No psychological effect of color context in a low level vision task [v1; ref status: indexed, http://f1000r.es/202]
Background: A remarkable series of recent papers have shown that colour can influence performance in cognitive tasks. In particular, they suggest that viewing a participant number printed in red ink or other red ancillary stimulus elements improves performance in tasks requiring local processing and...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
F1000 Research Ltd
2013-11-01
|
| Series: | F1000Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://f1000research.com/articles/2-247/v1 |
| _version_ | 1818306590828134400 |
|---|---|
| author | Adam Pedley Alex R Wade |
| author_facet | Adam Pedley Alex R Wade |
| author_sort | Adam Pedley |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: A remarkable series of recent papers have shown that colour can influence performance in cognitive tasks. In particular, they suggest that viewing a participant number printed in red ink or other red ancillary stimulus elements improves performance in tasks requiring local processing and impedes performance in tasks requiring global processing whilst the reverse is true for the colour blue. The tasks in these experiments require high level cognitive processing such as analogy solving or remote association tests and the chromatic effect on local vs. global processing is presumed to involve widespread activation of the autonomic nervous system. If this is the case, we might expect to see similar effects on all local vs. global task comparisons. To test this hypothesis, we asked whether chromatic cues also influence performance in tasks involving low level visual feature integration. Methods: Subjects performed either local (contrast detection) or global (form detection) tasks on achromatic dynamic Glass pattern stimuli. Coloured instructions, target frames and fixation points were used to attempt to bias performance to different task types. Based on previous literature, we hypothesised that red cues would improve performance in the (local) contrast detection task but would impede performance in the (global) form detection task. Results: A two-way, repeated measures, analysis of covariance (2×2 ANCOVA) with gender as a covariate, revealed no influence of colour on either task, F(1,29) = 0.289, p = 0.595, partial η2 = 0.002. Additional analysis revealed no significant differences in only the first attempts of the tasks or in the improvement in performance between trials. Discussion: We conclude that motivational processes elicited by colour perception do not influence neuronal signal processing in the early visual system, in stark contrast to their putative effects on processing in higher areas. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T06:44:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-09e29553dd99420f8e7eb85724bd53e1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2046-1402 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T06:44:55Z |
| publishDate | 2013-11-01 |
| publisher | F1000 Research Ltd |
| record_format | Article |
| series | F1000Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-09e29553dd99420f8e7eb85724bd53e12022-12-21T23:56:18ZengF1000 Research LtdF1000Research2046-14022013-11-01210.12688/f1000research.2-247.v12594No psychological effect of color context in a low level vision task [v1; ref status: indexed, http://f1000r.es/202]Adam Pedley0Alex R Wade1Department of Psychology, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UKDepartment of Psychology, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UKBackground: A remarkable series of recent papers have shown that colour can influence performance in cognitive tasks. In particular, they suggest that viewing a participant number printed in red ink or other red ancillary stimulus elements improves performance in tasks requiring local processing and impedes performance in tasks requiring global processing whilst the reverse is true for the colour blue. The tasks in these experiments require high level cognitive processing such as analogy solving or remote association tests and the chromatic effect on local vs. global processing is presumed to involve widespread activation of the autonomic nervous system. If this is the case, we might expect to see similar effects on all local vs. global task comparisons. To test this hypothesis, we asked whether chromatic cues also influence performance in tasks involving low level visual feature integration. Methods: Subjects performed either local (contrast detection) or global (form detection) tasks on achromatic dynamic Glass pattern stimuli. Coloured instructions, target frames and fixation points were used to attempt to bias performance to different task types. Based on previous literature, we hypothesised that red cues would improve performance in the (local) contrast detection task but would impede performance in the (global) form detection task. Results: A two-way, repeated measures, analysis of covariance (2×2 ANCOVA) with gender as a covariate, revealed no influence of colour on either task, F(1,29) = 0.289, p = 0.595, partial η2 = 0.002. Additional analysis revealed no significant differences in only the first attempts of the tasks or in the improvement in performance between trials. Discussion: We conclude that motivational processes elicited by colour perception do not influence neuronal signal processing in the early visual system, in stark contrast to their putative effects on processing in higher areas.http://f1000research.com/articles/2-247/v1Cognitive NeuroscienceSensory Systems |
| spellingShingle | Adam Pedley Alex R Wade No psychological effect of color context in a low level vision task [v1; ref status: indexed, http://f1000r.es/202] F1000Research Cognitive Neuroscience Sensory Systems |
| title | No psychological effect of color context in a low level vision task [v1; ref status: indexed, http://f1000r.es/202] |
| title_full | No psychological effect of color context in a low level vision task [v1; ref status: indexed, http://f1000r.es/202] |
| title_fullStr | No psychological effect of color context in a low level vision task [v1; ref status: indexed, http://f1000r.es/202] |
| title_full_unstemmed | No psychological effect of color context in a low level vision task [v1; ref status: indexed, http://f1000r.es/202] |
| title_short | No psychological effect of color context in a low level vision task [v1; ref status: indexed, http://f1000r.es/202] |
| title_sort | no psychological effect of color context in a low level vision task v1 ref status indexed http f1000r es 202 |
| topic | Cognitive Neuroscience Sensory Systems |
| url | http://f1000research.com/articles/2-247/v1 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT adampedley nopsychologicaleffectofcolorcontextinalowlevelvisiontaskv1refstatusindexedhttpf1000res202 AT alexrwade nopsychologicaleffectofcolorcontextinalowlevelvisiontaskv1refstatusindexedhttpf1000res202 |