The Stroop test
The Stroop test is one of the oldest experiments in psychology. You see color words printed in colored ink, and your job is to name the ink color as fast as you can while ignoring what the word spells. When the word and the ink disagree most people slow down, and that gap is the Stroop effect.
What your result means
The gap between your two speeds is a measure of how automatic reading has become for you. Reading is so overlearned that your brain does it whether you want to or not, so when the ink fights the word you have to hold back that reflex and let the slower, deliberate part of you name the color instead. Overriding a reflex takes time, and that extra time is what the test just measured in your own milliseconds.
This is a single run on one person, not a controlled study, so treat your number as a demonstration rather than a diagnosis. The effect was first described by John Ridley Stroop in 1935, and psychologists have used versions of it ever since to probe attention and cognitive control.
Stroop, J. R. (1935). Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 18(6), pages 643 to 662.
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