Leiden University Student Repository

Bäumler, Rena (2021)

Within-Session Stability of Stroop-like Interference in Children, Adolescents and Adults

Master thesis | Psychology (MSc)

Performance on a Stroop-like tasks require individuals to inhibit irrelevant but interfering stimuli while performing a specific task. This ability is called interference control, a cognitive function that is not fully developed until adulthood (Nigg, 2000). The aim of the current study was to investigate whether immature interference control of children are indeed the underlying reason behind the interference effect observed on Stroop-like tasks. This was done by calculating children’s, adolescents’ and adults’ stability of reaction times and interference effects within a single testing session. Data from the performance on four different Stroop-like paradigms (colour-object; positionobject; number-object; and picture-word) of participants from five age groups (6, 8, 12, 16, and 20 years old) was used to carry out this investigation. It was predicted that, overall, there would be a stability of reaction times and interference effects across two session halves. Furthermore, it was...Show morePerformance on a Stroop-like tasks require individuals to inhibit irrelevant but interfering stimuli while performing a specific task. This ability is called interference control, a cognitive function that is not fully developed until adulthood (Nigg, 2000). The aim of the current study was to investigate whether immature interference control of children are indeed the underlying reason behind the interference effect observed on Stroop-like tasks. This was done by calculating children’s, adolescents’ and adults’ stability of reaction times and interference effects within a single testing session. Data from the performance on four different Stroop-like paradigms (colour-object; positionobject; number-object; and picture-word) of participants from five age groups (6, 8, 12, 16, and 20 years old) was used to carry out this investigation. It was predicted that, overall, there would be a stability of reaction times and interference effects across two session halves. Furthermore, it was predicted that the stability of interference effect would vary when comparing different age groups and experimental paradigms, with older age groups showing more stability and greater variability between paradigms. Results of the current study found an asymmetrical result with evidence for high within-session stability of reaction time with no effect of age or paradigm and less strong, albeit similar, results for interference effects.Show less

Author

Bäumler, Rena

Faculty

Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences

Specialisation

Child and Adolescent Psychology

Supervisors

Boelens, H.
Keskinel, D.

ECTS Credits

20

Language

en