The Effect of Color Coding on Episodic Memory Recall among University Students

Abstract

Color is a pervasive feature of learning materials, yet few experiments have compared multiple levels of color saturation within a single controlled episodic-memory paradigm. This study examined the effect of color coding on immediate verbal episodic memory recall in university students. Using a posttest-only, between-subjects experimental design, 144 undergraduates (aged 18–25 years) were randomly assigned through the fishbowl method to one of four conditions (n = 36 per group). Eighteen academically familiar words were presented sequentially, each preceded by a 500-ms fixation cross and displayed for 2 s, in vivid saturated colors (Sharp), soft warm hues (Warm), muted desaturated tones (Dull), or black-and-white (Control); participants then completed a 60-s written free-recall test. A one-way analysis of variance revealed a significant effect of color condition on the number of correctly recalled words, F(3, 140) = 7.72, p < .001, η² = .14, a large effect. Tukey post hoc comparisons showed that the Sharp group (M = 11.39, SD = 2.79) recalled significantly more words than the Warm (M = 9.06, SD = 2.23), Dull (M = 8.81, SD = 2.77), and Control (M = 9.75, SD = 2.18) groups, which did not differ from one another. Highly saturated color enhanced episodic recall, consistent with attentional-capture, arousal, and distinctiveness accounts of episodic memory, whereas warm and muted palettes conferred no advantage over monochrome text. The findings identify saturation, rather than the mere presence of color, as the operative variable in color-based memory enhancement.