The Impact of Color Type on Performance in a Comprehension Task

This report investigates the impact of color on student performance in a comprehension task, focusing on the effects of pink, white, and green colored question sheets. The study involved 98 student participants divided into three groups, each receiving a question sheet of a different color. The results indicated a significant difference in performance, with students using green question sheets demonstrating the highest scores, followed by those with white, and then pink. This supports the hypothesis that color influences learning outcomes. The discussion highlights the potential of green to foster calmness and focus, while white may hinder concentration due to excessive light reflection. Limitations of the study include the lack of consideration for individual sensitivities to color, the exclusion of other colors, and the focus on a single subject. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of incorporating color considerations into educational practices to improve learning outcomes, suggesting that even simple changes like the color of exam papers can positively affect student performance.

Running head: IMPACT OF COLOR TYPES IN LEARNING
Impact of Color Type of the Paper, in Performance
Author’s Name
Professor’s Name
Institution Affiliation

IMPACT OF COLOR TYPE IN LEARNING 2
Abstract
Fundamental elements of education like teachers, educational management, parents,
teaching methods, and books have been considered by many people as the main crucial things
for education to be successful. However, in current education color has the great impact on the
performance of the learner. Therefor color should be considered as one of those elements that
have the significant effect on the quality of education of learners. In this experiment, three
colors (pink, white and green) were investigated to determine their effects in performance of
the students in comprehension task. It was hypothesized that performance of students would
be affected by the color type. A total of ninety-eight (98) participants (students) voluntarily
participated in the study. They were divided into three groups according to how they received
question sheet. The participant who received pink question sheet was considered as group A
while the participant who got green question sheet were considered as group B and lastly, the
participant who got white question paper were considered as group C. The dependent variable
(DV) was the performance of the students in the comprehension task.
The outcome reveals a significant difference in the performance of the participant. The
participants who were issued with green question sheet performed well, followed by the
students who received white question sheet and lastly the participant who received pink
question sheet. Thus the study confirmed the hypothesis that color affects the performance of
the learners. Therefore it should be considered as the crucial element of education that can

IMPACT OF COLOR TYPE IN LEARNING 3
improve the performance of the leaners, especially green color should be considered if the
teachers and parents want to the performance of the student to improve
Introduction
The studies of colors have been frequent in the field of business to identify the colors
that can capture the attention of clients to buy goods and services. In branding and purchase of
goods color play very important role. For instance, ninety percent of comments made about
products by clients are based on color (Ciotti, G.2016). As result, many researchers have
concentrated their investigation on colors with regard to business, yet color affects education.
Color plays a key role in creating an environment that foster learning (Gutienrrez, K.2016 2nd
p).Color has been overlooked by learning institutions also for so long yet it affects learning both
negatively and positively. Every color has a specific wavelength that affects the brain of learners
in different ways. When color is transmitted to human eyes, a hormone which affects mental
clarity is produced by the brain ( Englebrecht, K.2003).However how brain process color is very
complex that is beyond the scope of this study.
Correct selection of write color can seriously affect attention and behavior of learners.
Colors affect comprehension (Plass, J.2014).Howard argued that different color impact learning
In different ways, red color encourage learning activity, green reduce stress while blue
encourage concentration (2005).Red color enhance accuracy while blue color foster creativity

IMPACT OF COLOR TYPE IN LEARNING 4
(Belluck, P.2009).In contrary red color undermine the performance as it evokes avoidance
tendency that hampers concentration(Weiten, W.2012). Additionally a study by Weller and
Livingstone to investigate the emotional reaction of colors (white, pink and blue) found that
pink color produces the less emotional reaction (Malnar, J, and Vodvarka, F.2004). Despite the
existence of evidence how color may impact learning there are still conflicting perception
surrounding color. For example, color relates to individual preference, thus does not affect
learning (De, N, lyoni, G and Arthur Kelly, M 2017). Different researchers argued differently
about how color type impact learning. However, the purpose of this study was to investigate
the impact of color in performance on a comprehension test among students whose question
sheet had the following colors: pink, green and white.
Method
Participants
Ninety-eight students voluntarily participated in the experiment during the tutorial. The age
bracket of the students was between seventeen and twenty-five (17-47).The studies were
conducted as a class activity during the tutorial. The gender of the participants was considered
(they were both males and females participants).

IMPACT OF COLOR TYPE IN LEARNING 5
Participant’s Age Distribution
Number of males Number of females Total No Age range Means Score SD
Group A 15 19 34 17-24
Group B 10 22 32 17-28
Group C 12 20 32 17-47
NB group A represent participant who received ‘pink’ question sheets, Group B represent
participant that received ‘green’ question sheet and finally Group C represent participant that
received ‘white’ question sheet. SD means standard deviation.
Design
The experiment was to compare the performance of the participant in a comprehension task
produced in different colors. The color of the papers was green, pink and white. It focuses on
the color type of the paper in performance task. The independent variable (IV) of the
experiment was the color type of the paper while dependent variable (DV) was the
performance of a participant in comprehension test.
Material
Question papers with same questions, but of different colors namely: pink, green and pink,
pens, stopwatch, record sheet for data collection and calculator to compute the result.

IMPACT OF COLOR TYPE IN LEARNING 6
Procedure
Ninety-eight students voluntarily participated in the study. Frisking was conducted to
ensure no participant accesses exam room with the electronic device (phone) or written
material that would favor him an exam. This was to ensure the result of the experiment was not
compromised and to enhance the conducive environment for conducting the study. The
participants were arranged in a line. Ninety-eight (98) question papers of comprehension were
distributed randomly among the participant. Thirty-four (34) students received pink question
papers, thirty-two (32) received green question papers and thirty-two (32) received white
question paper. The distance between the participants (students) was big enough to produce
the conducive environment for doing the exam and provided with question paper of different
colors. The participants (students) were condition to answer the entire question and desist
from exam irregularities. The total marks of the comprehension task were marked out of ‘ten’
(10), the duration of an exam was timed and all students advised to stop immediately the time
of exams (test) elapse.
The number of students who received pink color of the paper was considered as group
A, and the number of students who received green question paper was considered as group B,
and finally the number of students who received white question paper was referred to as group
C. the means score and standard deviation of each group was to be computed immediately
after marking comprehension task.
Result

IMPACT OF COLOR TYPE IN LEARNING 7
The means score, standard deviation and total means score for each group were computed and
analyzed.
Findings of the Study(experiment)
No of males No of females. Total No Age range Means Score SD
Group A 15 19 34 17-24 6.3823 2.3486
Group B 10 22 32 17-28 7.0625 2.1089
Group C 12 20 32 17-47 6.6632 2.2567
The high mean score means high score. Group B students (the participant who used green
question paper) registered high means score as compared to the student who had white and
pink question sheet. That means that most participants who received green question paper
scored high marks in the test. The studies suggest that color has an effect on the performance
of the student. The same trend was also consistent with the standard deviation result.
However, the result of the standard of standard deviation was not considered since it depends
on the number of the participant yet the number of the participant in each group was not
equal. Therefore its inclusion in finalizing the outcome of the result of the study would
compromise the hypothesis of the experiment.
Discussion

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Impact of color and its role on academic achievement has been the great concern to
both educational experts and psychologist. Despite the existence concern, the research on
impacts of color in learning has been insufficient. The findings of the experiment found that the
hypothesis which states that: color type impact performance of learners was true. The
evaluation of the outcome reveals that green color support learning effectively as compared to
white and pink. This was evidence of group B participant that registered high means score of
7.0625 that was close to ten that was the apex of the means score. Green color evoked the
sense of nature (calmness) that boosts efficiency and focus and it is the best color to lengthen
concentration of student (Psychologist, 2017). Gutierrez, K. argued that green color provide a
restorative experience that boosts mental resources of leaners(2016) and further suggests that
green color restore leaners concentration with compliance material. White color reflects a lot
of light on the eye that hampers concentration. Research conducted by Yamazaki and Eto on
the effect of background color (blue and white) on the brain function. White color registered
low average score compared to blue color ( Tweedale, J, and Jain, L.2012). In contrary to what
was reported with.
Limitations
Students react to colors differently. For instance, students with learning disabilities such as
attention deficit and autism are more sensitive to color as compared to normal students. This is
heightened by their ability of strong visual processing power and heightened sensory response.
Among the participant, such student with such abilities was not identified and they could be the

IMPACT OF COLOR TYPE IN LEARNING 9
ones who perform well in the test, thus compromise the hypothesis which states that green
color impacts learning by encouraging high performance
All colors were not included in the study as numerous researchers argued differently how color
impact the performance of learners. For instance, a study by Sinclair discovered that students
pursuing accounting course registered high marks when the question sheet was blue in color
than when the question paper was printed on red color (Aaron, M .2014).In addition blue color
foster productivity and the best color for challenging learning situations (Psychologist 2017)
Another limitation, the test was only carried out on one subject (English) yet the students have
different abilities in the different subject. For instance, some students are good at solving
mathematics problems and poor in language yet they were included in the test. They could be
ones who registered low marks in each group. In addition, another disadvantage of this study
would be the participants were adult learners, yet the study was not specifically for adult
learners (students) but it applies to all learners regardless of the level of education. As result
better sample that represented population could have been considered for the experiment.
Conclusion
This study was conducted to investigate the effect of color on the performance of
learners using pink, green and white colors. Participants who received green question sheet
exhibited high performance that was affirmed after analysis of the outcome thus green color
impacts learning more positively compared to white and pink color that registered low
performance in a comprehension task respectively. However, the existence of the discrepancy

IMPACT OF COLOR TYPE IN LEARNING 10
in the performance, the difference in performance in both white and pink color sheets was very
minimal (0.28085) that they can be deduced jointly that they are low in fostering performance.
From the result above, one can conclude that improvement in performance of leaners
cannot be only achieved by changing teaching methods, reading the variety of books, attending
lessons regularly and so on, but it can also be achieved by just simply changing the color of
question sheet that you used to administer exams. Therefore educational experts and
psychologist should incorporate color in their effort to improve the learning outcomes. The
experiment proved that color of learning materials can positively impact the performance of
the learners. In addition, in future, I can expect to see numerous researchers that will do a lot of
studies to find ways to improve the performance of students. This was further affirmed by the
research by Gilavand and Hosseinpour (2016) that conducted a study to investigate the effect of
color on the performance and proved that color impact learning. Above all this topic required
more investigation

IMPACT OF COLOR TYPE IN LEARNING 11
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