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Understanding Sentence Structure and Meaning
Certain tests of cognitive control (or executive function) probe for a person’s ability to ignore or suppress salient information that is irrelevant to performing a particular task.
The Stroop test
In this video, you will see a demonstration of the classic Stroop test, in which test subjects report the color of the font of words while ignoring the name of the color that is spelled out by the word:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5F9zKmQVKY
Card sorting tests
The next video illustrates the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. In this test, subjects sort cards that vary along several different dimensions, such as the number of objects on the card, the color of the objects, and their shape. The subject is instructed to sort the cards along one of these dimensions—the experimenter does not specify which criterion should be applied, but provides feedback (correct or incorrect) after each card is sorted. After a number of cards have been sorted, the subject is told to now sort the cards along a different dimension. This requires the subject to stop paying attention to the previously relevant dimension in order to focus on the currently relevant one. (This video shows an experiment taking place in Spanish, but you can easily follow what is happening even if you do not understand Spanish).
The card sorting test has been simplified to test the performance of young children, who have particular difficulty with tasks that require cognitive control. You can see an example of a simplified card sorting test in the next video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0L7xzcvJzZc
Go/No Go test
The next video illustrates a test of cognitive control known as a Go/No Go task. In this example, the subject’s task is to respond by pressing buttons when a green square comes up on the screen, but to suppress a response when a red square shows up. You can get a feel for the task by performing several trials.
https://www.psytoolkit.org/experiment-library/experiment_go-no-go.html
Playing games that require cognitive control
You may have noticed that a couple of commercially-marketed games have incorporated the principles of the Stroop and card sorting tests.
In the game of Taboo, a team member has to convey a target word to the other members of his or her team without mentioning certain “taboo” words that are strongly associated with the target. For example, the goal might be to convey the word grandmother without uttering the words senior, old, slow, parent, or money. In the next video, you can see a game show version of this game in action.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QeA4nrcQV0
And you can see strong echoes of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in the card game called Set, as described in this video: