Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar disorder is classified by the DSMVI as
mood disorders. Bipolar disorder is marked by mood swings ranging from manic to
depressive states. People with bipolar disorder experience unusually strong
emotional states that are referred to as ‘mood episodes’. There are two
opposing episodes called manic and depressive. It can occur where; a mood
episode combines symptoms that are manic and depressive. This is known as a
mixed state. This variance makes it possible for an individual with bipolar
disorder to experience a period of unstable moods rather than distinct episodes
exhibiting depression or mania (NIMH, 2010).
Unipolar Disorder
Unipolar disorder, also known as Major Depression, is a mood disorder characterized by degrees of sadness, disappointment, loneliness, hopelessness, self-doubt, and guilt. The symptoms of unipolar disorder are the same as the second category of symptoms in bipolar disorder. The feelings exhibited in these symptoms might be very intense and could persist for a long period. Depression can cause normal daily activities to become very difficult. Sometimes this difficulty is so severe that the individual may not be able to cope with daily activities such as work or household chores. At this level, feelings of hopelessness can become so intense that the individual may need hospitalization (NIMH, 2010).
Stroop Effect
Stroop Effect is the reaction time of a specific color and word association task. The name of a color such as "red," "yellow," or "green") is printed in a color that is different from the name. For example the word "green" is printed in red ink instead of green ink. When a person is asked to name the color of the word this task is more difficult taking longer and creating more verbal errors than when the color of the ink matches the name of the color (Howieson et al, 2004). This is referred to as Stroop Effect.
Stroop Effect denotes particular
patterns in human thinking such as word meaning is given more importance than
the color a word is written in. This shows that humans are not always in
control of their attention by virtue of the occurrence of interference when a
subject is trying to pay attention only to the color. This effect also has
shown that age is directly related to this interference. Young children do not
exhibit the same level of interference which adults do suggesting that Stroop
Effect increases over time as people learn to think in this manner (Howieson et
al, 2004).
The Stroop Effect has played a large
role in the development of Interference Theory. This theory and Stroop Effect
show that humans learn and how experiences can affect memory. This test is used
to measure selective attention, cognitive flexibility and processing speed
(Howieson et al, 2004). Stroop has many different variations that have been
adapted to measuring particular areas of interference. Such examples might
include bilingualism studies and even physical changes in brain chemistry as
monitored when giving the test during an MRI. Because of its clinical use in
measuring deficiencies in cognitive skills and memory, Stroop Effect is one of
the largest and well-known tools used in psychology today.
Research Methods
Scientific method- A body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge.
