title: Word reading practice reduces Stroop interference in children.
abstract: Stroop interference is thought to index reading automaticity and is expected to increase with reading practice and to decrease with improved color naming. We investigated the effects of practice in word reading and color naming on interference in 92 adults and 109 children in Grades 4-5. For children, interference was reduced after reading practice with color words. In neither group was interference affected by practice in color naming of neutral stimuli. These findings are consistent with a direct negative relationship between reading ability and interference and challenge the automaticity account in favor of a blocking mechanism whereby interference is determined by the delay to inhibit the reading response rather than by the efficiency of color naming.
authors.affiliation: Department of Philosophy and History of Science, University of Athens, Greece; Graduate Program in Basic and Applied Cognitive Science, University of Athens, Greece. Electronic address: aprotopapas@phs.uoa.gr.
authors.forename: Athanassios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Protopapas
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology & Education, University of Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Eleni L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Vlahou
authors.affiliation: Graduate Program in Basic and Applied Cognitive Science, University of Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Despoina
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Moirou
authors.affiliation: Graduate Program in Basic and Applied Cognitive Science, University of Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Laoura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ziaka
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D003118:Color Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D011932:Reading; D057190:Stroop Test; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Automaticity; Naming; Practice; Reading; Stroop; Training