The effect of color on short-term memory performance

Introduction. The relevance of the research topic is justified by new trends in modern education, namely, active introduction of innovative technologies and solutions to expand opportunities and improve the quality of education. In the context of educational improvements, the focus is on searching for advanced techniques that can increase the efficiency of cognitive processing of educational information and facilitate memorization of educational material. The study aims to assess the impact that various conditions of color stimulation have on short-term verbal memory indicators (capacity, memorization efficiency, trajectories and successful learning of vocabulary items). Methods. The study involved 53 participants (15 male and 38 female) aged 18-36 years (average age 20.5 years, SD = 3.59). Short-term memory indicators were measured with the help of ten-word memorization technique and a test for memorizing numerical series. The color stimuli of the experiment included the focal colors of the 27 most popular categories among Russian speakers, the coordinates of which were determined in the CIELAB system. To develop and conduct the experiment, the HTC VIVE PRO Eye virtual reality system was used, which allowed demonstrating the experimental stimuli on the helmet screens and simultaneously record eye movements. Results. Memory span averaged 5.6±1.5 and was higher among the participants who saw dark and red-violet hues and lower among those who looked at swamp green and green stimuli. The highest efficiency coefficients for memorizing words were recorded in cases with black (median = 0.87) and dark purple (median = 0.84) color stimulation. When memorizing numerical series, the maximum coefficient was for saturated hues – red, green and fuchsia (median = 0.86). Successful memorization averaged 7.7±1.8 and reached the maximum (10) in cases with exposure to primary basic colors – black, green and blue, as well as non-primary turquoise and crimson. Cluster data analysis showed that memory indicators are most similar for the stimuli that are comparable in their impact on pupil diameter, blinking frequency and dynamics of gaze direction, namely, for light warm hues; dark hues; rich stimuli from the warm part of the color spectrum; light purple hues; red and gray-green hues. Discussion. As in previous studies, certain indicators of short-term memory were higher under the influence of ‘warm’ stimuli compared to ‘cold’ ones, but the present study did not confirm the advantage of achromatic colors compared to chromatic ones. The experiment revealed that changes in memory parameters correlate not only with the tone of color stimuli but also with their other characteristics, primarily with lightness and saturation. Conclusion. The results of this study can be applied used in educational practice to develop effective ways of improving memory performance and of memorizing information using color. Further research should regard possible gender, age and cross-cultural differences.