Demonstration of the brain mechanism that makes old habits die hard

Try your hand at learning some new tricks and test your own readiness for change. This brief color chart demonstration is used in all our courses and workshops. It is a good conversation piece as well as offering an opportunity for self-reflection. This simple but intriguing activity is a demonstration of the powerful interference effect caused by prior learning. Exactly what it means for you personally will become clearer after you have done the two short tasks and you interpret your scores. Now, please read and follow these instructions carefully.

INSTRUCTIONS

TASK 1

1.       You will need a watch to record how long it takes you to finish this task. Record the time to the nearest second.

2.       Just read each word aloud as you normally would when reading. Start at the top, go left to right, line by line, as quickly as you can and correct any mistakes. For example, the first word is "green", the second is "brown" and so on. Remember to record how many seconds you take to finish.

TASK 2

1.       Again, use your watch to record how long you take to finish this task.

2.       This time, instead of reading the word, you have to name the colour of the ink in which each word is written, going left to right, line by line, as quickly as you can and correct any mistakes. Speak up and say it aloud for greater effect. For example, the colour of the first word is "pink" so you have to say "pink" instead of "green". The second is "red", not "brown" and so on. Do the whole list from top to bottom. Don't forget to record how many seconds it takes you to finish.