Color Match Game — Stroop Test
Classic Stroop test: does the text color match the word? Click Yes or No as fast as you can. 20 questions.
How to play
- Click Start to begin 20 Stroop questions.
- A color word (e.g. RED) is shown in an ink color that may differ.
- Click YES if the ink color matches the word, NO if it does not.
- You can also press Y / N or the Left / Right arrow keys.
- Your score out of 20 and total time are shown at the end.
The classic Stroop test: a color word is displayed in an ink color that may or may not match. Click YES if the ink color matches the word, NO if it doesn't. Interference between reading and color perception makes this deceptively hard.
How it works
The Color Match Game is an implementation of the classic Stroop task, one of psychology's most replicated experiments. A word naming a color (such as RED or BLUE) is displayed on screen, but the word's ink color may differ from the word it spells. Your job is to answer whether the text color matches the word as quickly and accurately as possible by clicking Yes or No.
The Stroop effect occurs because reading is a highly automatic process that produces an answer faster than color perception for most adults. When the word and color conflict -- the word says RED but is printed in blue ink -- these two responses interfere with each other and slow your reaction time. This interference is the Stroop effect and is a measure of cognitive interference and selective attention.
The test runs for 20 questions. Your score reflects both speed and accuracy. Congruent trials (word and ink match) are faster for most people; incongruent trials (they differ) produce a measurable slowdown and more errors.
Psychologists use Stroop-style tasks to assess attention, inhibitory control, and executive function. Repeated practice can modestly reduce the interference effect by strengthening the ability to selectively attend to ink color while suppressing the reading response.
Worked example
Noticing the interference effect in your own data
- Complete the 20-question test while paying attention to which questions felt easy and which felt hesitant.
- Note your accuracy and average response time at the end.
- Identify whether your errors clustered on incongruent trials (word and color differ) rather than congruent ones.
- Repeat the test and compare times and accuracy between your two runs.
- Observe that congruent trials are consistently faster than incongruent ones.
Personal demonstration of the Stroop interference effect with measurable reaction time difference.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Reading the word aloud or sub-vocalizing it, which strengthens the dominant reading response and increases the interference effect.
- Rushing on congruent trials only to slow dramatically on incongruent ones, producing inconsistent accuracy across the session.
- Treating a high error rate as failure rather than as informative data showing the natural strength of the Stroop interference effect.
Key terms
- Stroop effect
- The slowdown and increased error rate when a color word is printed in a mismatching ink color, caused by interference between reading and color-naming responses.
- Congruent trial
- A question where the word and ink color match, such as the word BLUE printed in blue ink.
- Inhibitory control
- The cognitive ability to suppress an automatic response (reading the word) in favor of a deliberate one (judging the ink color).
Frequently asked questions
- What is the Stroop effect?
- The Stroop effect is the delay caused when the meaning of a word (e.g. 'RED') conflicts with its ink color (blue). The brain's automatic word-reading interferes with color identification.
- Can I use keyboard shortcuts?
- Yes — press Y for Yes, N for No, or use the left/right arrow keys.