This study compares the effects of black and white and color mediated content on pupil's affective responses at different levels of maturation for 148 students in grades four, seven and 12 of the Calgary Public School System. Students in each treatment group were shown a set of 14 identical slides in either black and white or color and told to record their affective responses to each slide on a set of ten semantic differential scales which expressed affective feeling on the evaluation, potency, activity, and color dimensions. They were told to evaluate slides according to how strongly or weakly the affective content made them feel in relation to each set of scales. Findings revealed that students of an earlier level of maturation react at a more impulsive level of feeling than students at a later level. Treatment (black and white or color) has an effect on affective responses in the evaluation, potency, activity, and color dimension. The affective content of a slide affects the direction in which responses will be recorded, but the absence or addition of color affects the degree of appraisal. (Author)