Color and Memory Retention

Color and Memory Retention
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Introduction
Memory retention basically refers to the ability to retain and recall to consciousness ideas, learned information and sensations that have previously been experienced either in the immediate past or further into the past. Marketers and advertising companies have long understood the aspect of memory retention in relation to getting customers to remember their brands and products. While there are a myriad of other elements such as sound and smell to commit to memory, sight plays a major role. As such, color also plays a role in the retention of images. Billboards and television adverts play around with color and sound to make the right lasting impression on the customers invoking the need to explore the products more. Previous research has tried to establish the element readability and aesthetics. This paper seeks to look at research that focuses on the element of color and memory retention (McConnohie, 1999).
Problem statement
When making a presentation it is crucial that what one says to the audience is as invocative as what appears on the screens. The content placement and flow should assist the audience to follow the basic ideas and appreciate the information. Beyond appreciating the information it is important to understand if colors of the screen and the text may influence the ability of the audience to retain the information.
Hypothesis
Colored screens and texts will remembered much easily that the plain text and dull colors on the screen.
Materials
* A computer (running Windows 95)
* CRT screen
* Presentation software (PowerPoint 95)
* Nine slides (white, blue and green in color)
Procedure
To the collect and analyze the data the author uses the quantitative research design. The study also uses the modernist ontological assumptions and further utilizes the traditionalist positivist paradigm. The study used presentation software from Microsoft called the PowerPoint 95 on a computer that was running Windows 95. The gamma values which are crucial in the element of producing quality images on the screen were considered keenly. The subjects included a sample of twenty eight pupils enrolled in a public school within Tennessee. Eight of the subjects were boys, while the rest were girls. The age of the subjects varied between 11 and 14 years (McConnohie, 1999). To ensure reduced bias, students were placed randomly, relative to the enrollment register which is based on first-come-first served criterion in the school admission guidelines. After the principal of the school approved the research, the students were placed in classes that were painted in off-white to gray and the lighting was a combination of sunlight and the fluorescent lighting overhead. The subjects underwent a color blindness test to ascertain their abilities with the use of the Ishahara Test which was slightly modified (McConnohie, 1999). There were no cases of color blindness among the subject and thus the study commenced with a pilot test to determine the time frames for the slides. The subjects were exposed to alphanumeric characters on white, blue and green backgrounds. After every test color, the subjects would record their answers for the short term memory test....