Examination of the effects of color vs. black-and-white picture stimuli on spoken discourse performance

Project Summary:
Some studies suggest that color pictures might enhance attention and memory, leading to better performance in spoken discourse tasks. However, other studies suggest that the effects of color vs. black-and-white pictures might not be significant or may even be detrimental to performance in certain contexts. This study aims to investigate the effects of color vs. black-and-white picture stimuli on spoken discourse performance. Factors of age, education, cognitive abilities, and language proficiency on discourse in response to color vs. black-and-white pictures will also be examined. This research will be conducted face-to-face, and will involve interview of, testing, and data collection from both healthy (unimpaired) native speakers of Cantonese and individual people with impaired language (i.e., those with acquired language deficits).

Deliverables:
a data analysis report and an essay/academic paper

Preferred discipline(s):
speech pathology, psychology, linguistics, social sciences

Project essential skills:
interviewing skills, linguistic data processing skills/experience, native speaker of Cantonese

Other selection criteria (if any):
interviews may be arranged to determine students’ readiness and motivation to participate into this research project

Details of supervision arrangements:
Student researchers will have a chance to complete research tasks in the Aphasia Research and Therapy (ART) Laboratory (https://slp-art-lab.edu.hku.hk/) under supervision from the Lab Director and research personnel. There will also be regular in-person (or virtual, as needed) progress meetings.