Inhibitory control

try the "stroop test"!

Watch the video, and say out loud the color the word is printed in as fast as you can.

For example, if the word "Yellow" is printed in green, you should say "Green!"

How did you do?

What made this test tricky?

what is inhibitory control?

We all have things we've done so many times that we can do them without even thinking - like walking a familiar route home from the bus stop, or reading a word on a screen.

But sometimes, we need to do something different than we're used to. Maybe we need to stop by the store on our way home from the bus. Or (like the test you did!) we need to notice the color of a word rather than reading it.

Whenever we stop ourselves from thinking, saying, or doing something easy and automatic, we use our inhibitory control skills. Psychologists are interested in these skills because they can help us change our habits and learn new, interesting things.

Questions to consider

How have you used your inhibitory control skills today?

Do you think a 5-year-old would be faster or slower at naming the colors in the Stroop test than you were?

How could you make it harder or easier for people to inhibit their tendency to read the words in the Stroop test?

if you choose this topic, you will...

Learn more about how inhibitory control works and why it's important

Consider why some automatic thoughts or behaviors are easier to inhibit than others, and how/why we can get better at inhibiting them