This week we use a bit of psychology to issue a challenge – can you say the colour of the text, rather than reading the word?
What you need:
- sheet with words written in different colours – print here.
- stopwatch or timer
What to do:
- Issue someone the challenge – how fast can you say the colour of each word?
- Have the person say all the colours on page 1 of the sheet, where all the colours are written in the correct colour. Time how long it takes to finish.
- Now have the person say all the colours on page 2 of the sheet, where all the colours are written in different colours. Time how long it takes to finish.
- Compare the two times. Which list was harder? Did the person get any wrong to start with?
What happens:
It probably takes a lot longer to say the colours on page 2, where the colour and the word are different. This is known as the “Stroop Effect”. It occurs because reading words requires less attention than saying colours, and because you can read faster than you can name colours. However, this might not happen if you do it with a young child who cannot read, but who can name colours.
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