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The intensity of play is a recent change that symbolizes the modern evolution of soccer. This study investigated whether the intensity of intermittent exercise and cognitive function have an inverted-U relationship. Male members of a Japanese university soccer club participated in the study (N = 13; mean age ± SD = 20.2 yr ±0.94). They performed a pass choice reaction task, a standardized test assessing the speed and accuracy of information processing in soccer, and the Stroop test for assessing attention after exercising at different intensities (Control Test: CT; Moderate Intensity: MI; High Intensity: HI). The results indicated that the reaction times in the MI and HI pass choice reaction task were significantly shorter and that the frequency of correct responses in the Stroop test was significantly higher than in the CT. However, neither test demonstrated significant differences between MI and HI. These results suggest that intermittent exercise might improve information processing and attention function. Nevertheless, the results did not indicate that exercise intensity and cognitive function have an inverted-U relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, researchers in various fields such as anthropology, archaeology, history, neuroscience, and psychology have been collaborating on research projects to understand how civilizations were built. The purpose of this project is to reconstruct the past by integrating the findings in archaeology and those on human cognition and behavior. In this study, we are developing a cognitive map that indicates regional differences in human perception. Topic modeling for the abstracts of the Stroop test with the regions of author affiliations revealed that the topic proportions related to the task were high in North-Central America. In contrast, the topic proportions related to clinical research were high in Europe. Moreover, a meta-analysis using regions as a moderator showed that the effect sizes of the Stroop test were larger in Asia than those in Europe and North America. These results indicate regional differences in human executive functions. The relevance of human cognition to the distribution of tools, myths, and folk tales that have been created by people to date will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to investigate the generality of conflict adaptation associated with block-wise conflict frequency between two types of stimulus scripts (Kanji and Hiragana). To this end, we examined whether the modulation of the compatibility effect with one type of script depending on block-wise conflict frequency (75% versus 25% generalized to the other type of script whose block-wise conflict frequency was kept constant (50%), using the Spatial Stroop task. In Experiment 1, 16 participants were required to identify the target orientation (up or down) presented in the upper or lower visual-field. The results showed that block-wise conflict adaptation with one type of stimulus script generalized to the other. The procedure in Experiment 2 was the same as that in Experiment 1, except that the presentation location differed between the two types of stimulus scripts. We did not find a generalization from one script to the other. These results suggest that presentation location is a critical factor contributing to the generality of block-wise conflict adaptation.

When individuals are required to frequently switch among a small set of simple tasks, immediately after switching tasks, the responses become substantially slower and usually more error-prone. This phenomenon is known as the "switching cost." Two main hypotheses have been proposed to explain switching cost: (1) Proactive interference and (2) Time for task-set reconfiguration. The present study examined the relationship between the attentional control load of switching tasks and the switching cost from the perspective of the time for task-set reconfiguration hypothesis, by using the group version of the Stroop tasks. Healthy participants (N = 216; mean age 19.9 years) participated in the study. Four switching conditions were used: (1) No-switch, (2) Selective input control switch, (3) S-R mapping switch, and (4) Translation process switch. The results indicated that there was no significant difference between the number of correct responses in conditions (1) and (3), whereas there was a significant reduction in the number of correct responses in condition (4) relative to (1) and (2). These findings suggest that the switch cost in Stroop and reverse Stroop tasks results from the time taken for attentional control, such as the selective input control switch and the translation process switch.

We have developed a group Stroop Color-Word Test that measures both Stroop and reverse-Stroop interference. In this test, the participants had to match a pertinent word with a color patch from among the choices printed on paper. The purpose of this study was to investigate the life-span development of Stroop and reverse-Stroop interference as measured by this test. A total of 1 945 participants (age 7-86 years old) completed this test. We found that Stroop interference was greatest among children, then decreased with age to adulthood, and finally increased among the older people. These results correspond with the findings of previous developmental studies conducted using verbal responses. The reverse-Stroop interference was found to be smallest among children, increased with age to adulthood, and then remained constant even among older adults. These results suggest that Stroop interference and reverse Stroop interference reflect different cognitive processes.

The Stroop test has been already applied to many children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD). There are, however, differences in the measurement of the Stroop test, and also in the background conditions of the patients, such as the status of comorbidity with learning disorder (LD), medication and the level of Intelligence Quotient (IQ), and presumably as a result, the outcome of the Stroop test shows a diversity. This study was undertaken to compare the performances of children with AD/HD to normal controls using the modified Stroop test according to the subtypes of AD/HD. Subjects in this study were 23 unmedicated children with AD/HD, ranging from 6 to 14 years of age, and 69 normal controls who were matched on sex and age. Children with AD/HD whose verbal IQ and performance IQ were above 80 showed significant differences in such indices as Incongruent Color Naming time (ICN) and the resulting index of subtracting Color Naming time (CN) from ICN (ICN-CN). As to the analysis according to the subtypes excluding 8 cases with comorbid LD, both the predominantly inattentive type and the group putting together the predominantly hyperactive-impulsive type and the combined type showed significant differences in ICN--CN compared with the normal controls. These results suggest that the inattentiveness relevant factor affects the performance of the interference task in children with AD/HD.