Paying attention: how much of it lies within your control?

by Diane Levin on August 26, 2008

in Cool Things on the Web, Mind and Cognition

The Stroop Effect plays havoc with our attention

For those of you who enjoy visual games that play with perception and cognition, I invited you to have a go at The Color Test, a flash animation that demonstrates how challenging it can be to control your attention.

It is one of many versions available online of the Stroop Test, a task in which participants are presented with words for colors and must state the color the word is printed in but not the color the word names. Overriding one’s initial response — to read the word — proves difficult indeed.

For more visual tests and games, you may enjoy the following previous episodes of Mediation Channel:

“How skilled are you at spotting the fake smile?”

“Testing your understanding of facial expressions”

“Optical illusion purports to show whether your right or left brain is dominant”

“A video game tests racial bias - and the willingness to pull the trigger”

“Brain research shows differences in perception between East and West”

(Thanks to Chuck Doran for the link.)

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