Age-related Decrements in Stroop Color Test Performance

Administered a modified Stroop Color-Word Test to 80 healthy males aged 21-90 years as part of a study of neuropsychological functioning. No age differences were demonstrated on simple reading tasks; however, significant age effects were observed for the color naming and interference tasks (ps less than .001). Ss in the oldest age groups (61-70 and 71-90 years) performed more slowly than younger individuals on both of these. Of a variety of tests administered, performance on the Stroop Test was most affected by age. Because impairment on Stroop color naming and interference tests appears to be a concomitant of normal aging, caution should be exercised when one is interpreting Stroop test results from older patients with suspected cerebral dysfunction.