• PURPOSE 
• HYPOTHESIS 
• EXPERIMENT DESIGN 
• MATERIALS 
• PROCEDURES 
• RESULTS 
• CONCLUSION 

• RESEARCH REPORT 
• BIBLIOGRAPHY 
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

• ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

Introduction

Learning plays an important part in our lives.  Without learning we would not be capable of remembering or performing any skills.  Without learning we would not be able to survive  everyday life.  Some experts say that black and white stimuli have a positive effect on learning and some say that color has a stronger effect.

Light

Light travels in waves. Light waves are a form of electromagnetic energy. Light is what allows humans to see colors. A wave length is the distance between any point on one wave and the corresponding point on the next. Each wave has its own wavelength. The wave length determines the color and the height determines the brightness. A way that an object gets its color is when an atom in an object absorbs a wave of white light. Most objects appear colored because their chemical structure absorbs certain wavelengths of light and reflects others. Inside the visible spectrum between violet (the shortest wavelength) and red (the longest wavelength) are all colors in the visible spectrum.

Color

There are different types of color. There are monochromatic spectrum colors, achromatic spectrum colors, and secondary colors. Achromatic colors go from white to gray and back. Monocrimatic spectrum colors are colors you can’t  get mixing two or more colors, for example red, blue, and yellow.  Secondary colors are colors you can get by mixing two or more colors; two examples are green and purple. 

Color Blindness

When a person cannot see some or all colors, it is called "daltonism" or color blindness. When a person can see only black, white and gray, have a condition called achromatic vision. Some people get reds, greens and yellows confused and they are considered to have a condition called dichromatic vision. Color blindness is un-curable. It can be caused by an injury to the retina or a disease of the eye. Color blindness appears in 9 out of every 200 Americans.

Memory

There are six different types of memory.  There is long-term memory, short-term memory, sensory memory, motor skill memory (has to deal with physical activities), verbal/semantic memory (enables you to know the meaning of words and math concepts).  And photographic memory (stores pictures of images in you mind).

Sensory Memory

Sensory memory is extremely useful.  This type of memory is the reason you’re able to remember information sent to your brain from your five senses.  (It allows you to remember sights, tastes, sounds, smells, and how different objects feel).

Long-Term Memory

There are three types of long term memory, all of which form a different system. These systems are semantic, procedural and episodic.  Episodic memory helps you to remember an event that happened in your past.  For example, when you first learn to ride a bike.  Procedural helps you to remember procedures such as reading or playing sports.  Semantic helps you to remember things you have already learned such as math facts.

Short-Term Memory

Short-term memory does not have different categories like long-term memory does.  Short-term memory gives you the ability to remember new information for a limited time.  For example, directions on a certain school assignment.  Experts have found that it is very likely that short-term memory is related to speech.  For instance, the letter combination CDE is less likely to be remembered than the letter combination JSER.  This is because CDE sounds very similar.  The amount of information your short-term memory is able to store is very limited.

Reflexive Memory

In Reflexive memory the brain recalls rules and procedures automatically.  For example, when you learned to walk or ride a bike, you used a type of reflexive memory.  Reflexive memory can also include types of verbal or visual learning.  Thanks to the basic study of animals by neuroscientists, they have been able to discover a lot about how reflexive memory works.  Reflexive memory modifies specific connections between neurons.  As we learn a specific skill the flow of neurotransmitters increase (synapses; the tiny space between the axon of a neuron and the surface of a neighboring cell where the neuron releases its neurotransmitter message) in some synapses and tapers off in others.  As a result, some nerve impulses grow stronger. 

Memory Loss

Memory loss has several different theories.  One theory is the Interference Theory, which may be brought on when  new skills and data might interfere with older skills and data you learned before.  This causes you to forget the previously learned information. The most likely theory is the Decay Theory.  This states that memory loss may be caused when "traces" formed in your memory disappear. 

Learning Disabilities

There are many types of learning disabilities.  A person with a learning disability may be normal or even above normal as far as intelligence goes.  However, they are not able to use the data sent to their brain by their six senses, as well as a person without a learning disability.  Learning disabilities may get in the way of things like language, concentration, memory, and coordination.  Attention Deficit Disorder (when a persons mind wanders and they day dream instead of focusing on the task at hand) is just one.  The causes of these disorders are injuries to the brain or nerves that lead to the brain, lack of nutrients, imbalance of certain chemicals in the body, or ingesting certain chemicals into the body such as paint.

Learning Theories

Psychologists define learning as the process by which changes in behavior result from experience or practice. There are three different theories for learning.   One theory is that learning is the same as developing a habit.  This theory suggests that when a person does something many times, that task becomes a habit; therefore the person has learned something.  Another theory ("Cognition" or "The Act of Knowing") suggests that learning takes place when a person understands something.  The last theory (Humanistic) says that a person’s need to be creative and good at something is the reason we learn and remember.  Learning carves out highways in the neurosystem of the brain encouraging new impulses to travel along these new routes.  Some new paths are temporary but others are permanent. 

Summary

Some experts say that color stimuli will have a positive effect on the human learning process.  Others say that black and white will have a better effect.  But one thing is certain, humans need to learn and remember in order to survive

Barret, Susan L. It’s All in Your Head, Free Spirit Inc, 1992.82-86

Boger, Robert, "Learning", World Book Encyclopedia.1991. 

Powledge, Tabitha M. Your Brain. Maxwell Macmillan Canada Inc, 1994 .p.87-102.

The Human Brain, AIMS Media California. 

Wyszecki, Gunter, "Color". World Book Encyclopedia .2002.