A Study on Colours Facilitating Attention and Memory of Young Children

Coloured presentation of information is considered by many studies as an important and stimulating cue for learning in children. It means colour has the potential to increase the chances of environmental stimuli to be encoded, stored and retrieved successfully. With this background the present study was undertaken in Jorhat district during 20142016. the study aimed to identity the colours which facilitate attention and memory of young children and to develop guidelines for using colours in instructional materials of children. A total of 30 children aged 4 to 5 years, with average intelligence level and without any chronic illness, signs of inattention and impulsivity were selected as final sample for the study. The sample was selected from 180 respondents from six preschools of Jorhat district. Data was collected using a self-prepared questionnaire to assess the Health status of the respondents. Culture Fair Intelligence Test was used to screen out the children with average intelligence. And a tool with subtests Prose Memory and Test Card was developed under the study to identify the colours which facilitate attention and memory in young children. The results of the Prose Memory sub-test revealed that natural colour facilitates attention and memory in young children, followed by red, green, blue, light blue, yellow and black. Test Card results also revealed that natural colour may facilitate attention and memory in young children, but followed by red, green, yellow, blue, light blue and black. Females responded more positively to colours of red and yellow in regards to activity under the study than male respondents. And males responded more to green, blue, light blue and natural colours than female respondents. There was no gender difference in response to black colour. On the basis of the findings of the study, few guidelines were recommended in the area of use of colour in instructional material for children.