CONTENT

SL NO: TITLE PAGE NO:

1 ABSTRACT 2
2 AIM 3
3 METHODOLOGY 4
4 PROCEDURE 5
5 RESULT 6
6 DISCUSSION 7
7 CONCLUSION 9
8 REFERENCE 10
9 APPENDIX 11

1
 ABSTRACT

Human cognition involves many mental processes that are highly interrelated.
An important and core cognitive processes is memory, which is commonly
associated with the storing and remembering of environmental information. The
present study highlights the relationship between colour, attention, and
short-term memory performance. Participants were asked to memorize words
and tell them out loud. The results show that the number of words memorized in
colour is greater than the number of words memorized in black.

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 AIM

To find out if colours affect memory.

3
 METHODOLOGY

MATERIALS REQUIRED
1) 3 lists (each list consists of 12 words with 5 letter each. 1st list is written in
black ink, in the 2nd list one word is written in red ink and the rest is written in
black ink, 3rd list consists of words written in both red and black.)
2) Black and red pens
3) Sufficient paper
4) Stopwatch

PLAN OF THE EXPERIMENT

Conduct the experiment in three parts. The 3 lists are given to the participant
and asked to memorize the words given in the list. Compare the number of
responses given by the participant.

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 PROCEDURE

1) Conduct the experiment in 3 parts

2) Seat the participant near a table and establish a good rapport.
3) The following instructions are given “At the signal start, you will be shown a
list of words. You would have to memorize it and then tell the words out loud.”
4) The first list was presented
5) The participant is given 1 minute to memorize the words.
6) After 1 minute, the participant is asked to tell the words out loud.
7) The responses are noted down.
8) This is done with the other list’s also.

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 RESULT

LIST 1 LIST 2 LIST 3

No: of
Sl No: Sl No: No: of Words Sl No: No: of Words
Words
RED BLACK RED BLACK
1 10 1 1 9 1 5 5
2 10 2 1 9 2 5 5
3 12 3 1 10 3 5 3
4 9 4 1 7 4 4 2
5 6 5 1 7 5 5 5
6 8 6 1 6 6 4 3
7 5 7 1 5 7 5 4
8 10 8 1 9 8 5 3
9 12 9 1 10 9 5 3
10 12 10 1 9 10 4 3
Ave-r
Average= Aver- Average Average
age=
9.4 age=1 =8.1 =3.5
4.6

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 DISCUSSION
Attention refers to the cognitive process of selecting information that is
available in the environment. When we pay attention to certain information we
are actually selecting and focussing certain amount of information to be
processed in our cognitive system. The degree of attention attached to certain
stimuli increases the probability of the information to be stored in the memory.
Colour is believed to be the most important visual experience to human beings
It functions as a powerful information channel to the human cognitive system
and has been found to play a significant role in enhancing memory performance.
Colour can be very effective in learning and educational settings, marketing,
communication or even sport. For instance, a marketing study has found that
colour can increase brand recognition. Most advertisement’s use colours as one
of the important elements in influencing people’s attention, attitude towards the
product, and pressuring decision making. Colour helps us in memorizing certain
information by increasing our attention level. The role played by colour in
enhancing our attention level is undisputable. The more attention focussed on
certain stimuli, the more chances of stimuli to be transferred to a more
permanent memory storage. As stated earlier. Colours have the potential to
attract attention. Humphry proposed that colour preferences stem from the
signals that colours convey to organisms in nature. Sometimes colours send an
“approach” signal (e.g., the colours of a flower attracting pollinating insects)
and sometimes they send an “avoid” signal (e.g., colours of a poisonous toad
deterring predators). This may be deeply ingrained into our psych. Hubert and
Ling suggested that colour preferences are wired into the human visual system

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as weightings on cone-opponent neural responses that arose from evolutionary
selection.
Colours can enhance the relationship between arousal and memory. Colour has
been found to influence memory performance by increasing our attention level
and arousal. It has a positive influence on memory performance. Effectiveness
of colour on memory performance is based on few factors. First is the
consistency of the colours used during encoding and retrieval phases. Another
factor that needs to be taken into account is when a few colours or combination
of colours are involved (as in background conditions). The right combination of
colours is important because it can produce higher level of contrast.
The present paper contained lists 1, 2, 3. The first list contained 12 words
written all in black. The average number of words remembered by the
participants were 9.4. In the second list 11 words were written in black and 1
word was written in red. Here all the participants were able to recall the red
word. Thus, the average number of words remembered in black was 8.1 and the
word remembered in red is 1. Among all the black words, the red word was in
contrast and thus they were able to recall it easily. The third list contains 6
words in black and 6 words in red. More number of participants were able to
recall the red words than black words. The colour red creates a sense of urgency.
It stimulates the body, raising blood pressure and heart rate. It instantly grabs
attention. Thus, the average number of words remembered in red is 4.6 and the
average number of words remembered in black is 3.5.
Clearly, the average number of words remembered in red is greater than what is
written in black. Thus, one can say that colours influence memory positively.

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 CONCLUSION

An important aspect in successful and efficient cognitive functioning is the

abilities to utilize the system to the fullest. Research on memory has provided a
vast strategy that can be used to ensure successful retrieval. There appears to be
a basis for associating colour and its significant effect on memory abilities. In
other words, colour has the potential to increase chances of environmental
stimuli to be encoded, stored, and retrieved successfully. The choice of colours
and the manipulative aspects can however, influence the extent to which colours
can influence human memory performance.

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 REFERENCE
1) Porter Tetal (1976) The colour currency of nature. Colour for Architecture,
Eds Porter T, Mikellides B (Google Scholar)
2) Anya C Hurlbert, Yazhu Ling (2007). Biological components of sex
differences in colour preference.

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 APPENDIX
LIST 1

ACUTE
ADULT
BEGIN
HEART
RIVAL
SCOPE
THINK
URBAN
VITAL

11
 WORLD
YOUTH
WROTE

LIST 2

CHECK
BREAK
DRESS
FINAL
GROUP
GRAND
NEVER
PARTY
POINT

12
 STOCK
TRACK
WATER

LIST 3

FAULT
HOUSE
GLASS
NIGHT
OCCUR
ROUND
STONE
STORY

13
 TOTAL
TOPIC
VALUE
VOICE

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