5.3.2.2. Results and discussion

Some RTs were discarded before statistical analysis, following the same procedure as in Experiment 1. The error percentage was less than 1%. Data were submitted to a two-way ANOVA with 4 (ISI) x 2 (Stroop congruency condition) repeated measurements.

Colour-naming in the congruent condition (551 ms) took faster than in the incongruent condition (592 ms), F (1, 11) = 23.72, p<.001. The main effect of ISI was also significant, F (3, 33) =3.59, p<.05. Colour-naming latency became shorter with relatively long ISIs, regardless of prime-target congruency condition (see Figure 10). There was no significant interaction between congruency and ISI.

Figure 10. Mean of reaction times across ISI conditions.
Figure 10. Mean of reaction times across ISI conditions.

As expected, the target irrelevant processing, regardless of their semantic content, interfered more with the target relevant processing when they were processed with shorter ISI. Relatively long ISIs can decrease processing competition and result in reduced interference.

In Experiment 3, we compared the emotional influence on colour-naming latency across processing competition levels in normal participants.