The Effect of Ink Color on Short Term Retention
Studying is inevitable when pursuing an education. It is extremely hard for students to learn all of the information they need, and the researchers wanted to aid this process. They wanted to answer the question: Does the color of ink have an effect on the ability to memorize? The research sought to find what color, if any, had positive effect on that ability. Blue, red, and green ink were tested against the control ink color of black. There were four lists consisting of 12 randomly generated three digit numbers of varying colors. The subjects were given the list for one minute, then given a 30 second rest period, and an additional minute to right the numbers they remembered. The results were then scored by counting the number of correctly remembered numbers out of 10; for all of the lists except the control the numbers were split into colored and black therefore making the proportion out of five numbers. After conducting the 120 trials which consisted of 30 trials of each color combination black and black, green and black, red and black, and blue and black, it was then recorded the percent of these colored and control trials. The data was then analyzed. The mean of each color was compared to the mean of the control group using a two-sample t-test. The result yielded that the black ink had the same, if not, a better effect on memorization as the colored inks.
Research Conducted By:
Justine Hickey
Warren Mott High School
Jack Loring
Cousino High School
Warren Consolidated Schools