The Stroop Memory Drill combines working memory with cognitive interference. Each prompt shows a letter displayed in a colour, and the letter and colour never match. For example, the letter R may appear in blue. The athlete must ignore the letter and respond to the colour, so for R in blue, the correct gate is the blue gate, not the red gate. The drill tests the ability to hold an increasing sequence in memory while suppressing the automatic urge to read the letter. It requires V3 Timing Gates.

Position: Mount the gates upright magnetically to a suitable surface, or lay them flat on the floor facing upward, depending on the space available and the demand you want. Each gate represents one colour. Gate placement sets the emphasis of the drill. Close together, the athlete can see every gate without moving, so the drill isolates memory and interference control. Spread further apart, the athlete must turn their head and travel between gates, which adds movement and tests whether they can hold the sequence while moving. Set the athlete up centrally, ready and facing the gates.

Cue: “Watch the prompts. Each one shows a letter in a colour. Ignore the letter. Only the colour matters. If you see R in blue, go to the blue gate. Wait until the full sequence finishes, then trigger the colour gates in the same order. Every round repeats the previous prompts and adds one more. Accuracy matters more than speed, so take the time you need to get it right.”

Step 1: Position your V3 Timing Gates, either mounted upright magnetically or laid flat on the floor facing upward. Set them close together to isolate memory and interference control, or spaced further apart to add movement and head turning. Ensure all gates are powered on.

Step 2: Open the app and select the Stroop Memory Drill.

Step 3: On the Gate Setup screen, tap Scan to connect your gates. Allocate a master gate by pressing the button on the side of that gate. Once allocated, it appears at the top of the Gate Layout list marked as Master, and the remaining gates are numbered in order (2, 3 and so on) as they connect.

Step 4: Confirm the gate order. Use the drag handles beside each gate to reorder them so the numbering matches your physical layout. Use Settings to adjust the drill configuration if required.

Step 5: Tap Start Drill. Position the athlete ready and facing the gates.

Step 6: At the start of each round, the prompts display one at a time. Each prompt shows a letter in a colour that does not match the letter. When the sequence finishes, the gates display their colours and the athlete triggers the gate matching the colour of each prompt, in the same order. A correct sequence clears the round. The next round replays the same prompts and adds one new prompt at the end. Triggering the wrong gate is recorded as an error. The drill ends when the athlete makes an error or completes the set number of rounds.

Step 7: When the session is complete, review the results screen. The app displays:

Rounds completed, shown as Session Complete.
Max Sequence, the longest sequence the athlete reproduced correctly.
Errors, the number of incorrect gates triggered.
Avg Recall Time, the average time taken to reproduce each sequence.
Recall Distribution, a bar chart of recall time for each round.
Round Analysis, a round-by-round list of sequence length, recall time and any errors.

Step 8: After reviewing:

Tap Save Trial to store the result.
Tap Redo to retest without saving.

Interpreting the results

Max Sequence is the primary result, showing the longest sequence the athlete reproduced correctly while ignoring the conflicting letter cues. It provides an indication of how much information they can retain while managing interference in this drill. Use recall time as a secondary measure to understand how performance changes as sequences lengthen. A sharp increase in recall time may suggest the athlete is approaching their capacity to remember the sequence while filtering out competing information.

Compare the athlete’s Stroop Memory Max Sequence with their Sequence Memory Max Sequence. The difference shows the cost of interference on memory. A large drop indicates the athlete’s memory performance breaks down when competing information is present.

Results are influenced by fatigue, arousal, familiarity with the drill, gate spacing and reading fluency. Compare an athlete to their own baseline across sessions using the same layout, rather than to an external standard. Allow a familiarisation trial before recording data you intend to track. Confirm the athlete can reliably distinguish all gate colours before testing, as colour vision deficiency will invalidate the results.

Using the Stroop Test in rehab and performance

In a performance setting, the drill trains the ability to act on relevant information while overriding a competing, automatic response. This reflects game situations where athletes must follow a plan or read the correct cue while ignoring misleading information, such as an opponent’s feint, a dummy run or a crowd reaction. It is the most cognitively demanding drill in the series. Comparing Stroop Memory results with Sequence Memory and Square Shape Focus results helps separate working memory, selective attention and interference control.

In a rehab and return to sport setting, the drill is valuable after concussion, where working memory and inhibitory control are commonly affected, and can be introduced before physical load is permitted. Run it with close gate spacing early on to assess cognitive function with minimal movement. As the athlete progresses, widen the spacing so they must hold the sequence while moving. A drop in Max Sequence or a rise in interference errors when movement or fatigue is added indicates that physical demand is competing with cognitive capacity. Track results across sessions to monitor recovery, and use a pre-injury baseline where one exists.