Presenter: Katia Krane
Faculty Mentor: Don Tucker, Anita Christie
Presentation Type: Poster 73
Primary Research Area: Science
Major: Human Physiology, Psychology
Western associations of colors, especially of red and green, influence how individuals consciously perceive the meanings of these colors. However, very little research has investigated the underlying neural processes of localized colors presented as meaningful stimuli, like words, and the possible effects these colors have on behavior. The aim of this study was to investigate initial neural responses to red and green colored word stimuli and the effects of these colors on behavior, including working memory and response time. Using dense-array EEG, event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded following presentation of word stimuli in red and green ink. ERPs represent measurements of post-synaptic potentials following a response evoking stimulus, in this case red and green colored words, to show real time neural processing of stimuli immediately after presentation. Additionally, memory recall and average response times for each color category were recorded. Participants recalled more red colored words than green, however, did not show significant differences in average response times during the emotional Stroop task, indicating that color may impact working memory but not response performance during the Stroop task. ERP waveform amplitude differences between color categories in components known to be involved in visual processing and discrimination, such as the C1, P1 and N1, suggest that differences in color perception occur quickly post stimulus presentation. These results suggest a bottom-up cognitive mechanism of color perception that may influence behaviors, such as working memory. Associations of the colors red and green may not simply be arbitrary, but linked to underlying differences in neural processing which may imply biases in previous research in which an emotional Stroop task was used to investigate behavioral and neural responses.