Specificity of attention in the Stroop test: an EP study

General models of attention differ in the degree of specificity which they predict. The dimension of specificity was used to determine the underlying attention mechanism which modulated the amplitude of the P85 component of the VEP. The subjects attentional set was manipulated by means of the Stroop test. It was found that the selective mechanism was highly specific and an explanation for the effect was given in terms of bias in structures encoding the physical rather than semantic nature of stimulation.