Do Screen and Text Color Affect Retention?

Research Questions:

• Did certain combinations of screen and text colors lead to consistently more words being remembered?
• Is there any correlation between a subject’s preferred colors and their retention?

Materials:

• A computer
• Paper and pencil for tracking results
• At least 20 test subjects

Experimental Procedure:

1. Create five different lists of 15 words. Each list should be equally difficult, but do not repeat any words.
2. Type the lists of words so that each list appears on a different colored screen and with different colored text. Include a range of light and dark, vibrant and subdued colors.
3. Allow the test subject to study a list of words for 30 seconds.
4. Take the computer away and ask the subject to name as many of the words as they can remember.
5. Repeat the memory test with all five lists of words.
6. Record the number of words recalled for each color combination.
7. Ask the subject if there was any screen/text color combination(s) that they preferred.
8. Analyze the results. Did certain combinations of screen and text colors lead to a consistently higher number of words being retained? Is there any correlation between preferred colors and retention?

Terms/Concepts: screen color, text color, retention, preference