A back to school blog - beware pen colour!

Teachers - beware pen colour! A recently published US study has found that the colour of the pen used by teachers when marking student's work has an impact on student-teacher relationships. The research, led by Professor Richard Dukes and Associate Professor Heather Albanesi from the University of Colorado involved 199 undergraduate university students who provided feedback on four versions of an essay (either low-quality or high-quality) which had marks and comments from a teacher in either red or aqua coloured pen. They were asked to provide feedback on:

• Whether they agreed with the mark given
• What mark they would give the paper
• Various qualities of the teacher, including whether the teacher appeared to be knowledgeable, organised, nice, enthusiastic and had a good rapport with students

They found that while there were no differences between the perceptions of the quality of the work based on pen colour, perceptions of the teachers were higher for the essays marked in aqua compared to red. Professor Dukes reported that it the colour red is "loaded with emotion". It appeared the use of a red pen equates in the student's mind to "shouting" in the same way as writing in all capitals.

The main message of the research, according to Professor Dukes was that teachers should avoid using red pen if they want to convey constructive, critical comments to students. It "adds emotional loading" to the feedback, and if the teacher does not intend this negative emotion to be part of the communication, it would be worthwhile to rethink the pen colour.

"When the student ..performs well.. and receives a high grade, the situation is a "win-win" (teacher and student are feeling good about the process)," says Dukes. "However, when the student does not perform well, at least some of the blame is put upon the teacher."

This may also be related to the study of colour psychology, which claims that colours evoke emotions, can dramatically affect moods and are powerful communication tools. In the study of colour psychology, red has been found to evoke feelings of anger and hostility, while colours such as blue and green are soothing. There are also physiological responses related to the colour red, it increases the pulse and heart rate, and raises blood pressure and increases the appetite by increasing the metabolism.

Our exceptional brain (continued)

As discussed in our earlier blog, Neuro-what-ology, neuropsychology has evolved along with our burgeoning understanding of the human brain. Two recent studies further illuminate the complexity and awesomeness of this vital organ, and the relationship between brain and behaviour.

Studies such as these are vital to the practice of neuropsychology as they help inform assessment practices and treatment programs and assist with interpretation of results.

Also, they make a great dinner party conversation topic!

Thanks to Karen Wallace, Clinical Neuropsychologist, and fellow ANTSer for sniffing out these great articles.

Synaesthesia and the visual cortex

The first study concerns synaesthesia – a condition where people experience a sense separate to the one being stimulated, such as seeing colours while reading words. Dr Devin Terhune and colleagues from the University of Oxford in the UK found that there is a "fundamental" difference between the brains of people with and without synaesthesia.

People with synaesthesia appear to have an overactive visual cortex, the part of the brain that is responsible for processing visual information, located in the Occipital lobe at the back of the brain.

Over time, this overactivity appears to create changes in the regions of the brain responsible for processing information about letters, colours and numbers during development.

The researchers stimulated the visual cortex of individuals with and without synaesthesia by producing a magnetic field from a coil applied to the scalp. In both cases stimulation resulted in ‘phosphenes’, or flashes of light or other visual images, but those individuals without the condition required three times greater stimulation in order to experience phosphenes.

The researchers hoped that the findings could be used to reduce or eliminate synaesthesia, or even to train those without it to learn digit or word-colour associations, which could be useful when studying mathematics, English or music.

The study was published on November 18, 2011 in Current Biology.

If you’d like to read about the second study, stay tuned...and visit our blog again next week.

If you’d like more information about Advanced Neuropsychological Treatment Services, please visit our website or contact us via our online enquiry form.