Time course analysis of the reverse-Stroop effect in Japanese kanji

A reverse of the Stroop effect was obtained with Japanese kanji (logographic script) but not with Japanese kana (syllabic scripts) by Morikawa in 1981. In the present study, the normal effect on reaction times by word and color was altered by presenting the words before or after the color. The reverse Stroop effect was observed with kanji but not with kana even when the color was presented prior to the word. It was shown that the difference between kanji and kana in the reverse-Stroop effect could not be explained by the relative speed of processing of word and color and that the reading process of kanji is different from that of kana.