Stroop Interference and Facilitation Effects in Kinesthetic and Haptic Tasks

Stroop interference and facilitation effects were documented in the visual, auditory, olfactory, and gustatory modalities. This study extends the Stroop phenomena also for kinesthetic and haptic tasks. In a touch-enabled computer interface, participants touched and manipulated virtual objects (cylinders, cubes, and tiles), through a pen-like stylus, and identified their haptic qualities (weight, firmness, vibrations). Similarly, participants were stimulated with a mechanical force pushing their hands lightly towards a specific direction which they had to identify. While performing these identification tasks, participants were simultaneously presented with words or symbols that were congruent, neutral, or incongruent with the experienced kinesthetic/haptic sensations. Error rates and response times were affected in the following order: congruent < neutral < incongruent. As technologies advance into multisensory systems, engineers and designers can improve human-computer interactions by ensuring optimal congruence between all the inter- and intra-sensory elements in the display.