[Environmental context effects of background colors on recognition memory].
Three experiments examined whether or not switching study background-color contexts among target words at testing reduces word-recognition performance. These experiments also examined whether or not presentation rate--one of the determinants of item strength--interacted with background-color context. Undergraduates learned 40 target words presented at a rate of 1.5 or 3.0 seconds per word in one of two background-color contexts in Experiment 1, and in one of ten contexts in Experiments 2 and 3. Recognition of the targets was tested by mixing 40 distractor words with the targets immediately after the learning session in Experiments 1 and 2, and with a 5-minute filled retention interval in Experiment 3. Experiment 1 failed to find background-color context effects on recognition, but Experiments 2 and 3 successfully found the context effects. Presentation rate did not interact with the context effects. The results conflict with the ICE theory. The implications of the present findings are discussed.
Isarida
Takeo
T
Department of Information Arts, Faculty of Information, Shizuoka University, Johoku, Hamamatsu. 432 8011
Ozecki
Kousuke
K
D000328:Adult; D003116:Color; D004777:Environment; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*; D014936:Word Association Tests