1- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Qom branch
Abstract: (3081 Views)
Aim: Cognitive performance is the process of thinking that leads to understanding of thoughts and ideas. One of the factors affecting the cognitive performance of individuals, especially those of children, is color. There are some reasons why the effects of color on cognitive performance and subsequent academic achievement of students should be studied further: First of all, this makes it possible to assess more accurately how reproduction and generalization of the effect of color on performance can be achieved; secondly, as with many psychological effects, the study of the phenomenon professionally allows a better understanding of the mechanisms of color; and thirdly, theories on color effects and behaviors indicate that the role of the effects of the field is important. More research is required to be done on the effects of color in areas such as classroom and educational background. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of color stimuli on cognitive performance (motor skills, problem solving, and creativity) of students in Birjand City.
Methods: The present study is a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design with control and experimental groups. The statistical population consisted of all female students of the 3rd grade elementary school of Birjand City, comprising 2500 students in the academic year of 2018-2019. 44 participants in each group (22 ones in the intervention group and 22 ones in the control group) were selected via the convenience sampling method. In order to control the intervening variables, the researchers tried to homogenize the selected participants in terms of demographic characteristics such as age, socioeconomic status, having parents (father-mother), lack of physical-motor disability, and lack of psychological disorders. The inclusion criteria consisted of: being female 3rd grade elementary school students, tendency to participate in the experiment, being at ages ranging from 8 to 10 years, and having mental health according to DSM5 criteria. Exclusion criteria were criteria include lack of interest during the trial, and being absent for more than two sessions. The number of members in each group was 22. The instrument used in the research are based on those employed in Anna Franklin (2016), which are: motor skills test (this sub-test consists of two questions and each question answers 5 points), the problem-solving skill test (this subscale consists of two questions and each question receives 5 points) and the creativity test (this subscale consists of two questions and each question receives 5 points). Some of the instruments have changed due to the difference in curricula in Iran, including numerical calculation as well as understanding and interpretation. According to the researcher-made cognitive performance based on Franklin's instruments, content validity index (CVI) was employed to determine validity of the designed instrument. Also, for determination of its reliability, the test-retest method was used. Data were analyzed by MANCOVA.
Results: The research findings indicate that there is a significant correlation of the components of cognitive performance, namely, problem solving skills, creativity, and motor skills with color stimuli. Color stimuli have a positive effect on students' creativity. The value of variable of creativity in students influenced by yellow is significantly less than that of students influenced by blue, pale blue, and green. Also shown is that there is a significant difference between the mean scores of creativity variable in the red group and the pale blue, blue, green groups, which means that creativity of students influenced by red is less than those affected by pale blue, blue, and green. Also, the results show that in all experimental groups under the influence of different colors, creativity is more than that of students in the control group or under the influence of white.
Conclusion: Color stimuli have a positive effect on students' creativity, problem solving, and motor skills.