Environmental context effects of background color in free recall

Abstract

In four experiments, we investigated background-color context effects in free recall. A total of 194 undergraduates studied words presented one by one against a background color, and oral free recall was tested after a 30-sec filled retention interval. A signal for recall was presented against a background color throughout the test. Recalled items were classified as same- and different-context items according to whether the background colors at study and test were the same or different. Significant context effects were found in Experiments I and 2, in which two background colors were randomly alternated word by word. No context effects were found in Experiments 3 and 4, in which a common background color was presented for all items (Experiment 3) or for a number of successive items (Experiment 4). The results indicate that a change in background colors is necessary and sufficient to produce context effects. Implications of the present findings are discussed.

Lack of color integration in visual short-term memory binding

“…Considerable evidence, however, could be gleaned from the memory and perception literature concerning figure/background representation. If we were to assume that the external colors of our stimuli could be interpreted as background colors, the effect appears to be consistent with evidence from the literature on memory (Isarida & Isarin, 2007;O'Herron & von der Heydt, 2009;Peterson & Grant, 2003) and perception (Hecht & Vecera, 2007;Vecera, 2004;Vecera & Palmer, 2006; but see Lester, Hecht, & Vecera, 2009). According to this literature, background information plays a crucial role in forming and accessing complex representation in memory and perception.…”

Video context-dependent recall

“…Only when screen contexts were perceptually rich-that is, when they were line drawings of physical settings-did Murnane et al find context-dependent discrimination effects. Although others (e.g., Isarida & Isarida, 2007;Macken, 2002;Rutherford, 2004) have found context-dependent recognition memory with simple contexts, the effects have been rather small. For example, Rutherford found context-dependent discrimination effect sizes ranging from small (d 0.01) to moderate (d 0.34), and Macken's largest context-dependent discrimination effect size was moderate (d 0.56).…”

“…In cued recall, stimuli, such as paired associates, category cues, extralist semantic associates of target words, or pictures, might be provided or withheld at test in order to determine the effectiveness of the cues. The methods used in the present study resemble the cued recall Limitations of typical context manipulations include (1) the possibility that global context cues may be overloaded (e.g., Watkins & Watkins, 1975) (that is, if too many target words are associated with one context cue, that overloaded cue may have only a weak effect of evoking a memory; e.g., Isarida & Isarida, 2007;Rutherford, 2004); (2) incidental contexts might not be well encoded; and (3) the participants may spontaneously try to mentally reinstate the study context when tests take place in a new environmental context, thereby weakening or eliminating the effects of experimental manipulations of context (e.g., S. M. Smith, 1979Smith, , 1984.…”

“…Simple contexts manipulate features such as font color, background screen color, or screen location (e.g., Dulsky, 1935;Isarida & Isarida, 2007;Macken, 2002;Murnane & Phelps, 1993, 1994, 1995Murnane, Phelps, & Malmberg, 1999;Rutherford, 2004;Weiss & Margolius, 1954). With such methods, local contexts-that is, contexts that can change from one event to the next-are usually examined Rutherford, 2004).…”

Coding by hand or on the computer? Evaluating the effect of assessment mode on performance of students learning programming

“…Lieberman (2011) declared that an explanation to this phenomenon could be that the contextual cues in the environment becomes part of the memory during the process of recording it. However, as argued by Isarida and Isarida (2007), the context would only facilitate recall if there was a relationship between the context and the memory to retrieve, and that the strength of the context-effect would increase the more a memory was processed within the associated context. If the changes in context between the time of recording the memory and the time of retrieving it are comparably large, this would make it more difficult to retrieve the memory (Lieberman 2011).…”