take their
time and be accurate. It was asked that there be no discussion regarding the Stroop test until all
subjects have completed it. The subjects were then debriefed, after they had taken the test, and
the researcher explained the reason for deceiving the subjects. The data was entered into an
Excel spreadsheet and graphical results were generated.

Results
Figure 1 Shows male time one versus male time two in the chart above. Most males lost time
after taking the test once.

Figure 2 Shows female time one versus male time two in the chart above. The chart shows that
females lost a large portion of the time after taking the test once.
Figure 3 Shows the average times for the time trials one and two, based on sex. Females took
their time getting familiar with the program, and were faster than males on the second test. Males
were quick to begin, but didn’t lose as much time as the females did on the second test.

Figure 4 Shows female and male percent correct while taking the Stroop task. The end has just
male data, as more males took the Stroop task than females. Females did score better, but its hard
to tell with the human eye.
Figure 5 shows the average percent scored on the Stroop task by gender. The graph shows that
females outscored males by over two percent.

Discussion

The Stroop task showed many patterns in the data collected, but the differences were found to
not be significant from one another. The t-test showed that the values were too close, statistically
speaking, so no statistical difference was found. This means that the p-value > 0.05 in the
different areas tested including: trial one, trial two, accuracy, and time difference. The alternate
hypothesis was rejected, and the null hypothesis failed to be rejected. The null failed to be
rejected because there was no correlation between sex and performance on the Stroop task.

Although the differences are not significant, many patterns were found. Females, as predicted,
scored a higher percent correct than the males, but the two percent difference was not enough to
make the finding statistically significant. This may be due to the fact that two males who took the
test were colorblind. One of these colorblind individuals had a perfect score having no effect on
the data, but another missed a few questions because he said he could not tell the difference. The
times for these two were much slower than the rest of the males, which means that they could
have affected the average time of the males by almost a second.

Interestingly, males did not drop more time during their tests as it was predicted to occur, but
females dropped the most time between trials one and two. This finding is more likely because
males tried harder the first time while females were more focused on becoming familiar with the
program to ensure a high score. The females could then try harder the second time through, and
they were more familiar with the way the program worked because they were less likely to forget
what the test was like than the males’ who rushed through the first time.

Two problems limited the study, one being the small sample size and the other being the limited
time to conduct the research and background information. With more people, a trend is more
likely to be noticed and have significance, because of the larger more regular sample size. The
time limit was the greatest challenge, because five weeks is not enough time to conduct adequate
background research or gain enough subjects willing to take the experiment.

References

Alansari, B. M. (2004). Gender and cultural performance differences on the stroop color and
word test: A comparative study.

Davidson, D. J. (2003). stroop interference, practice, and aging. Neuropsychology, development,

Hibbard, D. R., & Buhrmester, D. (2010). Competitiveness, gender, and adjustment among
adolescents. Sex Roles, 63(5), 412-424.

Kaplan, O., & Lubow, R. E. (2010). Ignoring irrelevant stimuli in latent inhibition and stroop
paradigms: The effects of schizotypy and gender. Psychiatry Research, 186(1), 40-45.

Online stroop test. (n.d.). Retrieved from

Steven B., M., Sorber, A. V., & Cunningham, J. G. (2005). Gender and cultural performance
differences on the stroop color and word test: A comparative study. Auditory Stroop reveals
implicit gender associations in adults and children, 43(2), 287-294.

Takeshi, H., & Nagaya, K. (2009). Menstrual cycle phase effects on memory and stroop task
performance.Archives of Sexual Behavior, 38(5), 821-827. doi: 10.1007/s10508-008-9445-7

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my mentor Karim Assous for all the help, criticism, and feedback on this
paper. I would also like to thank Karim for providing me with his assistance needed to run this
experiment. I would also like to thank Ryan Roderick, Kelly Ilseman, Jeremy Swist, and Brooke
Oliver for all their help and input they gave while I was writing my paper. I would also like to
thank everyone who volunteered time out of their busy day to help me collect data; without the
help of the participants this study would have been impossible.

Autobiography
My name is Mark Smith. I am 17 years old and live in the obsolete town of Harmony, ME. I am
a graduate of Foxcroft Academy and next year I will be a freshman at Rhode Island College. I
was a standout athlete at my high school setting the school record for wins in wrestling with 159.
I am a 2-time State Champion wrestler, and also participate in cross-country and track. As of
right now I'm going to wrestle in college at the Division III level. I was an honors student at my
high school, and may join a fraternity at some point in college. I will be majoring in elementary
and special education while getting a minor in social work over the next five or six years at
Rhode Island College.