Affective Cues and Processing Strategy: Color-Coded Examination Forms Influence Performance

We argue that external cues provide affective information that influences processing strategy and, therefore, examination performance. Participants completed 2 supposedly different forms of a midterm examination; in fact, randomly assigned participants completed identical midterm examinations printe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Teaching of psychology 1998-01, Vol.25 (2), p.130-132
Main Authors: Sinclair, Robert C., Soldat, Alexander S., Mark, Melvin M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cognitive Psychology
Color
Cues
Dimensional Preference
Higher Education
Performance Factors
Prompting
Psychology
Sensory Experience
Test Format
Test Theory
Testing
Visual Discrimination
Visual Perception
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Summary:We argue that external cues provide affective information that influences processing strategy and, therefore, examination performance. Participants completed 2 supposedly different forms of a midterm examination; in fact, randomly assigned participants completed identical midterm examinations printed on either red or blue paper. Blue paper led to superior performance, especially for difficult questions. We note a method for appropriately adjusting scores to control for form effects while maintaining percentile rankings within and across forms. We discuss implications for test administration, examination form effects, and adjustment of scores.
ISSN:0098-6283
1532-8023
DOI:10.1207/s15328023top2502_14