When asked to think about a classroom, there are some key features that stand out in one’s mind. A classroom has desks with chairs, probably a carpet for read-aloud instruction, a teacher’s desk, and computers. There is another aspect of classrooms that tends to stand out in one’s mind when remembering their years in school…decorations. Most people can remember bright posters telling them “Reading is awesome!” or “The Steps of the Scientific Method”. For years these posters have been thought to not only motivate and serve as reminders for students, but to also provide a source of sensory stimulation to help in child development.
Researchers have begun to question the impacts of such colorful decorations and backgrounds on development of the senses and cognitive abilities. This questioning comes from the knowledge that some colors are known to distract and alter performance of a task in adults. So, why would certain colors and patterns not also affect children who have less-developed attention spans?
Most often colors have the ability to alter focus when there is a contrast of brightness between two objects as well as multiple brightly colored objects in close proximity. It has been found that too much color whether it be from decorations in a child’s environment or the colors of a screen, have the ability to overstimulate children. But what is the effect of this overstimulation?
A recent study examined the ability of preschoolers to sustain attention on a given task. These tasks included puzzle making, lego reconstruction, and completing a visual task after a read aloud. These tasks were completed by each child once on a surface that was colorful, and once on a surface that was white. Their attention spans were also observed in rooms with lots of colorful posters and those with white walls. Attention was measured based off of certain behaviors such as frustration, eye movements, missing a piece, and how the child searched for pieces.
This study revealed that colorful backgrounds both within the direct work environment as well as in the background make it more difficult to sustain their attention to a task and can cause them to become distracted. Children in the study had a difficult time completing tasks that required them to discriminate between pieces on a colorful background. Attention is a crucial part of being able to complete tasks, often those involved with learning, which suggests that colorful environments and play areas may hinder children’s learning abilities. More research is needed to investigate how these processes are disrupted but it is suggested to limit colorful objects in the child’s environment.
Marissa Robarge
Research Assistant, UConn KIDS
Read the full article here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5083879/