Experiment 2 separated effects of color on conscious and unconscious
components of memory. Participants performed tasks where they viewed a list of words
in red or blue backgrounds and then were asked to complete words stems in two different
ways. While viewing the words, the participants had either full attention or were
distracted by a counting-backward test (divided attention). All the participants took part
EFFECT OF COLOR 9
in each combination of color, attention, and test type. The primary hypothesis was that if
red evoked the avoidance motivation, the red, the divided attention condition would lead
to a higher probability of recollection compared to the blue, divided attention condition