The Stroop Effect quiz that only 1 in 5 can pass
In today’s world, most things are designed to steal your attention – from the billboard ads to your phone screen. With these disruptions, it can be hard to concentrate on any task at hand.
To test your focus, you can try the famous Stroop task. The challenge estimates one’s selective attention, or the ability to respond to certain environmental stimuli while ignoring others. In the test, people are asked to name the colour of a printed word rather than the actual word itself – for example, if the word “blue” is printed in yellow, participants should answer “yellow”.
A variety of the Stroop effect quiz below has been tested on 2,000 adults in the UK. While 79 per cent received a perfect score for matching colours, only 21 per cent managed to get all the answers right when it came to incongruent colours.
Young people and those who exercise frequently performed the best. 29 per cent of Generation Z – or those born between 1995 and 2010 – scored 10 out of 10 on incongruent colours, compared with only 11.1 per cent of Generation X and 13.4 per cent of Baby Boomers.
Out of those who engaged in physical activity daily, 28.2 per cent earned a perfect mark. Meanwhile, only 18.5 per cent of the people who rarely exercised got all the answers on incongruent colours correct.
Wonder how you fare? Try the test below.