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Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Color--Physiological effect; Color--Psychological aspects;

Abstract

Human behavior is influenced by the environment and color is one ever present factor in the environment. Consequently, the impact of color on performance cannot be ignored. Previous research on the effect of color on a fine motor skill has not been systematic and results are inconclusive. The purpose of the present study, then, was to examine the effect of color (green, blue, red, and white) on the performance of a controlled target accuracy task (dart throwing). Based on previous literature, it was hypothesized that color would have an effect on performance. The experiment took place in the Psychomotor Behavior Laboratory in the University of Northern Iowa. The subjects' (N = 63) mean age was 21.31 (SD= 1.97) years, with a range of 19 to 30 years. The order of testing conditions, determined randomly, was green (Group A); blue (Group B); red (Group C); and white (Group D). The four conditions were assigned to subjects as they entered the laboratory for testing. The color of the target, the darts, and the experimenter's shirt were determined by the color condition for each subject. Subjects were given 6 trials for practice and 6 trials for scoring. After performance testing, subjects completed the Ishihara Color Blindness Plates (1980) for testing color perception. The distance between the center of the target and the point each dart made was measured in mm. One-way ANOVA results indicated there were no significant differences between the means of the four groups, F (3, 58) = .606, p > .05. Future research should be focused on the amount of color exposed to subjects during testing and the number of trials and/or time required for testing.

Year of Submission

2000

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

School of Health, Physical Education, and Leisure Services

First Advisor

Sharon Huddleston

Second Advisor

Sue Doody

Third Advisor

Nancy Hamilton

Comments

If you are the rightful copyright holder of this thesis and wish to have it removed from the Open Access Collection, please submit a request to scholarworks@uni.edu and include clear identification of the work, preferably with URL.

Date Original

2000

Object Description

1 PDF file (66 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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