A time course analysis of Stroop interference and facilitation: comparing normal individuals and individuals with schizophrenia.

Using randomized stimulus onset asynchrony (SOAs), the authors traced the time course of Stroop interference and facilitation in normal participants and participants with schizophrenia. Unlike earlier findings using blocked SOAs, singular peaks in interference, facilitation, or both occurred at particular SOAs. The peaks of normal participants and participants with schizophrenia differed. Findings are congruent with a model of Stroop performance that posits individual differences in processing speeds of target and nontarget stimulus dimensions, coupled with critical points in response selection. Participants with schizophrenia also showed more overall interference than normal control participants. A second experiment that added a temporal gap between the distractor word and target color obliterated Stroop effects only for individuals with schizophrenia. These findings provide a new empirical basis for models of Stroop effects. They are also consistent with hypotheses about the importance of the prefrontal cortex for working memory and prefrontal dysfunction in schizophrenia.

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