Test-Retest Reliability of Different Versions of the Stroop Test

For most versions of the Stroop test, there are no available estimations of reliability. In the present study, “XXXXX” strings, conflicting color words, taboo words, self-relevant words, and control words were used as irrelevant stimuli. Test-retest reliability of the response times was quite high. However, taboo interferences (difference between response times on taboo and control words) and self-relevant interferences were not reliable. A principal-components analysis showed that one principal component explained most of the total variance of the different Stroop tasks. Therefore, participants' ability to ignore irrelevant stimuli is independent of the semantic meaning of the stimuli.