Office of Aerospace Medicine Technical Reports
FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine
Civil Aerospace Medical Institute
Report No: DOT/FAA/AM-72/14
Title and Subtitle: The color- word interference test and its relation to performance impairment under auditory distraction
Report Date: March 1972
Authors: Thackray RI, Jones KN, Touchstone, RM
Abstract: The ability to resist distraction is an important requirement for air traffic controllers. The study examined the relationship between performance on the Stroop color-word interference test (a suggested measure of distraction susceptibility) and impairment under auditory distraction on a task requiring the subject to generate random sequences of letters. Fifty male college students served as Ss. Although there was a significant decrease in 'randomness' as a result of auditory distraction, the correlation between change in randomness and amount of color-word interference wa nonsignificant.
These findings, along with those of several other studies, suggest that the Stroop test may measure a rather restricted type of perceptual interference essentially unrelated to a possibly more general ability to maintain concentration in the presence of competing (distracting) stimuli.
Key Words: Attention, Distraction, Stress, Stroop Test
No. of Pages: 23
Civil Aerospace Medical Institute
Report No: DOT/FAA/AM-72/14
Title and Subtitle: The color- word interference test and its relation to performance impairment under auditory distraction
Report Date: March 1972
Authors: Thackray RI, Jones KN, Touchstone, RM
Abstract: The ability to resist distraction is an important requirement for air traffic controllers. The study examined the relationship between performance on the Stroop color-word interference test (a suggested measure of distraction susceptibility) and impairment under auditory distraction on a task requiring the subject to generate random sequences of letters. Fifty male college students served as Ss. Although there was a significant decrease in 'randomness' as a result of auditory distraction, the correlation between change in randomness and amount of color-word interference wa nonsignificant.
These findings, along with those of several other studies, suggest that the Stroop test may measure a rather restricted type of perceptual interference essentially unrelated to a possibly more general ability to maintain concentration in the presence of competing (distracting) stimuli.
Key Words: Attention, Distraction, Stress, Stroop Test
No. of Pages: 23
Last updated: Friday, June 1, 2012