The Distracted Stroop: How Extra Clutter Affects Focus, Can Your Brain Beat the Distractions
Human Health and Behavior
Mayrin Ixchel Rios Urias
Karyna Imelda Ortiz Martinez
- Grade:
- 7
- Teacher:
- Hazel Biscocho
This project investigates whether adding extra symbols or letters to Stroop cards reduces accuracy and makes it harder for participants to correctly recognize words. It also examines how different types of distractions affect a person’s ability to focus and respond accurately. By comparing the Stroop test to real-life situations, the study explores how distractions impact everyday tasks such as reading, driving, or completing schoolwork. This project is important because it helps us understand attention, focus, and cognitive processing, which are essential for learning, decision-making, and safety in daily life.
Thank you for your effort, great job!
Good job on a fantastic project! You did an excellent job of demonstrating the concept of Cognitive Interference. Most people understand the basic Stroop Effect, but your addition of extra clutter (symbols and background colors) shows a deeper understanding of how our brains must work to filter out distractions. I particularly liked how you connected this to real-world safety, like driving or studying. It’s a great reminder that our brains aren’t always ‘beating the distractions’ as well as we think they are.