Color Context As. A Factor in Encoding and as an Organization Device for Retrieval of Word Lists

Summary

One hundred twenty female undergraduates were presented hierarchically organized or randomly arranged word lists within a context of hierarchically organized or randomly arranged color patterns. Recall scores were significantly higher with a hierarchic color pattern than with a random color pattern; this facilitating effect occurred for both hierarchic organizations and random arrangements of the word lists. The results suggest that S may use context as both a cueing or differentiating factor in encoding and as an organizational device for retrieval.