Effect of White and Yellow Background Colour on Short Term Memory: A Cross-over Study
Introduction: Colour has a potential influence on learning by improving Short Term Memory (STM) in different settings. Background colours of study materials can have an impact on STM in healthy student population. Enhanced memory can improve academic performance in students. In this study backg...
Main Authors: | , , , |
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
JCDR Research and Publications Private Limited
2021-06-01
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Series: | Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research |
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://jcdr.net/articles/PDF/15042/46349_CE[Ra1]_F(SHU)_PF1(SC_SHU)_PFA2(SC_KM)_PN(KM).pdf |
Summary: | Introduction: Colour has a potential influence on learning
by improving Short Term Memory (STM) in different settings.
Background colours of study materials can have an impact
on STM in healthy student population. Enhanced memory
can improve academic performance in students. In this study
background colour between chromatic/yellow and achromatic/
white colours were compared.
Aim: To compare the effect of white background black text
with yellow (preferential colour chosen via voting by students)
background black text of study materials on STM.
Materials and Methods: A cross-over study design was
conducted in a tertiary care hospital of southern India with
an interval of two weeks in October 2018. Two groups of 27
students each were assessed for visual STM using word list
recall in a cross over design study with an interval of two weeks
duration. Data was collected as number of words and correct
number of words recalled, from the word list recall online source
Braingle.com. The obtained data was then put to statistical
analysis using statistical software IBM Statistical Package for
the Social Sciences version 25.0.
Results: Out of total sample of 54 students, 13 were males and
41 were females. The males and females were comparable with
age with p-value of 0.25 which was not statistically significant.
The analysis showed that there was no statistically significant
difference in the number of words and number of correct words
recalled between white and yellow colour backgrounds in both
the sessions. There was an overall improvement in the recall of
words in both test materials from first session to second session.
Conclusion: Chromatic/yellow background colour was no
better than the standard achromatic/white background colour.
Improvement in the number of words recalled from first session
to second session with both colours appeared to be due to
carry over effects. |
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ISSN: | 2249-782X 0973-709X |