Cross-Modal stroop interference between taste and anagrams

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the cross-modal Stroop effect between visually presented anagrams and gustatory stimuli. The working hypothesis states that cross-modal Stroop interference is increased by the level of inconsistency and reduced by the level of congruence between gustatory stimuli and linguistic visual stimuli whose order of syllables has been changed. 29 argentine subjects whose average age was 22 years old (SD = 3.024 years) participated in the experiment. A within-subjects repeated measures design was used. The independent variable was determined as the congruence of the stimulus and in it three levels were identified: congruent, incongruent and control stimuli. Two dependent variables were determined: reaction time and number of correct responses. The chosen paradigm was the cross-modal Stroop task. Gustatory stimuli were administered together with anagrams. The task required identifying a gustatory stimulus in the shortest possible time. It was concluded that in conditions of incongruent and control stimuli, subjects were not able to inhibit linguistic distractors to elaborate quick and effective responses concerning the identification of gustatory stimuli. In contrast, in the congruent anagrams condition the stimuli functioned as a key facilitator.