The Influence of Colour on Memory Performance: A Review

Abstract

Human cognition involves many mental processes that are highly interrelated, such as perception, attention, memory, and thinking. An important and core cognitive process is memory, which is commonly associated with the storing and remembering of environmental information. An interesting issue in memory research is on ways to enhance memory performance, and thus, remembering of information. Can colour result in improved memory abilities? The present paper highlights the relationship between colours, attention, and memory performance. The significance of colour in different settings is presented first, followed by a description on the nature of human memory. The role of attention and emotional arousal on memory performance is discussed next. The review of several studies on colours and memory are meant to explain some empirical works done in the area and related issues that arise from such studies.

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Abstract
 Human cognition involves many mental processes that are highly interrelated, such as
perception,attention,memory,andthinking.Animportantandcorecognitiveprocessismemory,
which is commonly associated with the storing and remembering of environmental information.
An interesting issue in memoryresearchis on ways to enhance memory performance, and thus,
rememberingofinformation.Cancolourresultinimprovedmemoryabilities?Thepresentpaper
highlightstherelationshipbetweencolours,attention,andmemoryperformance.Thesignicance
ofcolourindifferentsettingsispresentedrst,followedbyadescriptiononthenatureofhuman
memory.The role of attention and emotional arousal on memory performance is discussed next.
Thereviewofseveralstudiesoncoloursandmemoryaremeanttoexplainsomeempiricalworks
doneintheareaandrelatedissuesthatarisefromsuchstudies.
Keywords: attention, colour, long term, mental recall, short term
Introduction
 Memory refers to the mental process of
encoding,retaining,andretrievingenvironmental
information(1).Howthehumancognitivesystem
dealswiththememorizationprocessremainsthe
centreofresearchamongcognitivepsychologists.
One of the most interesting and challenging
questions in contemporary memory research is
onwaystoenhancehumanmemoryperformance.
Manyvariableshavebeenproposedtocontribute
totheretrievaloperationsandoneofthevariables
is colour, which will be discussed thoroughly in
thepresentpaper.
 Colourisbelievedtobethemostimportant
visual experience to human beings (2). It
functions as a powerful information channel to
thehumancognitivesystemandhasbeenfound
to play a signicant role in enhancing memory
performance (3). Colour can be very effective
in learning and educational setting, marketing,
communication, or even sport. For instance,
a marketing study has found that colour can
increase brand recognition by up to 80% (4).
Most advertisements use colour as one of the
important element in inuencing people’s
attention, attitude towards the product, and
pressuring decision making (5). According to
White (6), coloured advertisements can attract
people to read the advertisement up to 42%
moreoftenthanthenon-colouredadvertisement.
This shows the importance of colour in making
the information or message more attractive to
thepublic.
 In the educational setting, higher demand
is put on excellent academic achievement. The
extent to which students utilize their cognitive
abilitiesisalsoimportantandmaycontributeto
better academic achievement (7). The cognitive
abilities of the students refer to the way the
students perceive, pay attention, remember,
think, and understand the lessons. There need
to be strategies to facilitate the learning process
andcolourscanplayaroleinmotivatingstudents
to learn and prot from their educational
experiences.
 In addition, in the clinical setting, specic
interventionsinvolvingcolourscanbeintroduced
to deal with memory-related problems such as
learning difculty, autism, dyslexia, and others.
With the use of colour in the intervention, it
can help patients to follow and understand the
learning program better. Clinical intervention
for patients with dyslexia using colour have
been proven to be effective in reducing patient
difcultiesin reading (8). The sameapproach is
alsousedtohelpautisticpatients.Animprovement
of reading speed up to 35% was reported for
autisticpatientsreadingusingacolouredoverlay
compared to autistic patients reading without
using a coloured overlay (9). Colour is also
used to treat patients with Alzheimer Disease.
Alzheimer Disease is a neurodegenerative form
ofdementiawhichdeterioratesmemoryabilities
Review Article
The Inuence of Colour on Memory
Performance: A Review
Mariam Adawiah Dzulkifli, Muhammad Faiz Mustafar
Department of Psychology, International Islamic University Malaysia,
Jalan Gombak, 53100 Selangor, Malaysia
Submitted:7Jan2012
Accepted: 11Feb2013
3
Malays J Med Sci. Mar-May 2013; 20(2): 3-9

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Malays J Med Sci. Mar-May 2013; 20(2): 3-9
(10). Recently, there is a growing interest in
the role of the non-biological or environmental
factors associated with Alzheimer Disease (11).
Thus,theuseofcolourstoimprovethememory
performance of Alzheimer Disease patients can
be practised. In fact, research has shown that
vividcolourcuescan helptoenhance the short-
termmemoryperformanceofAlzheimerDisease
patients(12).
 A plethora of studies have been conducted
to understand the role of colour in enhancing
memory performance. Back in 1976, Farley and
Grant conducted experiments on the inuence
of colour on attention and found that coloured
multimedia presentations resulted in better
attention and memory performance (13). More
experimental works exploring the inuence of
colour on the human cognitive processes were
conductedsincethen(14–16).
Models of Human Memory
 Humanmemoryiscommonlydichotomised
toinvolveashort-termandlonger-termmemory
storage. This dualistic nature of memory was
proposed by the early investigators of memory,
suchasWilliamJames,andWaughandNorman
(17).ThemodelproposedbyWaughandNorman,
retainedtheconceptofaprimaryandasecondary
memory originally proposed by William James.
Theirmodelwasregardedastherstbehavioural
modelofmemoryduetoitsquantifyingproperties
of primary memory (17). The earlier work on
memorywaswellextended toleadtoone ofthe
inuentialmodelsofthehumanmemorysystem
proposed Atkinson and Shiffrin (18). In their
model, memory is made up of three structures;
sensory register store, short-term store, and
long-termstore. Environmental stimuli will rst
reach the sensory register store. This memory
storecanregisterahugeamountofinformation,
buttheinformationisretainedthereverybriey.
Informationthatissubjecttoacertainamountof
attentionis then movedto the short-term store.
Informationwillbetransferred tothelong-term
store for more permanent storage as a result of
varioustypesofcontrolprocesses.Itissaidthat
theuseofcontrolprocessessuchasmaintenance
and elaborative rehearsal, heuristic, or other
memorization strategies are important to allow
theinformationtobetransferredfromtheshort-
termstoretolong-termstore.
 An alternative to the model of memory
proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin is the model
proposedbyCraikandLockhart(19).Theyargued
thattheprocessesinvolvedinmemoryweremore
important than the structures of the memory
system.Thememoryprocessesareassumedtobe
onacontinuum,fromshallowsensoryprocessto
adeepersemanticmemoryprocess.Theshallow
memory processes involve a basic and surface
analysisoftheinformation, such asthephysical
and sensory characteristic of the information.
Intermediate memory processing requires some
degreeofrecognitionandlabellingandadeeper
processinginvolvesahigherdegreeofanalysislike
processingthemeaningoftheinformationandits
linkto the existing memory trace. It is assumed
that deeper level of analyses contributes to a
morelastingandlongermemoryability.Inother
words,informationwillbestoredinthelong-term
memorystoreasaresultoftheamountofanalysis
andprocessingdoneontheenvironmentalinput.
 Therefore, it is important for the stimuli
availableintheenvironmenttohavethepotential
to activate the attention and to be involved in
control processes or deeper level of processing
inorderforthestimulitobebetterremembered.
Previousstudieshaveshownevidencesthatcolour
is one of the variables that has those potential.
Colours can inuence the level of attention
and also give rise to emotional arousal which
contributes to control processes that will later
enhancememoryperformance(13,14,21–23).
Attention and memory
 Attention refers to the cognitive process
of selecting information that is available in the
environment. When we pay attention to certain
information, we are actually selecting and
focusing certain amount of information to be
processed in our cognitive system. The degree
of attention attached to certain stimuli increase
the probability of the information to be stored
in memory (14,15,23,24). In other words, the
informationthatwepaymoreattentiontoismore
likelytoberememberedthantheinformationthat
weignoreanddonotpayattentionto.Numerous
studieshavereportedthatattentioncanincrease
memoryperformancelevelintermsoftherecall
rates(14,15)andalsofasterreactiontime(23).
Attention, memory, and colour
 Colour helps us in memorizing certain
information by increasing our attentional level.
The role played by colour in enhancing our
attentionlevelisundisputable(14,23).Themore
attention focused on certain stimuli, the more
chancesofthestimulitobetransferredtoamore
permanentmemorystorage(18).Asstatedearlier,

Review Article |Colourandmemory
www.mjms.usm.my 5
colours have the potential to attract attention.
Farley and Grant (13), were among the earliest
who came out with a theory suggesting that
colours have a greater effect on attention. This
conclusionwasbasedontheirstudyonattention
and cognition. They compared colour and non-
colour multimedia presentations on memory
performance. It was reported that the coloured
multimedia presentation resulted in better
attention than the non-coloured presentation.
Greene, Bell, and Boyer (21), further explained
that warm types of colours such as yellow, red
and orange have been found to have a greater
effect on attention compared to the cool type
ofcolourslikebrownandgray.
 Pan(23)foundsimilarndingsinhisstudy
on working memory and visual attention. In
his study, participants were asked to identify
whether the colour or the shape of the two
objects that were presented were the same.
In the rst experiment, the colours of the two
objects were the same but the shapes were
different, while in the second experiment the
conditions were reversed. The result showed
that the participants’ response times were
faster in identifying the differences in colours
compared to differences in the shapes of the
objects in both experimental conditions (23).
This nding can be interpreted to show that
colours have a better and greater ability to
captureattentionthanothervariables.
 Pan (14) extended his previous study by
verifyingthecolours.Heusedvisualgeometrical
shapes with various colours. The participants
(n=22)wereaskedtomemorizeboththecolours
and shape of the items. In the memory test,
the participants were asked to recognize the
colours and the shapes of the items that were
presented earlier on. He found that participants
performed better in recognizing the colour of
the items than the shapes. The result supported
hispreviousstudieswherecolourhadastronger
attentioneffectthantheshape,F(1,21)=4.984,
P=0.031,η2=0.192.Thissuggeststhat,colours
can produce a higher level of attention and
is effective to increase memory performance.
Therefore,it can beconcluded thatcolourshave
the tendency to capture better attention level,
andthus,bettermemory.
Arousal and memory
 Arousal refers to the state of being alert
physically and internally. Various body system
and hormones may contribute to alertness (20).
Theconceptofarousalmayincludethephysical,
psychological, physiological, and emotional
arousal. In the study of memory, emotional
arousal is focused on more than the other types
of arousal. MacKay and Ahmetzanov (25)
conducted a study on the relationship between
emotional arousal and memory by using taboo
stroopparadigm. They predicted better memory
for taboo words (which were more emotionally
arousing) than neutral words. It was found
that the participants performed better in
experimental conditions that were associated
with emotionally arousing words (taboo words)
than the conditions with neutral words (26).
ThisresultcomplementsthestudyofHeuerand
Reisberg (27), that found better retention in
long-term recall with a high level of emotional
arousal. Similarly, a high level of arousal leads
toenhancementofbothshort-termandlong-term
memory.InanexperimentconductedbyCorteen
(cited in 27), which used aurally presented
words, it was reported that higher recall was
found after 20 minutes and two week delays.
The same result was reported in an experiment
which used a single arousing word. Recall
performance was found to be better with words
that have arousal effect than non-arousal
words. However, there was also evidence on
the detrimental effects of arousal especially on
short-term retention. For instance in learning,
the participants who have high arousal effect
remembered better in the delayed recall rather
than shortly after learning process. According
to Kleinsmith and Kaplan (28), words that
can produce greater arousal effect were better
remembered after one week than two minutes
afterthelearningprocess.Thus,fromthestudies
mentioned above, the level of arousal evoked
by environmental stimuli can have a signicant
effect on memory performance in whether the
short-termorlong-termmemorystorage.
Arousal, memory and colour
 Arousal, especially emotional arousal, can
playanessentialroleinkeepingtheinformation
inthememorysystem. Colourscanenhance the
relationshipbetweenarousal and memory.Kaya
and Epps (22), asked their 98 college student
volunteers in public institutions to associate
colours with emotion. It was found that the
majority of participants associated green colour
withthefeelingofcalmness,happiness,comfort,
peace, hope, and excitement. Black colour was
associatedwiththefeelingofsadness,depression,
fear,andanger.Thismeansthatcolourshavean
emotional arousing effect. However, the degree

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Malays J Med Sci. Mar-May 2013; 20(2): 3-9
ofarousallevelmaydifferdependingonthetype
of emotion or feeling being attached to it (29).
AccordingtoJackson,Wu,Linden,andRaymond
(29),some types of emotion mayhave a greater
effect on arousal than the others. For instance,
angerwasfoundto haveagreater arousal effect
thanhappyorneutraltypeofemotion.Redcolour
isbeingattachedwithstrongeremotionorfeeling
compared to the other type of colours. Based
on the studies mentioned, it shows that colour
can  produce an emotional arousing effect but
the degree or rangeof arousal variesdepending
on the emotional element that is attached with
specictypeofcolour.
Colour and Memory Performance
 Colourhasbeenfoundtoinuencememory
performance by increasing our attentional level
and arousal. There exist robust evidences from
several studies that have been conducted to
explore the relationship between colour and
memoryperformance.Thosestudiesarereviewed
indetailbelow.
 Spence, Wong, Rusan, and Rastegar (16)
examined the ability to recognise coloured
and gray-scale images of neutral scenes
with 120 participants. They reported that
participants’ recognition of the neutral scenes
were approximately 5% higher in the coloured
condition compared to the grey scale condition,
F (1, 112) = 47.0, P < 0.0001. The same
comparison was signicant at the 0.05 level
or better for different exposure durations. A
similar nding was reached in a recall test
conductedbySmilekandcolleagues(15).Smilek,
Dixon, and Merikle (15), carried out a study to
investigate the inuence of colour on memory
performance.Theyuseddigitnumberswithfour
different conditions; black, white, congruent,
andincongruentcolourconditions.Theyutilized
theundergraduatestudentsas their participants
in the study. Three minutes were given to the
participants to study the stimuli and another
threeminutesforthemtorecallthestimuli.The
stimuliwereexposedtotheparticipantsthrough
a computer screen. Signicant differences were
found between recall conditions. The memory
performance of the participants was found to
be better in the congruent colour condition
comparedtotheotherconditions(26).
 Wichmann, Sharpe, and Gegenfurtner
(3), found a clear advantage of colour on visual
memory. In their rst experiment, they tested
the colour recognition of the participants on
the 50 milisecond to one second duration.
The participants reported 5% to 10% better
performance on colours over black-and-white
condition. In their second experiment, the
same images were used but with the exposure
durationofonesecondandinsixdifferentimage
contrasts;5%,10%,20%,40%,70%,and100%.
These contrasts were applied in colour and
black-and-white images. Colour images were
reported to have better memory recognition
over black-and-white, but the differences were
small. However, there were no signicant
differences found at the lower contrast level
(5% and 10%). According to the authors, the
images in the low contrast level were hardly
visible and seen. In their third experiment, the
sameprocedure was used,but participantswere
tested in different conditions. Those images
that were presented in colour were tested in
black-and-white and vice versa. A signicant
interaction was found between study mode
and test mode, F (1, 30) = 8.209, P < 0.01.
However, the performance of the images that
werepresentedincolourandtestedinblack-and-
white was deteriorated. The same goes for the
images that were presented in black-and-white
and tested in colour. However,the performance
wasbetterwiththecolourimagestestedincolour,
F (1, 30) = 4.576, P < 0.05. A similar nding
was reported in the fth experiment, where the
imageswiththecolouredframeshowsignicant
improvement (77.0% to 80.0%) in memory
recognition than images with the black frame,
t(19)=2.51,P<0.05.
 Vernon and Lloyd-Jones (30) conducted
astudy to furtherexplore the effect ofcolour in
implicit and explicit memory performance. In
oneof their hypotheses, they expected a shorter
responsetimetocolouredstimuliincomparison
to non-coloured/black and white stimuli.
30 coloured and 30 non-coloured objects
were used in the study. In the study phase, the
participantswereinvolvedinthenamingtaskof
those 60 experimental objects. While in the test
phase, the participants were asked to recognize
theobjectswhichhavebeencategorizedinthree
differentconditions;samecolour,change colour
andnon-colour.20newobjects(10colouredand
10 non-coloured) were added in the test phase.
Responsetime, percentage ofthe score,hit, and
correct rejection rate were observed. The result
revealed a signicant effect on coloured object
F(1,29)=7.02, P <0.05.Thismeansparticipants
took faster time to recognise objects in the
colouredthannon-colouredcondition.
 The above studies indicated that colour
can have a positive inuence on memory

Review Article |Colourandmemory
www.mjms.usm.my 7
performance. A few studies have however
found contradictory ndings. Lloyd-Jones
and Nakabayashi (31), carried out a study on
the effects of colour on object identication
and memorization, and found out that there
were differences in memory performance in
object-colour spatial integration and object
spatial separation. Two hundred and thirteen
undergraduate students from the University of
Kentwereinvolvedinthestudy.Allparticipants
were non colour-blind. 75 coloured common
objects were used as stimuli in the study. There
were three conditions; correctly coloured (the
objectanditsoriginalcolour),incorrectlycoloured
(the object not with its original colour) and
greyscalecondition.Thereweretwoexperimental
conditions; object-colour spatial integrationand
object-colour spatial separation. In the object-
colour spatial integration, the colour object
was placed on the grey background while in the
object-colour spatial separation, the grey object
wasplacedonthecolourbackground.Inthestudy
phase,participants ratedobject-colour typicality
on 7-point scale. In the test phase, participants
wererequiredtopresscertainbuttonstoindicate
whethertheobjectwascorrectlycolouredornot.
The speed of the response was measured. The
result showed that there was a signicant effect
ofthecolourF(1,184)=18.3,P<0.0001.Higher
ratings were found for the spatially integrated
condition (M = 3.84) than for spatial separated
condition (M = 3.13). In terms of the reaction
times, it was reported that shorter reaction
times were found for correctly coloured than
forincorrectly coloured in the spatial integrated
condition, t (83) = –2.58, P < 0.05 but not for
spatially separated, t (83) = 0.70, P > 0.05.
Therefore, coloured object with non-coloured
background have better memory retention
and yielded faster respond time compared to
colouredobjectwithcolouredbackground.
 Another study by McConnohie (32) used
alphanumeric characters and showed them to
the participants through slideshow with three
background colour conditions; white, blue and
green. All the gure characters were in black.
If the colours have positive effect on memory,
performance was expected to be equal in these
conditions. The result however showed that the
slides with the white background resulted in
higher retention rates both in immediate and
delayed recall tasks than those with blue and
green background. This result contradicts the
previousstudiesinthatonlycertaincolourslead
to better memory. Nevertheless, in this study,
the colours chosen and the manipulation in the
gure and background colours may explain the
resultobtained.
 HallandHanna(33),conductedastudyon
webpagetextandbackgroundcolourcombination
to memory retention. One hundred and thirty
sixuniversitystudentsparticipatedintheirstudy.
They used two different types of websites; an
educationalwebsitewhichcontainedinformation
regarding a neuroscience subject and a website
which was more commercial that had an
advertisementofproducts.HallandHannaused
four different types of ground and gure colour
combinations for each of the websites; black on
white background, white on black background,
light blue on dark blue background and teal on
blackbackground.Eachparticipantwasrandomly
assignedtoeachofthefourconditionsandthey
weregiven10minutestoviewthewebsites.After
that, they were required to answer 10 multiple-
choicequestionsusedtomeasurethereadability,
retention, aesthetics, and behavioural intention
level. It was expected that the condition with
a higher contrast level of colour will result in a
higherlevelofreadabilityandalsoretentionrate.
The result obtained show signicant differences
in the four conditions and the post-hoc tests
showed that the readability performance was
highest on the black on white background
condition.Thisconditionwasinterpretedtohave
thehighestcontrastlevelcomparedtotheothers
andthiscontributestoabetterreadability level.
The signicant result found for readability was
howevernotfoundonretentionrate.Thismeans
thatthedifferentcontrastofcolourcombination
usedonlyeffectsreadabilitylevelbutnotmemory
orretentionrate(33).
Factors That Inuence the
Effectiveness of Colour on Memory
Performance
 The studies reviewed above showed that
colourscanleadtobetter memory performance.
There are however studies that indicate an
opposing effect of colour on memory. On the
basis of the studies reviewed previously, it can
be summarized that the effectiveness of colour
on memory performance is based on a few
factors. First is the consistency of the colours
used during encoding and retrieval phases. This
means the colour used or presented during the
time when participants are asked to memorize
shouldbethesamewiththecolourshowntothem
at the time of retrieval. This rule is in line with
the encoding specicity principle that highlights
thecloseconnectionbetweenthesetwomemory

8 www.mjms.usm.my
Malays J Med Sci. Mar-May 2013; 20(2): 3-9
processes,encoding,andretrievalindetermining
the memory performance. The greater match of
conditions in these two processes, the better is
theretrievaloutcome.
 Another factor that needs to be taken into
account is when few colours or combination
of colours are involved (as in background and
foreground conditions). The right combination
of colours is important because it can produce
higher level of contrast, and this can inuence
memory retention. Higher level of contrast may
refer to the colour hue (the wavelength) and
the luminance (brightness of the colour) of the
colour(33).Itwaspredicted that higherlevelof
contrast will attract more attention and better
visibilityofanobjectorinformation.Stimuliwith
white foreground on red background can have
ahigher level ofcontrast compared to the other
colourcombination.Similarly,theuseofawhite
colourbackgroundwithblackcolourforeground
hasa bettercontrast levelfor memoryretention
forbothshort-termandlong-term(32).Thismay
be the reason for the top fast-food restaurants
in the world to be associated and branded with
vivid colour. For example, McDonalds used
yellowandredcolourinthelogo,whileKentucky
FriedChickenisrememberedwithredandwhite
colour combinations. Colour therefore played
a very important role in inuencing consumers
psychologically, which is characterized by
emotional attachment, attention, memory, and
attitude that later increase the likelihood of
buyingbehaviour.
Conclusion
 An important aspect in successful and
efcient cognitive functioning is the abilities
to utilize the system to the fullest. Research on
memory has provided a vast strategy that can
be used to ensure successful retrieval. There
appears to be a basis for associating colour and
its signicant effect on memory abilities. In
otherwords,colourhasthepotentialtoincrease
chancesofenvironmentalstimulitobeencoded,
stored, and retrieved successfully. The choice
of colours and the manipulative aspects can,
however, inuence the extent to which colours
caninuencehumanmemoryperformance.
Acknowledgement
 The authors thanked the International
Islamic University (IIUM) undergraduate
students majoring in Psychology who have
participatedintheexperiment.Theauthorsalso
thanked the reviewers of this article for their
valuablecommentsandsuggestions.
 The results of this study have not been
presentedinanysymposium.
Conict of interest
Nil.
Funds
Thiswork was supported by the IIUM Research
EndowmentGrant(EDWA11-439-1230).
Authors’ Contributions
Draftingofthearticle:MFMM
Critical revision of the article for the important
intellectualcontent:MFMM,MAD
Final approval of the article and obtaining of
funding:MAD
Correspondence
Dr Mariam Adawiah Dzulkii
BHsc(IIUM),MSc(Birmingham),PhD(Cardiff)
DepartmentofPsychology
InternationalIslamicUniversityMalaysia
JalanGombak
53100Selangor
Malaysia
Tel:+603-61965143
Fax:+603-61965062
Email:m.adawiah@iium.edu.my
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