Emotional Stroop Task¶
HED Task ID: hedtsk_emotional_stroop
Also known as: Affective Stroop
Color-naming of emotionally valenced words; RT slowing on threat-related words indexes attentional bias to affective content.
Description¶
A variant of the classic Stroop in which participants name the ink color of words that vary in emotional valence (threat-related, positive, neutral). Emotional interference is measured as the slowing of color naming for emotional relative to neutral words, indexing the degree to which emotional content captures attentional resources. The task is widely used in anxiety and PTSD research, where threat-related words produce disproportionate interference. The emotional interference effect reflects automatic processing of affectively significant information.
Inclusion test¶
Procedure |
Color words are replaced by emotionally valenced or threat-related words; participants name the ink color while ignoring word meaning. |
Manipulation |
Word valence/threat relevance (disorder-specific, general threat, neutral); blocked vs. mixed presentation. |
Measurement |
RT slowing for threat/emotional words relative to neutral (emotional Stroop interference); accuracy. |
Variations¶
Variation |
Description |
Justification |
|---|---|---|
Threat-Related Emotional Stroop |
Threat words (anxiety, death, danger) in different ink colors. |
Threat words produce interference; canonical emotional Stroop design |
Disorder-Specific Variants |
Tailored word sets for PTSD (trauma words), depression (loss words), addiction (substance words), eating disorders (body words). |
Stimulus set tailored to specific disorder (e.g., spider phobia words); different content domain |
Positive vs. Negative Emotional Stroop |
Comparing interference from positive and negative words. |
Positive stimuli alongside negative; tests valence symmetry of interference |
Pictorial Emotional Stroop |
Emotional images rather than words with color overlays. |
Emotional pictures instead of words; different stimulus modality |
Subliminal Emotional Stroop |
Briefly masked emotional words to test unconscious processing. |
Masked words below awareness; changes conscious access to emotional stimuli |
Face-Word Emotional Stroop |
Emotional faces with incongruent emotion labels. |
Emotional faces paired with color words; cross-domain emotional conflict |
Cognitive processes¶
This task engages the following cognitive processes:
Key references¶
{‘authors’: ‘Williams, J. M. G., Mathews, A., & MacLeod, C.’, ‘year’: 1996, ‘title’: ‘The emotional Stroop task and psychopathology.’, ‘venue’: ‘Psychological Bulletin’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Psychological Bulletin’, ‘volume’: ‘120’, ‘issue’: ‘1’, ‘pages’: ‘3-24’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1037/0033-2909.120.1.3’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Williams, J. M. G., Mathews, A., & MacLeod, C. (1996). The emotional Stroop task and psychopathology. Psychological Bulletin, 120(1), 3-24.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.120.1.3’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}
{‘authors’: ‘COMPTON, R. J., BANICH, M. T., MOHANTY, A., MILHAM, M. P., HERRINGTON, J., MILLER, G. A., SCALF, P. E., WEBB, A., & HELLER, W.’, ‘year’: 2003, ‘title’: ‘Paying attention to emotion: An fMRI investigation of cognitive and emotional Stroop tasks’, ‘venue’: ‘Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience’, ‘volume’: ‘3’, ‘issue’: ‘2’, ‘pages’: ‘81-96’, ‘doi’: ‘10.3758/cabn.3.2.81’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Compton, R. J., Banich, M. T., Mohanty, A., et al. (2003). Paying attention to emotion: An fMRI investigation of cognitive and emotional Stroop tasks. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 3(2), 81-96.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.3758/cabn.3.2.81’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}
{‘authors’: ‘Etkin, A., Egner, T., Peraza, D. M., Kandel, E. R., & Hirsch, J.’, ‘year’: 2006, ‘title’: ‘Resolving Emotional Conflict: A Role for the Rostral Anterior Cingulate Cortex in Modulating Activity in the Amygdala’, ‘venue’: ‘Neuron’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Neuron’, ‘volume’: ‘51’, ‘issue’: ‘6’, ‘pages’: ‘871-882’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1016/j.neuron.2006.07.029’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Etkin, A., Egner, T., Peraza, D. M., Kandel, E. R., & Hirsch, J. (2006). Resolving emotional conflict: A role for the rostral anterior cingulate cortex in modulating activity in the amygdala. Neuron, 51(6), 871-882.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2006.07.029’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}
Recent references¶
{‘authors’: ‘Phaf, R. H., & Kan, K.’, ‘year’: 2007, ‘title’: ‘The automaticity of emotional Stroop: A meta-analysis’, ‘venue’: ‘Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry’, ‘volume’: ‘38’, ‘issue’: ‘2’, ‘pages’: ‘184-199’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1016/j.jbtep.2006.10.008’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Phaf, R. H., & Kan, K. J. (2007). The automaticity of emotional Stroop: A meta-analysis. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 38(2), 184–199.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbtep.2006.10.008’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}
{‘authors’: ‘Cisler, J. M., & Koster, E. H.’, ‘year’: 2010, ‘title’: ‘Mechanisms of attentional biases towards threat in anxiety disorders: An integrative review’, ‘venue’: ‘Clinical Psychology Review’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Clinical Psychology Review’, ‘volume’: ‘30’, ‘issue’: ‘2’, ‘pages’: ‘203-216’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1016/j.cpr.2009.11.003’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Cisler, J. M., & Koster, E. H. (2010). Mechanisms of attentional biases toward threat in anxiety disorders. Clinical Psychology Review, 30(2), 203–216.’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2009.11.003’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}
{‘authors’: ‘Algom, D., Chajut, E., & Lev, S.’, ‘year’: 2004, ‘title’: ‘A Rational Look at the Emotional Stroop Phenomenon: A Generic Slowdown, Not a Stroop Effect.’, ‘venue’: ‘Journal of Experimental Psychology: General’, ‘venue_type’: ‘journal’, ‘journal’: ‘Journal of Experimental Psychology: General’, ‘volume’: ‘133’, ‘issue’: ‘3’, ‘pages’: ‘323-338’, ‘doi’: ‘10.1037/0096-3445.133.3.323’, ‘openalex_id’: None, ‘pmid’: None, ‘citation_string’: ‘Algom, D., Chajut, E., & Lev, S. (2004). A rational look at the emotional Stroop phenomenon: A generic slowdown, not a Stroop effect. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 133(3), 323–338. [Updated: Dalgleish, T. (2005). Putting some feeling into it—the conceptual and empirical relationships between the classic and emotional Stroop tasks: Comment on Algom et al. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 134(4), 585–591.]’, ‘url’: ‘https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.133.3.323’, ‘source’: ‘crossref’, ‘confidence’: ‘high’, ‘verified_on’: ‘2026-04-20’}