The Stroop Effect for Kids: A Fun Experiment That Shows How Your Brain Works
The Stroop Effect test is a great way to engage your students in your nervous system lesson.
Start by showing students colors written in word form written in the same font color. For example, red is written in red font, yellow is written in yellow font, etc. Give students 30 seconds to read the font color they see. Most students will have no problems completing this task before the timer goes off.
Now show them a list of colors written in word form but the font color is different from the word. For example, “purple” is written in yellow font, “yellow” is written in red font. Give students 30 seconds to read the font color they see. Students will notice it is much harder to focus on the font color when the word does not match.
This phenomenon is called the Stroop Effect. The Stroop Effect is the delay that occurs when you try to read a color that is printed in a different color.
How does this relate to the Nervous System?
The Stroop Effect gives us an idea of how the nervous system processes information. When you see a color word your eyes send information from your eyes to your brain. Your brain takes in that information, decides what to do with and and sends signals to the body to tell it how to respond. During the Stroop Effect Test your brain is receiving 2 pieces of information: the word and the color. It has to decide which to focus on.
Why does this happen?
Your brain is trying to process a lot of information at once. It is constantly trying to decide on what to pay attention to. When you have to read the font color of a word that doesn’t match your brain struggles to focus on the font color and the word at the same time.
Reading is automatic for us. So our brain automatically wants to read the word even when the directions are to focus on the color.
The Stroop Effect is a great way to get your students excited (and laughing) when getting ready to start learning about the nervous system.
Bring This Activity Into Your Classroom!
This engaging, no-prep activity is featured in an instructional video from our
5th Grade Molecules to Organisms Unit. Get this activity along with a complete, ready-to-teach unit covering levels of organization and the major body systems—so you can spend less time planning and more time teaching!
