Author(s)

Yicen Zhu ¹

Affiliation(s)

¹ Shanghai Pinghe School, Shanghai, China

Corresponding Author

Yicen Zhu

ABSTRACT

How to design a physical space which maximizes people’s attention is a valuable undertaking, as its answer can improve people’s productivity at school or workplace. In this study, how background color changes people’s concentration while reading is explored. Twenty-four participants were recruited and asked to complete reading comprehension questions with different background color. Eye-tracker was used to record participants’ eye movements, thereby their reading speed and attention. Results show that participants were most concentrated when the background color is red and least concentrated when the background color is black, which agrees with implications of previous research.

KEYWORDS

Background color, Attention, Eye movement, Fixation time

CITE THIS PAPER

Yicen Zhu, The Impact of Background Color on Reading Speed and Attention. Journal of Human Movement Science (2022) Vol. 3: 9-12. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/jhms.2022.030102.

REFERENCES

[1] Allport, A. (1989). Visual attention. In M. I. Posner (Ed.), Foundations of cognitive science (pp. 631–682). The MIT Press.
[2] De Abreu, M. S., Giacomini, A. C., Genario, R., Dos Santos, B. E., Marcon, L., Demin, K. A., & Kalueff, A. V. (2020). The impact of housing environment color on zebrafish anxiety-like behavioral and physiological (cortisol) responses. General and comparative endocrinology, 294, 113499.
[3] Fisher, A. V., Godwin, K. E., & Seltman, H. (2014). Visual environment, attention allocation, and learning in young children: When too much of a good thing may be bad. Psychological science, 25(7), 1362-1370.
[4] Frey, H. P., Honey, C., & König, P. (2008). What's color got to do with it? The influence of color on visual attention in different categories. Journal of Vision, 8(14), 6-6.
[5] Muho, A., & Kurani, A. (2011). The role of interaction in second language acquisition. European Scientific Journal, 16, 44-54.
[6] Shimoda, T. A. (1993). The effects of interesting examples and topic familiarity on text comprehension, attention, and reading speed. The Journal of experimental education, 61(2), 93-103.
[7] Tennessen, C. M., & Cimprich, B. (1995). Views to nature: Effects on attention. Journal of environmental psychology, 15(1), 77-85.
[8] Werthamer-Larsson, L., Kellam, S., & Wheeler, L. (1991). Effect of first‐grade classroom environment on shy behavior, aggressive behavior, and concentration problems. American journal of community psychology, 19(4), 585-602.
[9] Yeshurun, Y. (2004). Isoluminant stimuli and red background attenuate the effects of transient spatial attention on temporal resolution. Vision research, 44(12), 1375-1387.

Sponsors, Associates, and Links

---

• Journal of Language Testing & Assessment
  
  
• Information and Knowledge Management
  
  
• Military and Armament Science
  
  
• Media and Communication Research
  
  
• Art and Performance Letters
  
  
• Lecture Notes on History
  
  
• Lecture Notes on Language and Literature
  
  
• Philosophy Journal
  
  
• Science of Law Journal
  
  
• Journal of Political Science Research
  
  
• Journal of Sociology and Ethnology
  
  
• Advances in Broadcasting