Table 2.

List of strategies reported by participants

Strategy	No. reporting	Example self-report
Contrasting colors	9	I thought it was easiest to identify differences if the color change was from a bright color, like yellow or green, to a darker color, like red or purple.
List of color names	9	At first, I tried to just memorize a list of three to four elements (colors), and if they changed, I would identify them as different molecules.
Piecemeal	7	Furthermore, I tried looking at certain sections of the molecule and memorized that color.
Focus on Shape	7	I also tried to memorize the formation of the structure by its orientation.
Unknown	6	I used the color change in the molecules.
Color tone/pattern	6	Saying the letters made it slightly confusing to really focus on the molecule and arrangement; therefore, instead of looking at bonds, I spent most of my time just looking at colors and the overall tone of the molecule
Redundancy	3	On the molecule, I looked for recurring colors because those stand out to me more than shapes and spatial arrangement.
Mental imagery	2	I would try closing my eyes between seeing two molecules so that the image would remind floating in my mind.
Count no. of colors	1	I tried counting the number of colors, not necessarily thinking about the colors themselves but while just thinking about how many occurrences there were of each color.