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Optical illusion

The Stroop effect

Say aloud the ink colour of each word.

How quickly can you do it? Did you slow down?

A black rectangle is shown containing the names of colours in eight rows with four words per line. These words are themselves coloured – for example, the top line reads: Red (the letters are in red), Blue (the letters are in blue), Orange (the letters are coloured orange) and Purple (the letters are coloured orange). The next line reads “Orange, Blue, Green” and “Red” and, again, the words’ colours correspond to the colour concerned. However, on the third line, the word Blue is written in green lettering, the word Purple in red, the word Green is in purple and the word Red is coloured blue. This conflict between the colour’s name and the colour of the word’s lettering continues for the remaining five lines.

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Answer

Did you know?

Eating brocoli, spinach and other similar vegetables regularly can help prevent eye disease. Find out more