The new year arrives with fresh opportunities, ambitious goals, and renewed hope. Interested in taking your productivity to the next level in 2026? Think colors!
Colors are ingrained in our brain and become second nature to us. The road signs on your way to school are colored differently whether regulatory, warning, or guide. For condiments, we know that ketchup is red and mustard is yellow. In nature, animals use color as self-defense through changing colors for camouflage or using bright colors to show toxicity. As a society, we’ve built connections between certain colors and themes, such as blue with sadness or calmness and green with nature and growth.
We often don’t realize how colors subconsciously they influence our emotions and actions. In fact, we can apply colors in our lives to make us more efficient and effective. A paper by Chai et al. (2019) published in Frontiers in Neuroinformatics worked to measure and quantify the specific effects of color on memory utilizing electroencephalography (EEG),a non-invasive method to record electrical activity of the brain.
In their study, 45 participants were exposed to learning materials of different colors and tested on their retention after 30 minutes and one month. This study found that participants who learned with colored materials had better memory performance than those who learned with black-and-white materials. Color even had a greater effect on the long-term memory than the short-term. This was, in part, due to the positive emotional state color induced in the participant, which then in turn strengthened their attention and memory. Because color processing utilizes more regions of the brain, materials in color also activate more parts of the brain to focus on learning. Color also stimulates a top-down approach to processing information, which is more suited for remembering information in the brain.
Researchers also found that the type of color influences the flow of information in the left and right hemispheres. Participants who utilized learning materials of warm colors had faster reaction times than those who utilized learning materials of cool colors. In fact, warmer colors have been found to offer increased stimulation and perception. On the other hand, cool colors induce tranquility, which can help with concentration.
So how can we apply these findings to our studying? Highlighting or writing notes in color is a simple way to start. Many students already underline key passages or ideas. Try using a colored highlighter or red pen as an addition. Depending on the state of your studying and whether you want to increase excitement or enhance concentration, use warmer- or cooler-toned colors accordingly. For example, if you feel drowsy, pick a warm color like bright red. On the other hand, if you feel you are getting easily distracted, select a calm cool color like blue.
As American cartoonist Bill Watterson reminds us, “A new year. A fresh, clean start! It’s like having a big white sheet of paper to draw on!” Avail yourself of a new tool — colors. Paint the new year in bold hues!
