Novel Symbol Learning-Induced Stroop Effect: Evidence for a Strategy-Based, Utility Learning Model

The automaticity level and attention priority/strategy are two major theories that have attempted to explain the mechanism underlying the Stroop effect. Training is an effective way to manipulate the experience with the two dimensions (ink color and color word) in the Stroop task. In order to distinguish the above two factors (the automaticity or attention/strategy), we revised the training paradigm of MacLeod's study (J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 14(1):126-135, 1988) by adding a control condition for the Stroop task on Chinese. We found that with training, the changing pattern for the Stroop effect was similar in Stroop tasks in novel symbols and in Chinese, showing markedly increasing interference and marginally decreasing facilitation. The current findings support the strategy-based learning account at early stages of novel learning of written symbols.