# Stroop test online: say the ink, not the word

Source page: https://underthebehavior.com/tests/stroop-test

A free Stroop test that runs in your browser: 12 matching cards, then 12 clashing ones, timed. Then what Stroop found in 1935, with the source.

In Stroop's 1935 study, naming the ink of clashing words took 74% longer than naming colour squares. Stroop, 1935

Stroop test

Tap the colour each word is printed in. First 12 cards where the word and the ink match, then 12 where they clash. The page times both rounds.

This test runs on JavaScript, in your browser only. With it turned off, the steps and the study's numbers are below.

Runs in your browser. Nothing you tap is sent or saved.

## How it works
1. 1 **Read the rule**

Tap the colour of the ink, not the word.
2. 2 **Round one**

Twelve cards where the word and the ink match.
3. 3 **Round two**

Twelve cards where they clash. The page times both rounds.

## What Stroop found in 1935

Time for 100 items in Stroop's Experiment 2
- Naming colour squares **63.3 s**
- Naming the ink of clashing words **110.3 s**

 Stroop, 1935

74%

longer to name the ink of clashing words than to name colour squares. The time for 100 items went from 63.3 to 110.3 seconds.

Experiment 2 · Stroop, 1935

5.6%

longer to read the words in clashing ink than in black, only 2.3 seconds per 100 words. Stroop called that gap not reliable.

Experiment 1 · Stroop, 1935

### More from the paper

> [The difference] may be satisfactorily accounted for by the difference in training in the two activities.

Quoted from Stroop, Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1935

In other words, we have had far more practice reading words than naming colours. By 1991, a review counted more than 700 articles on the effect.

## Try it again, harder

[Hard mode Twice as many clashing cards, and the rule switches between the ink and the word as you go. Play](#test)

## Questions

### Is this a test for ADHD or anything else?

No. This page does not test for anything. It shows how the task works, and what Stroop measured in 1935.

### Is anything I tap saved?

No. The test runs in your browser and sends nothing anywhere.

Play it in a Short

Stroop Test: Say the Ink Color, Not the Word

Play-along Short · YouTube [See it on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1fmh3blRsmg)

## More to try

 [Test · Probability Monty Hall simulator Stay or switch, 10,000 times.](https://underthebehavior.com/tests/monty-hall-simulator) [Test · Memory False memory test How many of 15 words can you recall?](https://underthebehavior.com/tests/false-memory-test) [Episode 1 Is the Bystander Effect Real? The Kitty Genovese Story The true story behind a famous study, checked against the record.](https://underthebehavior.com/episodes/kitty-genovese-bystander-effect) [Study Bystander effect experiments From the 1968 intercom study to street cameras.](https://underthebehavior.com/studies/bystander-effect)
1. [Tests](https://underthebehavior.com/tests/)
2. Stroop test

## Sources (2)
1.

Stroop, J. R. (1935). Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 18(6), 643 to 662. [doi.org/10.1037/h0054651](https://doi.org/10.1037/h0054651)
2.

MacLeod, C. M. (1991). Half a century of research on the Stroop effect: An integrative review. Psychological Bulletin, 109(2), 163 to 203. [doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.109.2.163](https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.109.2.163)

Our card list is our own, drawn after Stroop 1935. His colours were red, blue, green, brown and purple.