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Stroop test online: can you ignore what you read?

Find out how well you can hold back the automatic act of reading and answer only the ink colour: the same focus that keeps you on the road ahead, the page you're studying or the one voice you're following.

Start now

About 3 minutes · tutorial included · nothing to install or prepare

Pick the colour of the ink. Ignore the word.

  1. Learn and practiseA short tutorial with 4 practice rounds you can repeat.
  2. 30 scored roundsUp to 3 seconds each to pick the colour of the ink.
  3. Your resultsAccuracy and speed, read against reference ranges.

What is the Stroop test?

The Stroop test is a classic cognitive test of attention: a colour word appears printed in an ink colour, and you answer the ink while ignoring the word. It measures inhibitory control, holding back the automatic act of reading, and how you resolve the clash between word and ink. J. R. Stroop described the effect in 1935.2 Colours and Words is CogniFit's digital version, with three inks and 30 scored rounds.

Don't read the word. Pick the ink.

Each round shows one colour word in red, blue or yellow ink. You press the button that matches the ink. Sometimes word and ink agree; sometimes they clash, and that is where the Stroop effect appears.

Congruent: the word and the ink point to the same answer.

The word
It says RED. Reading it happens on its own, and here it helps.
The ink
Red. This is the only thing you answer.
Your answer
The red button, within 3 seconds.

Incongruent: the word pulls you towards one button, the ink asks for another.

The word
It says YELLOW. That is the pull you have to resist.
The ink
Blue. Answer this, and only this.
Your answer
The blue button, within 3 seconds.

Every round, in three beats

  1. 500 ms

    A fixation mark appears so your eyes are ready.

  2. Up to 3 s

    The word appears. Press the button for its ink.

  3. 500 ms

    A short pause, then the next round.

First comes a tutorial with 4 practice rounds and no time limit; you can go through it again before the scored part starts, and practice never counts. Then 30 scored rounds follow, half congruent and half incongruent, mixed rather than grouped, so the comparison between them is not tangled up with tiredness.

You know the rule. Now see whether your eyes agree.

Try the 30 rounds

What this colour word test measures

Two abilities sit at the core of the Stroop test. Three more take part in every answer you give.

A woman concentrates on her laptop at a kitchen table in the morning light.

  • Inhibition of the dominant response

    CoreHolding back the answer that comes first and strongest; here, reading the word.

    Everyday: keeping your foot on the brake when the car beside you rolls forward at a light that is still red.

  • Resolving semantic interference

    CoreSettling a clash between two meanings that arrive at once.

    Everyday: typing the number on the page while someone next to you reads out a different one.

  • Selective attention

    Keeping your focus on one feature and letting the rest go.

    Everyday: following one conversation in a busy restaurant.

  • Processing speed

    How quickly you take something in and respond to it.

    Everyday: reacting when the brake lights ahead come on.

  • Proactive control

    Getting ready in advance to follow a rule before the conflict arrives.

    Everyday: walking into a study session already set on leaving your phone alone.

Curious how your own attention handles the clash?

Test your attention

How to read your Stroop test result

When you finish the 30 rounds, the task shows your own results screen. If you take it without an account, it first asks your age and sex. Here is what each number means.

Accuracy

85–95%

The share of rounds you answered correctly. Higher is better; a result from 85% to 95% reads as average.1

Mean time of correct answers

650–950 ms

How long you took, on average, when you got it right. From 650 to 950 milliseconds reads as average; below is faster, above is slower.1

These are approximate reference ranges, set by CogniFit's scientific team from what published research reports for healthy adults. They are a guide, not a diagnosis, and a value right on a cut-off reads as average.1

How your time moved through the task

The results screen also shows your response time in blocks, from the first rounds to the last. A steady line means you kept the same pace; a line that climbs means you slowed as the task went on.

The key measure: interference cost

The Stroop effect comes down to one simple comparison: your mean time on incongruent rounds minus your mean time on congruent rounds. That gap is the interference cost. The smaller it is, the less the word slowed you down.

The same comparison can be made with mistakes: accuracy on congruent rounds minus accuracy on incongruent ones. The task records both, and signing up lets you keep your sessions and follow them over time.

Congruent rounds · mean time
Incongruent rounds · mean time
Illustration of the calculation, not real data. Source: CogniFit, Colours and Words task design.

Reading about it is one thing. Your own gap is another.

See your own numbers

The science behind the Stroop effect

For a fluent reader, reading is so practised that it runs on its own. Naming an ink colour takes a deliberate choice. When the two disagree, the automatic one gets in the way, and you can measure it.

A man on his sofa in the evening taps his phone, focused, in warm lamp light.

J. R. Stroop described this interference in 1935, in his studies of serial verbal reactions.2 Since then, the task has become one of the most used tools in cognitive testing. Colin MacLeod's 1991 review gathered half a century of research on the effect,3 and Scarpina and Tagini (2017) reviewed the Stroop Color and Word Test as it is used in research and neuropsychology today.4

Researchers use it to study inhibitory control and selective attention: how people keep a strong, automatic response in check to do what a task actually asks.

More detail: how this version is built

Colours and Words uses three inks, red, blue and yellow, and three matching buttons. The scored rounds are split in equal parts between congruent rounds, where word and ink agree, and incongruent rounds, which cover every clash between the three words and the three inks.

The rounds are spread through the task rather than run in blocks, so the difference between conditions is not measured together with fatigue. A round you don't answer within 3 seconds closes on its own and counts as a missed response.

Response times are taken from correct answers only, because the time of an error comes from a different process.

You know how the effect works. Can you still beat it?

Put the effect to the test

Questions about the Stroop test online

How long does the Stroop test take?

About 3 minutes in total: a tutorial with 4 practice rounds, then 30 scored rounds with up to 3 seconds each to answer.

Do I need an account to take it?

No. You can take it without one. Before showing your results, the task asks for your age (18 to 99) and sex; both are required and are kept with your session under an anonymous id that your browser keeps. Signing up lets you track your results over time.

Is this a medical or diagnostic test?

No. Colours and Words measures inhibitory control and selective attention in one session. It is not a clinical test and does not diagnose any condition.

What happens if I don't answer in time?

After 3 seconds the round closes and counts as a missed response. The practice rounds have no time limit and never count towards your results.

Can I practise before it starts counting?

Yes. The tutorial is part of every session, and you can repeat it as many times as you like before the scored rounds begin.

Now you know what it measures. Ready to see it in yourself?

Thirty rounds, one rule: the ink, not the word. Take the test now, and sign up if you want to keep your results and follow them over time.

Take the Stroop test Sign up to track your results

Sources

  1. CogniFit (2026). Colours and Words: task design and results-screen reference ranges, set by CogniFit's scientific team from published research on healthy adults.
  2. Stroop, J. R. (1935). Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 18(6), 643–662. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0054651
  3. MacLeod, C. M. (1991). Half a century of research on the Stroop effect: An integrative review. Psychological Bulletin, 109(2), 163–203. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.109.2.163
  4. Scarpina, F., & Tagini, S. (2017). The Stroop Color and Word Test. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 557. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00557
  5. Hedge, C., Powell, G., & Sumner, P. (2018). The reliability paradox. Behavior Research Methods, 50(3), 1166–1186. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-017-0935-1

This content is for information only and is not medical advice. Colours and Words is not a clinical or diagnostic test, and it does not replace the care of a qualified health professional.

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