About This Project

Effects of digital color environment on memory performance

There is a huge potential for video games to be exploited as educational tools, but in order to maximize their effectiveness, we must take the elements of their visual design seriously. Most of the research in this area focus on aesthetic aspects such as color and composition; that are relevant because these aspects define the look and feel of the game. On the other hand, previous research on color perception has demonstrated that colors have an impact on human emotions, particularly in arousal levels. Therefore, our work examines the relation between color perception of cool and warm colors applied in video game design and whether these impact on the level of memory performance. To this end, we ran experiments to test the color influence over the performance in visual short-term memory. With this investigation, we expect to contribute to the research related to color perception and the effects of a variety of cognitive tasks to improve the design of educational video games. Finally, we consider a deepening research is necessary on whether the emotional reaction evoked by color is meaningful for memory performance and how the knowledge can be integrated into the design of educational games.