Does Colour Affect Your Word Recall?

[PandaFi]

Hi, I'm an Honours psychology student, currently working on my dissertation - looking at whether colour can affect your free recall - and I am calling on you for help!!

 

If you could spare five minutes of your time, I'd be very grateful! My experiment is online - which is why you can help. I have several conditions (associated with colour) in which you will can be assigned to by going to http://psych.squax.com/Start.php to get an "auth" code (which assigns your condition) and begin your experiment (alternatively you can email me at b00021378@student.paisley.ac.uk for this code).

 

If you do decide to help me by taking part, you can have a copy of my results at the end, by providing me with a contact email address on the personal info page.

 

I am very grateful for all of your help.

 

Also, any questions can be emailed to me using the above address.

 

Thank you

 

Fiona

 

p.s. feel free to hand this info on to anyone else who might be interested in helping me.

[pioneer]

Colors can have an affect on mood, which in turn can have an impact on recall. Traditionally, colors like red and yellow are warm colors, i.e., colors of fire, while blue and green are cool colors, i.e., colors of water. That sexy red dress has one of warm colors and is more likely to stimulate warmth or hot emotion, which then brings to mind imagery. When one has the blues, their mood is cooler.

 

The color red of Santa Claus's suit adds warmth to the cold December chill. He also has white, which causes the emotional warmth to be more positive, where the warmth is less due to desire but love. The chimney association of Santa's entrance, is connected to the fire that warms the house. That fire leaves the house but Santa flows into the house.

 

Yellow is associated with intuition. Red is associated with emotions. Blue is associated wth thoughts, that are as deep as the sea or high and expansive as the sky. Green is the color of nature and natural instinct.

 

If we blend these colors, intermediate states occur. The purple robe of the king is a blend of red and blue, or emotions and thoughts; i.e., wisdom. The color orange is yellow and red or intuition and thought, i.e., intellect. The traditional color of females is pink, which is white and red; love. While the red dress and black stockings, is the earthy side of emotion. Many girls now seem to like blue, since more are interested in careers. The colors of FSN are shades of blue with some white. It is a science forum where thoughts and the positive efforts of science are important.

 

One possible experiment would be to set the color of the room, with lighting, and see and if its traditional data association is easier to recall, when the tradtional color is present, as compared to other colors. One can even use unfamiliar words, which are explained at first, to see if the color helps people remember, when its tradtional color is present or not. For example, would impestuous be easier to rememver with red or blue.

 

My color vision is odd in that my left eye has a slight nuiance toward red and yellow, which can only be seen by looking at white. My right eye has a slight nuiance toward the blue and greens, under the same conditions. The optical input crosses within the brain, such that my left hemisphere is projecting cooler, while my right hemisphere is projecting warmth or hot. In other words, the color nuiance is not from outside but projected from inside. When both coordinate, there is no net nuisance since they cancel.

[iNow]

Pioneer - Do you just not care what her study is about? Do you have any clue what she is researching? Do you really think she was here asking for your pet theory of speculative and unsupported statements?

 

 

The poster is looking to increase her sample size. She came here hoping a few kind individuals would spend five minutes of their time to help add to her data set so she can make more informed considerations of the outcome. That's it. "Volunteers Needed. 5 minutes only."

 

 

Seriously, man... come on.

[Mr Skeptic]

Pioneer - Do you just not care what her study is about? Do you have any clue what she is researching? Do you really think she was here asking for your pet theory of speculative and unsupported statements?

 

 

The poster is looking to increase her sample size. She came here hoping a few kind individuals would spend five minutes of their time to help add to her data set so she can make more informed considerations of the outcome. That's it. "Volunteers Needed. 5 minutes only."

 

 

Seriously, man... come on.

 

I think that much of pioneer's creativity is due to mercury, which also explains why it is so hard to see things his way

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Lots of weird things are associated with memory, such as familiar smells, rooms, mood, etc. If colors also affect mood, it may be an indirect influence on memory that should be taken into account.

[pioneer]

Color associations have been around for a long time. Ask anyone their favorite color, that answer will tell one something about their innards. The reason I discussed what I did is connected to evolution. Animals evolve based on the potentials set by their environment. One can not swap an Amazon eco-system with a sub-artic eco-system, or vice versa, since each has evolved based on that environment. A mutation for Amazon survival in the sub-arctic, would have no selective advantage. It would be aborted. The only mutations with advantage, have to work in that environment.

 

These color associations are very ancient, due to the simple observations from which they stem, ie.., fire and water, which any human could see. In that sense, they defined the psychological environment, for 1000's of years. If genetic evolution occurred in humans, it occurred primarily within the brain, mind, etc.. The 5000 years in that environment should have favored mind modifications based on that long color environment. Favorite color can still be correlated to this long environment of traditon. Modern times is like taking an Amazon plant and putting it in a northern greenhouse. It unique characteristics remain because of its ancestry. It would take more than a few generations to make it look artic in nature.

[iNow]

I'll take that to mean that you don't care what her study is about.

[robot_monkey]

haha

[pioneer]

I care, but I was trying to open up her mind to new possibilites. Maybe the problem is statistical studies are only good for small bites at a time, where reason is suspended until the statistical oracle speaks. After it has spoken, and she needs to reason the data, she was a strong angle.

[PandaFi]

Bump!!! And thanks for all the exciting debate and discussion. ^^

[Fred56]

Just a thought. Lots of color we see is from compressed or otherwise processed images. So what differences might there be between her experiment and natural colours, or pigments in a painting (or the compressed copy of the 'control' colours)?