COLOREDPAPERANDTHERECALLOFWORDS1

TheEffectsofColoredPaperontheRecallofCommonWords

HollyM.Koperski
HannahA.Fitch
AlpenaHighSchool

COLOREDPAPERANDTHERECALLOFWORDS2

Abstract

Thisresearchfocusesonthelinkbetweencolorandlearning,specificallycoloredpaper.Itwas
hypothesizedthatsubjectswouldrecallmorewordsaftertwominutesifthelistofwordstheystudied
wasblueratherthansalmonorwhite.147highschoolstudentswerethevoluntarysubjects.Subjects
weregiventwominutestomemorizealistof12commonwords,printedonblue,white,orsalmon
paper,andthenaskedtorecalltheminthirtyseconds.Itwasconcludedthattheaveragescoresof
thosewithbluepaperwerelowerthanthosewithwhiteorsalmonpaper.Thosewithwhitepaper
scoredthehighestofallthreegroups.Therewasasignificantdifferenceinthemeansoftheblueand
salmonandtheblueandwhiteaverages,butnotthewhiteandsalmonaverages.Thefindingssuggest
thatcoloredpaperandcoloringeneral,hasanimpactonlearningandmemoryandshouldbeusedwith
careinlearningenvironments,aswellasineverydaylife.

COLOREDPAPERANDTHERECALLOFWORDS3

TheEffectsofColoredPaperontheRecallofCommonWords
Colorissimplythevisualregionoftheelectromagneticspectrum,anditsexistenceiscausedby
excitationofthevisualsystembythislight(Plataniotis,Venetsanopoulos,2000,p.1).Yettohumans,
colorcancausefeelingsofsadness,joyorevenanger(Kaya,Epps,2004).Colorhasbeenaninert
factorinculture,fashionandsocietythroughoutmoderntimes.Colorisaroundhumansinsubstantial
amountseveryday,fromthemomenttheyswitchofftheiralarmclocktothemomenttheyturndownthe
lightstosleep.Despitethisobviouspresenceofcolorinthehumanperception,manypeopleseemto
overlookthepotentialforcolortoalterthisperceptionandperformanceintheireverydayworkand
learningenvironments.
Aspsychologistshavebecomemoreawareofthepotentialforcolortochangeperceptionand
evenaffectperformance,manyexperimentshavebeenconductedtotesthowcolortrulyaffects
humans.Ofparticularinteresttotheseresearchershavebeentheeffectsofcoloronlearning.One
particularstudywasconducted,consistingofsixexperiments,tofocusinontheeffectofcolorin
achievementcontexts.Theresearchersdiscoveredthattheperceptionofredpriortoanimportanttest
impairsperformance,andthatthereisalinkbetweenredandavoidancemotivation(Elliot,Maier,
others,2007).Theinterestingimplicationsoftheeffectsofcolorarenotlimitedtored,however.
Anotherstudy,overthecourseoftenyearsandinvolvingalmost4,000testscores,wasconductedto
seeifthecolorofpaperthattestswereprintedonhadanyeffectonthescoresofthosetests.Using
pastelcolorsandwhite,theresearchersfoundthatthepapercolordidhaveaneffectontheresulting
scores.Scoresoftestsprintedonwhiteandyellowpaperweremuchhigherthanthescoresofthesame

COLOREDPAPERANDTHERECALLOFWORDS4

testsprintedonpinkandbluepaper(Fordham,Hayes,2009).Manystudieshavebeenconducted
usingcoloredpaperastheindependentvariable,asanattempttofocusinontheeffectsofcoloron
performance.Inaddition,astudy,againcomparingscoresbetweenblue,green,red,yellowandwhite
coloredpaper,alsofoundthatthescoresofthetestsprintedonthewhitepaperwerehigherthanthe
coloredpapers(Skinner,others,2004).Despitetheresultsoftheseandseveralothersimilarstudies,
othershaveproducedresultsthatshownorelationshipbetweencoloredpaperandperformanceon
tests.Astudyofthesamenatureastheothersfoundnosignificantdifferencebetweenthescoresof
readinessquizzes,worth20%ofastudentsgrade,printedonpastelcoloredpaperandthoseprinted
onwhitepaper(Winter&Winter,2009).Anadditionalstudyfoundthatunderhighmotivation
conditions,thecoloroftestshadnoeffectontheoutcomeofthescores(Soldat,Sinclair,Mark,1997,
p.55).
Theseinconsistentandconflictingresultsopenthedoorformoreresearchtobeconducted.The
purposeofthisexperimentwastoclarifytheresultsofpreviousstudies,andexaminewhetherornot
therewasarelationshipbetweencoloredpaperandlearning.Theindependentvariablebeing
manipulatedwasthecolorofthepaperthelistwasprintedon,andthedependentvariablebeing
measuredwasthenumberofwordsrecalledinthirtyseconds.Thehypothesisdevelopedtobetested
was,Studentswhomemorizealistofwordsprintedonbluepaperwillrecallmorewordsthanstudents
whomemorizethesamewordsprintedonwhiteorsalmoncoloredpaper.Althoughitwasbelieved
thatbothcoloredpaperswouldaffecttheoutcomeofthescores,bluepaperwasbelievedtohavea
higheradvantageoverthesalmonpaper,sincebluepaperhadpotentialeffectsshowninotherstudies.

Methods

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Theindependentvariableinthisexperimentwasthecolorofthepaper.Threecolorsofpaper
wereused:lightblue,salmonandwhite.Subjectswhoreceivedthelightblueorsalmoncoloredpaper
weretheexperimentalgroup,andthosewhoreceivedthewhitepaperwerethecontrolgroup.The
dependentvariablewastheamountofwordsrecalledinthirtysecondsafterhavingtwominutestolook
atthelist
Participants
Atotalof147subjectsparticipatedinthisexperiment.Theywereofhighschoolage,ingrades
9through12.AllparticipantswerestudentsatAlpenaHighSchoolwithafirsthourclass.Sixrandom
numbersweregeneratedthroughanonlinenumbergenerator,random.org,andthencomparedtoalist
ofallfirsthourclassesatAlpenaHighSchool.Theseclasseswerethenassignedtooneofthethree
groupsbytheordertheirnumberswererolled.Twoclasseswereassignedtoeachcolorofpaper.
Studentsandteacherswerebothgiventheopportunitytooptoutoftheexperimentatanytime.There
werenodropouts.Subjectswereaskedtosignareleaseformorinitialtheirresponsesheetsinorderto
giveconsentfortheirdatatobeused.Responsesheetswithoutanyformofconsentwerethrownout.
Noharmorriskwaspresenttoanysubjectparticipatinginthisstudy.
Apparatus
Themainapparatususedinthisexperimentwasalistofcommonwords(AppendixA).Thislist
consistedoftwelvewordsselectedfromalargerlistofcommonnouns.Thislistwasprintedinblackink
onlightblue,salmonandwhitepaper.Thelightblueandsalmoncoloredpaperswereconsideredthe
experimentalindependentvariables,andwhitepaperwasusedasacontrol.Instructorswhosenames
correspondedtotherandomnumbersgeneratedweresentaninformalpermissionemail(AppendixB)
andwerealsoaskedtosignaconsentform(AppendixC).Inaddition,consentformswerepresented

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tosomeofthesubjectsinlieuofhavingtheminitialtheirresponseformsafterbeingreadthesame
consentstatement(AppendixD).Theresponseformwasanyblankorlinedsheetofpaperavailableto
subjects.
Procedures
Ononeoftwodays,subjectswereinterruptedforaboutfiveminutesduringtheirfirsthourclass
period.Theyweretoldthattheyhadtheopportunitytoparticipateinasimplememorytestforan
experiment,andthatitwouldonlytakeaboutfourminutes.Theywerealsoinformedatthistimethat
theydidnothavetoparticipateiftheydidnotwishto.Dependingontheclass,eachsubjectwas
presentedwithahalfsheetoflightblue,white,orsalmoncoloredpaperfacedownontheirdeskand
instructedtoleaveituntiltoldotherwise.Allsubjectsineachgroupwerepresentedwiththesamecolor
paper.Subjectswerealsoaskedtogetoutasheetofpapertorecordtheirresponseson,andsome
groupsreceivedconsentforms.Afterallpaperswerepassedoutandallsubjectswereready,theywere
instructedtoturnoverthepaper.Ontheothersidewasthelistwithtwelvecommonwords.Theywere
givenexactlytwominutestolookoverandattempttolearnasmanyofthewordsastheycould.Atthe
endoftwominutes,subjectswereaskedtofliptheirpapersover.Afteranintervaloftenseconds,they
wereaskedtorecallandrecordasmanywordsastheycouldinthirtyseconds.Attheendofthirty
seconds,thesubjectswereaskedtostop,andthenaskedtomakesuretheyhadinitialedtheirconsent
form.Groupsthatdidnotreceivetheconsentformwerereadthesameconsentstatement,andwere
askedtoinitialtheirresponseforminstead.Thelistofcommonwords,responseformsandconsent
formswereallcollectedfromthesubjects.Theywereagainthankedfortheirparticipation,andtoldthat
theexperimentwasdesignedtotesttheeffectsofcoloronlearningandmemoryasasimpledebriefing.
Theindependentvariablewasthespecificcolorofthepaperofthelistofcommonwords,andthe

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dependentwastheamountofwordscorrectlyrecalledaftertwominutes.
Toavoidbias,subjectswereselectedfromthegeneralpopulation(AlpenaHighSchool)at
random,andexperimentalandcontrolgroupswerealsoassignedatrandom.Allinstructionstosubjects
werethesame,andallgroupsweretestedduringthesametimeofday.
Afterexperimentresultsweredetermined,aletterofdebriefingwassenttotheinstructors
whoseclassesparticipatedintheexperiment(AppendixE).
Results
Atotalof147scoreswerecollected,withscoresrangingfrom4to12.Therewerefiftyfivescores
forthelightbluecoloredpaper,fiftyfourscoresforthesalmoncoloredpaper,andthirtyeightscores
forthewhitecoloredpaper.
Theaveragesforthelightblue,salmon,andwhitecoloredpaperswerealltaken(seeFigure1).The
fiftyfivescoresforthelightbluecoloredpaperwerefoundtohaveanaveragescoreof9.11.The
standarddifferencewas2.22,andthestandarderrorwas.3.Thefiftyfourscoresforthesalmon
coloredpaperwerefoundtohaveanaveragescoreof10.04.Thestandarddifferencewas1.95,and
thestandarderrorwas.27.Thethirtyeightscoresforthewhitecoloredpaperwerefoundtohavean
averageof10.36.Thestandarddifferencewas2,andthestandarderrorwas.32.
Attestwasperformedonthemeansofthelightbluepaperandthesalmoncoloredpaper(seeTable
2).twasfoundtobe2.325,andp<.01,withadegreeoffreedom(df)of108.Thereisa99.99%
chancethatthereisasignificantdifferenceinthemeansbeyondchance.
Attestwasalsoperformedonthemeansofthelightbluecoloredpaperandthewhitecolored
paper(seeTable2).Inthiscase,twasfoundtobe2.8,andp<.01,withadegreeoffreedom(df)of
92.Thereisa99.99%chancethatthereisasignificantdifferenceinthemeansbeyondchance.

COLOREDPAPERANDTHERECALLOFWORDS8

Afinalttestwasperformedonthemeansofthesalmoncoloredpaperandthewhitecolored
paper(seeTable2).twasfoundtobe.76,andp>.1,withadegreeoffreedom(df)of91.Thereisno
significantdifferenceinthemeansbeyondchance.
Thefindingsthisdatadidnotsupporttheproposedhypothesisthatthemeanofthelightblue
paperwouldbehigherthanthatoftheblueandsalmoncoloredpaper,sinceitwaslower.
Discussion
Thepurposeofthisexperimentwastoconductfurtherresearchintotherelationshipbetween
coloredpaperandlearning,andtoclarifyresultsofpreviousstudies.Theoriginalhypothesisof
Studentswhomemorizealistofwordsprintedonbluepaperwillrecallmorewordsthanstudentswho
memorizethesamewordsprintedonwhiteorsalmoncoloredpaperwasrejected.Thedatacollected
inthisexperimenthasshownthatalthoughthereisasignificantandobservabledifferenceinthemeansof
blueandsalmoncoloredpaperaswellasblueandwhitecoloredpaper,theaveragescoreonblue
paperwaslowerthananyoftheothercolors.Whitewasthehighestaverage,whichwasanunexpected
outcome.ThissupportstheresearchconductedbyFordhamandHayes,whichfoundthatscoreson
whitepaperwerenoticeablyhigherthanblueorpinkcoloredpaperinastudyof4000tests.Theonly
shortcomingofthisstudywasthatitwasdonewithashortlistoftwelvecommonwords,andnotwitha
testoflongermaterial.However,thestudyfromSkinnerinvolvingasixtyquestionpsychologymidterm
didtestlongtermmemoryandlearningwithlongermaterial.Theresultsthatstudyandthisonesupport
eachotherbyfindingcoloredpapertobecounterproductivetotherecallofinformation.
Despitedisprovingtheoriginalhypothesis,thedatadidsupportclaimsthatcolordoeshavean
effectontherecallofwordsinthissituation.Whitecoloredpaperhadthehighestaverage,andblue
coloredpaperhadthelowest.Thishasaninterestingimplicationforlearning,andevenmemory.In

COLOREDPAPERANDTHERECALLOFWORDS9

schools,itiscommontoseeteachershandingoutdifferentcoloredpapersfordifferentversionsofatest
tocontrolcheating.Theseresultsshowthatteachersshoulduseothermethodswhenattemptingto
controlcheatingamongstudents,sincetestscorescanbeaffectedbythecolorofthepaper.Inaddition,
coloruseinbusinessshouldalsobemoderated.Ifaflyerforabusinessisprintedonabluepaper,
potentialcustomersmaymisssomeinformationtheywouldotherwisecatchonawhitepieceofpaper.
Inlife,colorsurroundshumansallthetime.Thisstudyhashelpedtoverifywhathumanshave
knownallalongcolordoesaffectmentalprocesses,whetherithappensthroughemotionalresponses
orcolors.Color,despitebeingonlylight,hasthepotentialtoaffectthehumanbraininimmenseways.
Futureresearchisneededtodeterminejusthowlargethatimpacttrulyis.

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References
Brinthaupt,T.M.,Mowrer,R.R.,Love,S.S.,Orem,D.B.,AhlersSchmidt,C.R.,Burdsal,C.,
Kouyoumdjian,H.,Skinner,N.F.,Griggs,R.A.,Proctor,D.L.,Cook,S.M.,Rajecki,D.W.,
Anderson,S.L.,Battle,C.L.,Marchel,C.A.,Hays,J.R.,Vincent,J.P.,Dunn,D.S.,Marek,P.,
Christopher,A.N.,Walker,B.J.,Eppler,M.A.,Ironsmith,M.,Thompson,W.B.,Vermette,P.J.,
Wisniewski,S.A.,Levine,R.V.,Fast,N.,Zimbardo,P.,Ryan,J.J.,&Tree,H.A.(2004)Teaching
IntroductoryPsychology:TipsfromToP.http://apadiv2.org/ebooks/tips2011/I0602Skinner2004.pdf
(Dec.11,2012)

Elliot,AndrewJ.,Maier,MarkusA.,Moller,ArlenC.,Friedman,Ron,&Meinhardt,Jorg.(2007)
ColorandPsychologicalFunctioning:TheEffectofRedonPerformanceAttainment.Journalof
ExperimentalPsychology
http://www.psych.rochester.edu/people/elliot_andrew/assets/pdf/2007_ElliotMaierMollerFriedmanMein
hardt_Color.pdf(Dec.11,2012)Vol.136,No.1,pp.154168

Fordham,DavidR.,&Hayes,DavidC.(2009)WorthRepeating:PaperColorMayHaveanEffect
OnStudentPerformance.IssuesinAccountingEducation
http://dx.doi.org/10.2308/iace.2009.24.2.187(Dec.11,2012) Vol.24,No.2,pp.187194

Kaya,Naz,&Epps,HelenH.(2004)Relationshipbetweencolorandemotion:astudyofcollege
students. CollegeStudentJournal
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/article/CollegeStudentJournal/123321897.html(Dec.11,2012)
Volume38,Issue3

Plataniotis,K.N.,&Venetsanopoulos,A.N.(2000) ColorImageProcessingandApplications.
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=vUM9HDespYC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=color+and+
processing&ots=IOd340ISR&sig=lASY8_MPrU_rThaN4RK_VqDhXlM(Dec.11,2012)pp.1

Soldat,AlexanderS.,Sinclair,RobertC.,&Melvin,MarkM.(1997).ColorasanEnvironmental

COLOREDPAPERANDTHERECALLOFWORDS11

ProcessingCue:ExternalAffectiveCuesCanDirectlyAffectProcessingStrategyWithoutAffecting
Mood.SocialCognition
http://guilfordjournals.com/doi/abs/10.1521/soco.1997.15.1.55?journalCode=soco(Dec.11,2012)
Vol.15,No.1,pp.5571.

Winter,JanetK.,&Winter,EstherJ.(2009)AStudyoftheEffectofPaperColoronTest
PerformanceinBusinessCommunication.
http://rwahlers.iweb.bsu.edu/abd2009/Papers/p09_winter_winter.pdf(Dec.11,2012)

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AppendixA

ListofTwelveCommonWords

World
Child
Women
Spoon
Mist
Game
Egg
Church
Apple
Wheelchair
Ice
Potato

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AppendixB
InformalInformation/RequestEMailforInstructors
Hi! Thank you for your time, my name is Holly Koperski, and I am a student here at AHS. My partner
Hannah Fitch and I are in AP Psychology, and we are required to do a research project. Our choice is the
effects of colored paper on memory and perceived importance. In order to collect data for this research
project, we are requesting a few minutes of time from classes throughout the high school.
Your name was randomly chosen from the staff list, and Hannah and I would
like to ask your permission to use your 1 Hour class for approximately five to ten minutes on date
askingforpermission. Your students will be given the chance to opt-out of the experiment once
it is explained to them, and you are not required to let us use your class, although it would be
greatly appreciated!
st

The experiment will consist of students being asked to memorize a list of words on either white or
colored paper, and then asked to recall them.
We would greatly appreciate if you would send us an email in reply (at emailaddresssentfrom)
letting us know if it would be okay, and we will bring an official consent form for you to sign on date
and answer any questions you may have.
Thank you very much for your time!
-Holly Koperski & Hannah Fitch, AP Psychology

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AppendixC

InstructorConsentForm
I _______________ (signature or name) give Holly Koperski and Hannah Fitch permission to use my class
for their AP Psychology experiment. They have my permission to use up to 10 minutes of my class time in
order to explain the experiment and collect information. I understand the experiment, and give them
permission to conduct it. _____DATE

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AppendixD

StudentConsentForm
By initialing, I am giving consent for Holly Koperski and Hannah Fitch to use me for their AP Psychology
experiment. I am willingly participating in this experiment, and understand that my identity will not be
revealed.
_____

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AppendixE

DebriefingEmailToInstructors
Subject: AP Psych Experiment Results/Debriefing
Thank you very much for donating a few minutes of your class time for our experiment
recently! This email is being sent to all teachers who allowed their classes to participate in our
experiment.
Our experiment was based on learning, memory and colored paper. We wanted to know if
colored paper would affect scores on a basic memory test. Your class was part of one of six,
and each classs students received blue, salmon or white colored papers with a list of words on
them. Each color of paper (and individual paper) had the same list of common words on them,
so we could accurately judge only the effect of the color of the paper. After the students
memorized and recalled the words, we graded all 127 of them on a score out of 12.
Here is a simplified version of our results:

55 students received Blue paper, and their average was 9.11

54 students received Salmon paper, and their average was 10.04
38 students received White paper, and their average was 10.36
Using statistics, we found that the differences in these averages was 99.99% more than
just chance (however, the difference between the white and salmon averages was not
proven to be more than chance)
In some places, it is common to print alternate versions of tests on colored paper, but
using this experiment and previous studies, this would not be a good tactic!
If you would like any more information on our experiment, have any questions, or like a copy of
our formal research paper which goes into greater depth about our study, please dont hesitate
to ask!
We would appreciate if you would share this with the students who participated (if we visited
your classroom this trimester), and thank them again for helping us with this topic.
---Holly Koperski & Hannah Fitch, AP Psychology

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Table1.
ResultsofttestsPerformedonAveragesScoresofColoredPaper.

ColorofPapers

df

SignificantDifferenceBeyondChance

LightBlue/Salmon

108

2.325

<.01

yes

LightBlue/White

92

2.8

<.01

yes

Salmon/White

.76

91

>.1

no

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Figure1.
AverageNumberofCorrectlyRecalledWordsperPaperColor

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