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Abstract:
In this experiment I was trying to find out how color affects memory. I thought that numbers shown in ‘warmer’, brighter colors would be easier to remember. In this experiment four people were given a list of 10 seven-digit numbers in different colors to try and memorize. The subjects were then given a sheet of blank paper on which to write the numbers that they had memorized. The data that I gathered showed that people can only memorize one or two seven-digit numbers; it had nothing to with the color of the number. I learned that if I were to do this experiment over I would change a lot of things, such as using shorter numbers and being more careful about the set up of the testing lists. Without more data, nothing can be concluded about color and memory. To get informative data the experiment would need to be redone.
Topic:
How does color affect memory?
Purpose:
My purpose in this experiment was to find out what colors people remember the best. This information would help teachers, textbook authors/editors, among others, by telling them what colors to write the most important pieces of information
Testable Question:
How does color affect memory?
Background Research:
Please put in paragraph form including a topic and concluding sentence.
Color is how we perceive light. When light hits an object it can be transmitted, absorbed or reflected. The color of an object depends on the color of the light shining on it and the colors that the object reflects or absorbs. White is all colors of light reflected and black is the absence of color or all colors absorbed. The primary colors of light are red, blue and green while the primary pigments are yellow, cyan and magenta. Pigments are a certain color because they can only absorb certain wavelengths of light. You see color and light using the following steps.
You see light through a series of steps involving parts of the eye and the brain. Light enters your eye through your pupil it is then refracted and focused onto the retina. The iris or colored part of your eye is what controls the amount of light that goes in through your pupil. There are two types nerves in the retina, rods and cones. Rods are sensitive to light and dark, cones are responsible for seeing and interpreting color. Each cone is sensitive to a different color.
Memory is a function of the brain that helps us to retain information about past learning and experiences. To remember things our brain goes through a process in which it recovers and reconstructs information about things we've done or learned in the past. We have two types of memory, short term and long term. Short term is the memory of recent things and long term is things from long ago. Within these types of memory there are implicit and explicit memories. Implicit memory , non-declarative memory, helps us learn skill and procedures like in dance and baseball. This type of memory is very useful to me and my hobbies (dance & baseball). Explicit memories, declarative memory, is one you can remember consciously and describe with words. This includes memories like facts, names, places and things you encounter daily. Memory helps us keep our personality by keeping our experiences safe.
Studies show that colour affects moods, behavior and feelings. So why can't it affect our memory? Colors like reds and yellows are considered warm colors. They may evoke feelings of anger, hostility, comfort and warmth. Maybe you will be able to remember them then. Blues and greens are cool colors, they evoke calm, sadness or indifference. Maybe you won't remember them as well, or maybe it won't matter.
Hypothesis:
I think color does affect memory. I think that a bright red will be the easiest to remember because it stands out. Also red supposedly invokes feelings of hostility and anger, I think that these feelings will make you remember the number better.
Variables:
Independent: Color
Dependent: How many numbers subject remember
Controlled: notes subjects see, how many times they see the notes, age of subjects, colors of notes.
Materials:
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Peers
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Lists of notes
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Blank paper
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Space for experiment
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Time for experiment
Procedure:
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Choose four girls to do the experiment
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Write a list of 10 notes in different colors. The notes should be seven digit numbers.
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Make sure that the order is varied on each sheet. The notes and colors should vary so that you can tell if people just remember the first ones best.
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Sit the people down and give them each a copy of the list of notes.
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Give them 5 minutes to memorize the notes.
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Collect the lists of notes.
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Hand out a sheet of blank paper to each person.
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Tell them to write down as many of the notes as they can.
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Collect the sheets they wrote on.
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5 minutes later repeat steps 7, 8 & 9
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10 minutes later repeats steps 7-9
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Collect, organize, analyze and record your data
Data:
Data and Graph - Warning! This may make no sense. I apologize in advance.
Analyzing Data and Drawing Conclusions:
In this experiment I was testing to find out if color affects memory. My data doesn't show whether color affects memory. I think that I didn’t get results because my numbers were long and it was loud in the room I was testing in. Also I had only four test subjects, and that made it harder to draw any conclusions. In this experiment I did not get informative data or find out what I had been hoping to learn.
The data that I did collect was inconclusive. For the four people that I tested, the first I tested three times, the second I tested twice and the third and fourth only once. The first person go one right on her first and second tests (the same number) and none the third time. Both time she got the number right it was the number at the top of the list. The second person got two right on their first test and one right on the second test. On the first test the ones that she got right were the top two, on the second test the one that she got right was the top number. The third person got two right on her first and only test they were the top two. The fourth person memorized the first digit of each number all the way down the list. For this reason her data was discarded.
If I were to do this experiment over I would change the experiment in a lot of ways. For starters, I would make the numbers shorter. I would use two or three digit numbers instead of seven digit numbers. When I was first starting this experiment I used seven digit numbers because I read that seven digit numbers were the limit of memory for the brain. The problem is this applies for memorizing one seven digit number; I was trying to have people memorize ten numbers. Also in doing this experiment over I would have each sheet have the same numbers in the same order. I would have the same colors on every page, but I would change the order of the colors. Keeping the order of the numbers the same but changing the order of the colors helps to isolate only one variable. Some numbers may be easier to remember than others for certain people, so keeping the numbers the same will reduce the impact of the memory effect. Doing this will also make it easier to chart and analyze the data. I would have at least ten subjects (some boys and some girls) and a nice quiet room to test in.
Application of the Results:
This information would be useful to teachers and textbook authors/editors if I had gotten any informative data. I learned that I am not very good at setting up data testing especially with people as my subjects also that I should have gotten an earlier start. This will help in my later life so that I wont try and do a science experiment with people ever again, unless I become a lot more organized and open. I also discovered that when given a list people tend to remember what is on top. This can be useful in compiling lists so teachers could use the data in their handouts to students. If you want something to be remembered then you should put it at the top of the list. To get really valuable information from this experiment you would need to do it over,and do it with better planning.
Resources:
Memory: http://www.aarp.org/health/brain/works/what_is_memory.html
The eye: Cyr, Martha, Ioannis Miaoulis, and Michael J. Padilla. "4-5 How You See." Sound and Light (Prentice Hall Science Explorer). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1997. 109-110. Print.
Color: Cyr, Martha, Ioannis Miaoulis, and Michael J. Padilla. "4-4 Color." Sound and Light (Prentice Hall Science Explorer). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1997. 104-107. Print.
http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/a/colorpsych.htm
Comments (7)
wikiuser0066 said
at 3:44 pm on Jan 22, 2010
Very well written and full of detail. I don't have many suggestions, but maybe you should try to research more than just the eye like different functions of the eye more. Other than that it was very well done.
wikiuser0061 said
at 3:52 pm on Jan 22, 2010
You had a great topic sentence for every paragraph. I think that maybe you could add more about the memory part of it, since you have so much on the eye. Good details.
wikiuser0066 said
at 3:55 pm on Jan 22, 2010
Another suggestion is maybe you want to put a little less detail and more of yourself into it because it got to be a little boring at the end.
wikiuser0068 said
at 8:50 pm on Jan 22, 2010
Thanks you guys, I love you, yes I do know who you are really
BTW i mean wikiusers0061 and 0066
wikiuser0006 said
at 8:56 am on Jan 25, 2010
This is really good and you have just about everything in there.
wikiuser0063 said
at 1:29 pm on Jan 25, 2010
I think you have a really cool topic, and it is also very detailed. You might want to keep some of the details, but make it a little more interesting.
wikiuser0004 said
at 9:41 pm on Jan 25, 2010
Everything is very well written but, you might want to be a little more specific in your topic sentence.
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