In some cases, automatic top-down processing of stimuli even seems obligatory. JR Stroop (1935) was the first to demonstrate the compulsory nature of reading. In the study, subjects were presented with a list of words in different colors: red, green, blue, brown and purple. The words were presented in color so that each word was not printed in its representative color; that is, the word "red" could appear in blue ink, or the word "brown" in green ink. Subjects were then asked to convey the color of the ink the word was printed with rather than the word itself. Results indicated that, compared to matching word color to input color, those who were presented with conflicting stimuli had slower relay times for naming colors. This phenomenon is explained by the concept of interference, in that associated stimuli presented simultaneously will interfere with each other. In this case, unconscious processing of words is responsible for the interference; although one focuses attention on determining the color of the word, the unconscious recognition of the word is presented to consciousness and the relationship between the two stimuli diverts the focus of attention. Thus, these top-down attention events affect conscious perception of stimuli. All of the aforementioned literature focuses on visual stimuli. However, this is not the only important stimulus when studying attention systems. Much like memory systems, different sensory stimuli can have separate but interconnected attention systems that affect consciousness. The following proposed study focuses on the attention system of tactile stimulation. The literature on tactile attention is more limited than visual and auditory stimuli due to ease of manipulation...... middle of article...... Journal of Experimental Psychology, 32, 3-25 .Posner, MI (1994). Attention: the mechanisms of consciousness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 91, 7398-7403. Spence, C., Pavani, F. and Driver, J. (2000). Cross-modal links between vision and touch in covert endogenous spatial attention. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 24(4), 1298-1319. Stroop, J.R. (1935). Interference studies in serial verbal reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 18(6), 643-662. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0054651Treisman, A. and Gelade, G. (1980). A feature integration theory of attention. Cognitive Psychology, 12, 97-136. Treisman, A. and Schmidt, H. (1982). Illusory conjunctions in the perception of objects. Cognitive Psychology, 14, 107-141. Wolfe, JM, Kluender, KR, & Levi, DM (2012). Sensation and perception. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, Inc...