Psychophysical Examination of Memory Colors using a Web Application - A Pilot Study

The term long-term memory color is used to describe those colors that are recalled in association with familiar objects, meaning objects with which we have a frequent visual experience. To understand this phenomenon in more detail, this study investigates whether nationality, image cue, and the hours of playing virtual reality games has an effect on it. Thus, memory colors for seven everyday objects were investigated: Caucasian skin, orange, banana, sky, leaf, grass, and river. In the course of the test 3 tasks were needed to be solved: coloring with the entire palette, coloring with a narrowed-down palette while the image cue is present, and coloring with a narrowed-down palette while the image cue is absent. The test was completed by 54 university students. Statistical analysis showed that our nationality does influence certain memory colors. If more than an average of 20 hours were spent playing virtual reality games per week, it resulted in darker memory colors, but not for every investigated object. The presence or absence of an image cue does indeed have an impact on the choice of color. 70.9% of observers chose a different color when the object in question was not present.