Running head: EFFECTS OF COLOR, CONGRUENCY AND INTERFERENCE

Transcription

1 Color, Congruency and Interference 1 Running head: EFFECTS OF COLOR, CONGRUENCY AND INTERFERENCE The Effects of Color, Context Congruency and Interference on Short Term Memory Brianna Raatz Hanover College

2 Color, Congruency and Interference 2 The Effects of Color, Context Congruency and Interference on Short Term Memory The ability to recall within short-term memory can be influenced by many different factors. One factor that can enhance or inhibit memory recall is color. Previous research by Spence, Wong, Rusan, and Rastegar (2006) explored how the representation of color enhanced visual memory. Upon testing 120 participants, they found that visual memory is significantly enhanced by 5% when color is presented, than when an image is presented as a monochrome (Spence et all, 2006). Most humans do not see the world in black and white, but rather color, so therefore should be able to recall items in color better than items in black and white. Humans are able to relate to objects better when they are in their nature color than when they are either presented in a different color or in monochrome. The novelty metaphor also influences recall of visual memory. Within the metaphor, items that are unfamiliar to humans take more conscious processing than familiar items do, and therefore can be remembered better (Solso, MacLin, & MacLin, 2005). Items that are novel or new cannot be processed automatically. The more familiar an item is, the more automatically it can be processed. Another factor that has the ability to effect recall is interference, such that when an interference is not presented, recall rates are higher than when an interferences is presented. Drawing from this background research, it is hypothesized that pictures presented in color should be easier to recall objects than the same pictures presented in black and white. Also, novel, incongruent items to the context they are presented in is hypothesized to be easier to remember than items that a congruent to their context. Lastly, it is

3 Color, Congruency and Interference 3 hypothesized that by using math problems as an interference, the ability to recall will be negatively influenced and participants will not be able to recall as many objects than if there was no interference presented.

4 Color, Congruency and Interference 4 Method Participants 37 college students were sampled, ranging from years old. 13 participants were male and 24 were female. Participants were split into four conditions. Each participant was either tested in a small group, or individually depending on when they could be tested. Eight participants completed Condition 1, seven participants completed Condition 2, twelve participants completed Conditions 3 and ten participants completed Conditions participants reported being from a Caucasian decent, two from an Asian decent and five listed a different ethnicity than was provided. Students were not required to participate in the experiment as a class requirement, however extra credit was offered to certain students for various classes. All participants were from a small, rural, liberal arts college. Participants had a mixture of corrected and normal vision, as stated by selfreport. Stimulus For each of the four conditions, a Microsoft PowerPoint slideshow was created to present the picture, an interference and a recall. In the Condition 1, participants were presented with a slideshow of black and white photos with no math distracters. In the Condition 2, participants were presented with a sideshow of black and white photos with math distracters in between each of the pictures and recall. In Condition 3, participants were presented with a slideshow of color photos with no math distracters. In Condition

5 Color, Congruency and Interference 5 4, participants were presented with a sideshow of color photos with math distracters in between each of the pictures and recall. Each PowerPoint slideshow had four pictures that corresponded with it. Each photograph was presented to the participants for ten seconds. In the first photograph presented in each condition, the items presented within the photograph were incongruent with the kitchen background. Such items consisted of a hairdryer, a blanket, laundry detergent, a rocking chair, and bowling pins. In the second photograph presented in each condition, the items presented were also incongruent with the kitchen background. These items consisted of a laundry basket, a pirate ship wheel, a tricycle, an elephant cutout, and a shirt on a hanger. In the third photograph presented, the items presented were congruent with the kitchen background. Such items included a blender, food cans, a bowl, a serving spoon, and a bag of chips. In the fourth photograph presented in each condition, the items presented were also congruent with the kitchen background. These items included of a dishtowel, a coffee machine, an ice tray, a basket of fruit, and salt and pepper shakers. In half of the conditions, forty simple addition and subtraction questions were presented, ten between each picture and recall. Participants had five seconds to answer each math problem. Each math problem was written in white upon a black background. In the remaining two conditions, a blank, black slide was presented for 50 seconds between each picture and recall. Equipment Participants were given an answer sheet with a list of various objects for each picture. On the answer sheets, each individual pictures had two columns of items listed

6 Color, Congruency and Interference 6 that corresponded to what participants saw in the picture; each word had space next to it in order for the participant to recall if they saw that item or not. Five of the ten items listed for each picture were actually present within the photograph and five out of the ten were not. On the backside of half of the handouts was numbered space for each of the math problems. On all of the survey sheets, demographic questions were listed at the bottom of the page. Participants viewed one of the four PowerPoint presentations from either a projector or a laptop screen. The laptops used were either a Dell x or a Dell X Each PowerPoint presentation consisted of four digital photographs. Each photograph was of an identical kitchen setting. In two of the pictures, the kitchen was decorated with items that were incongruent with the kitchen setting. In the other two pictures, the kitchen was decorated with items that were congruent with the kitchen setting. The duration of time participants had to view each slide on the Microsoft PowerPoint sideshow was on an automatic timer. Therefore, each slide of a photograph lasted for the same amount of time, each slide in-between a photo and recall lasted the same amount of time, and each recall slide lasted the same amount of time. Procedure The experiment was conducted through a mixed subjects design. Participants were randomly assigned to a specific color and distracter condition, which were both between subject variables. Participants were asked to sit at whatever viewing distance they felt comfortable watching the Microsoft PowerPoint presentation at and were then asked to fill out an informed consent form. After, participants were handed an answer sheet face down. Participants were instructed both verbally and on the first PowerPoint

7 Color, Congruency and Interference 7 slide to view the slideshow and to pay close attention to each picture presented because they would later be instructed to recall as many items presented in each picture as possible. In each condition, participants were presented with both congruent pictures and incongruent pictures, which were within subject variables. Each picture was presented for a duration of ten seconds. Then, depending on the condition, participants were either asked to solve for ten simple addition and subtraction math problems, given five seconds per problem, or wait for 50 seconds. After, participants were then asked both verbally and on a separate slide to flip over their answer sheets and had fifteen seconds to recall as many items as possible for each pictures by putting an X next to the item or by circling it. Following the recall slide, participants were asked to once again flip their answer sheets back over so that they were not able to look at the recall words for the remaining pictures. This procedure was repeated for each of the four pictures. After the recall slide for the last picture was presented, participants were asked to fill out demographic information at the bottom of the answer sheet and hand in their sheet to the instructor. Results A repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) with mixed analysis of data was run to test the differences between color, context congruency and interference on short term memory. The ANOVA was used in order to test the 2 (congruency or in congruency) X 2 (color or black and white) X 2 (math interference on no math interference) study-test paradigm. The between subjects independent variable of color had a significant main effect, F (1, 33) = 8.854, p = (See Figure 1). This showed that when the condition had

8 Color, Congruency and Interference 8 color photographs, participants recalled more items in each picture than when the photographs presented were in black and white. The independent variable math was almost significant in the between subjects analysis, such that F (1, 33) = 3.957, p = This illustrated that in the conditions where math was present, participants were more likely upon recall to indicate an item was present in the picture when in reality it was not. A three way interaction was found for correctly identified items between color, congruency and interference (see Figure 1), such that F (1, 33) = 4.336, p = As seen, the black and white math condition had the lowest mean of correctly identified items and the color no math condition had the highest mean of correctly identified items. The two conditions were the least similar between any of the conditions presented. Conclusion A significant interaction was found between color, congruency and interference and a main effect was found for color, however no other main effects or interrelations were found from the ANOVA. The main effect for color showed that the influence of color aided in the recall of items in a background. This could be because the use of color allows for a wider contrast of color hues within items and makes line distinctions more noticeable. With the monochrome pictures, the hues of the items were more similar to the background and the lines were less distinguishable. This supports the theory that color enhances visual memory (Spence et al., 2006). Additionally, our three way interaction was significant, which can be see in Figure 1. It shows that the condition with highest mean of correctly identified items was Condition 3, which had color pictures and

9 Color, Congruency and Interference 9 no math problems. The condition with the lowest mean of correctly identified items was Condition 2, which had black and white pictures with math problems. Further studies may want to take into consider the order effects of the study. The largest order effect was practice. At the beginning of the experiment, participants were not used to the setup of the study and thus may not have preformed as well on the first picture. To minimize this, experimenters could either vary the order in which the pictures are presented or add a practice picture and recall to the Microsoft PowerPoint slideshow.

10 Color, Congruency and Interference 10 Figure 1: Mean of correctly identified items for congruency, color and interference. Mean of Correctly Identified Items Congruent Noncongruent BW no math BW math Color no math Color math

11 Color, Congruency and Interference 11 Reference Solso, R. L., MacLin, M. K., & MacLin, O. H. (2005). Cognitive psychology. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc. Spence, I., Wong, P., Rusan, M., & Rastegar, N. (2006). How color enhances visual memory for natural scenes. Psychological Science, 17, 1-7.