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Weng HC, Huang LY, Imcha L, Huang PC, Yang CT, Lin CY, Li PH. Drawing as a window to emotion with insights from tech-transformed participant images. Sci Rep 2024; 14:11571. [PMID: 38773125 PMCID: PMC11109233 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-60532-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2024] [Accepted: 04/24/2024] [Indexed: 05/23/2024] Open
Abstract
This study delves into expressing primary emotions anger, happiness, sadness, and fear through drawings. Moving beyond the well-researched color-emotion link, it explores under-examined aspects like spatial concepts and drawing styles. Employing Python and OpenCV for objective analysis, we make a breakthrough by converting subjective perceptions into measurable data through 728 digital images from 182 university students. For the prominent color chosen for each emotion, the majority of participants chose red for anger (73.11%), yellow for happiness (17.8%), blue for sadness (51.1%), and black for fear (40.7%). Happiness led with the highest saturation (68.52%) and brightness (75.44%) percentages, while fear recorded the lowest in both categories (47.33% saturation, 48.78% brightness). Fear, however, topped in color fill percentage (35.49%), with happiness at the lowest (25.14%). Tangible imagery prevailed (71.43-83.52%), with abstract styles peaking in fear representations (28.57%). Facial expressions were a common element (41.76-49.45%). The study achieved an 81.3% predictive accuracy for anger, higher than the 71.3% overall average. Future research can build on these results by improving technological methods to quantify more aspects of drawing content. Investigating a more comprehensive array of emotions and examining factors influencing emotional drawing styles will further our understanding of visual-emotional communication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hui-Ching Weng
- Institute of Allied Health Sciences, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, 1 University Road, East Dist., Tainan, 701401, Taiwan.
- Institute of Gerontology, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, 1 University Road, East Dist., Tainan, 701401, Taiwan.
| | - Liang-Yun Huang
- Institute of International Business, College of Management, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
| | - Longchar Imcha
- Institute of International Business, College of Management, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
| | - Pi-Chun Huang
- Department of Psychology, College of Social Sciences, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
| | - Cheng-Ta Yang
- Institute of Allied Health Sciences, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, 1 University Road, East Dist., Tainan, 701401, Taiwan
- Department of Psychology, College of Social Sciences, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
- Graduate Institute of Health and Biotechnology Law, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Chung-Ying Lin
- Institute of Allied Health Sciences, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, 1 University Road, East Dist., Tainan, 701401, Taiwan
- Biostatistics Consulting Center, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
- Department of Occupational Therapy, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
- Department of Public Health, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
| | - Pin-Hui Li
- Department of Engineering Science, College of Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
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2
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Jonauskaite D, Epicoco D, Al-Rasheed AS, Aruta JJBR, Bogushevskaya V, Brederoo SG, Corona V, Fomins S, Gizdic A, Griber YA, Havelka J, Hirnstein M, John G, Jopp DS, Karlsson B, Konstantinou N, Laurent É, Marquardt L, Mefoh PC, Oberfeld D, Papadatou-Pastou M, Perchtold-Stefan CM, Spagnulo GFM, Sultanova A, Tanaka T, Tengco-Pacquing MC, Uusküla M, Wąsowicz G, Mohr C. A comparative analysis of colour-emotion associations in 16-88-year-old adults from 31 countries. Br J Psychol 2024; 115:275-305. [PMID: 38041610 DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12687] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2023] [Revised: 10/03/2023] [Accepted: 10/31/2023] [Indexed: 12/03/2023]
Abstract
As people age, they tend to spend more time indoors, and the colours in their surroundings may significantly impact their mood and overall well-being. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence to provide informed guidance on colour choices, irrespective of age group. To work towards informed choices, we investigated whether the associations between colours and emotions observed in younger individuals also apply to older adults. We recruited 7393 participants, aged between 16 and 88 years and coming from 31 countries. Each participant associated 12 colour terms with 20 emotion concepts and rated the intensity of each associated emotion. Different age groups exhibited highly similar patterns of colour-emotion associations (average similarity coefficient of .97), with subtle yet meaningful age-related differences. Adolescents associated the greatest number but the least positively biased emotions with colours. Older participants associated a smaller number but more intense and more positive emotions with all colour terms, displaying a positivity effect. Age also predicted arousal and power biases, varying by colour. Findings suggest parallels in colour-emotion associations between younger and older adults, with subtle but significant age-related variations. Future studies should next assess whether colour-emotion associations reflect what people actually feel when exposed to colour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Domicele Jonauskaite
- Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Déborah Epicoco
- Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | | | | | | | - Sanne G Brederoo
- University Center for Psychiatry, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
| | - Violeta Corona
- School of Economics and Business Administration, Universidad Panamericana, Mexico City, Mexico
- Business Management Department, Universitat Politècnica de València, Valencia, Spain
| | - Sergejs Fomins
- Department of Optometry and Vision Science, Faculty of Physics, Mathematics and Optometry, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia
| | - Alena Gizdic
- Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Yulia A Griber
- Department of Sociology and Philosophy, Smolensk State University, Smolensk, Russia
| | | | - Marco Hirnstein
- Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - George John
- Department of Biotechnology, Government of India (formerly), New Delhi, India
| | - Daniela S Jopp
- Institute of Psychology and LIVES Center of Competence, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Bodil Karlsson
- Division Built Environment, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Nikos Konstantinou
- Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, School of Health Sciences, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus
| | - Éric Laurent
- Laboratoire de recherches Intégratives en Neurosciences et psychologie Cognitive (LINC), Université de Franche-Comté, Besançon, France
| | - Lynn Marquardt
- Section for Clinical Neurophysiology, Department of Neurology, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
| | - Philip C Mefoh
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of the Social Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria
| | - Daniel Oberfeld
- Institute of Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany
| | | | | | | | | | - Takumi Tanaka
- Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology and Faculty of Letters, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | | | - Mari Uusküla
- School of Humanities, Tallinn University, Tallinn, Estonia
| | - Grażyna Wąsowicz
- Department of Economic Psychology, Kozminski University, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Christine Mohr
- Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
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3
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Qin Y. Spice up the moment: The influence of spicy taste on people's metaphorical perspectives on time. Perception 2024; 53:240-262. [PMID: 38332618 DOI: 10.1177/03010066241229269] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/10/2024]
Abstract
Embodied cognition contends that sensorimotor experiences undergird cognitive processes. Three embodied cross-domain metaphorical mappings constitute quintessential illustrations: spatial navigation and orientation underpin the conceptualization of time and emotion and gustatory sensation underlies the formulation of emotion. Threading together these strands of insights, the present research consisted of three studies explored the potential influence of spicy taste on people's metaphorical perspectives on time. The results revealed a positive correlation between spicy taste and the ego-moving metaphor for time such that individuals who enjoyed spicy taste (Study 1) and who consumed spicy (vs. salty) snack (Study 2) exhibited a predilection for the ego-moving perspective when cognizing a temporally ambiguous event. Because both spicy taste and the ego-moving metaphor are associated with anger and approach motivation, the latter two were postulated to be related to the novel taste-time relationship. Corroborative evidence for the hypothesis was found, which indicated that spicy (vs. salty) intake elicited significantly stronger anger toward and significantly greater approach-motivated perception of a rescheduled temporal event (Study 3). Taken together, the current findings demonstrate that spicy taste may play a role in people's perspectives on the movement of events in time and highlight the involved embodied interrelation between language, emotion, and cognition.
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Khadir A, Maghareh M, Sasani Ghamsari S, Beigzadeh B. Brain activity characteristics of RGB stimulus: an EEG study. Sci Rep 2023; 13:18988. [PMID: 37923926 PMCID: PMC10624840 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-46450-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2023] [Accepted: 11/01/2023] [Indexed: 11/06/2023] Open
Abstract
The perception of color is a fundamental cognitive feature of our psychological experience, with an essential role in many aspects of human behavior. Several studies used magnetoencephalography, functional magnetic resonance imaging, and electroencephalography (EEG) approaches to investigate color perception. Their methods includes the event-related potential and spectral power activity of different color spaces, such as Derrington-Krauskopf-Lennie and red-green-blue (RGB), in addition to exploring the psychological and emotional effects of colors. However, we found insufficient studies in RGB space that considered combining all aspects of EEG signals. Thus, in the present study, focusing on RGB stimuli and using a data-driven approach, we investigated significant differences in the perception of colors. Our findings show that beta oscillation of green compared to red and blue colors occurs in early sensory periods with a latency shifting in the occipital region. Furthermore, in the occipital region, the theta power of the blue color decreases noticeably compared to the other colors. Concurrently, in the prefrontal area, we observed an increase in phase consistency in response to the green color, while the blue color showed a decrease. Therefore, our results can be used to interpret the brain activity mechanism of color perception in RGB color space and to choose suitable colors for more efficient performance in cognitive activities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alireza Khadir
- Biomechatronics and Cognitive Engineering Research Lab, School of Mechanical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran
| | - Mohammad Maghareh
- Biomechatronics and Cognitive Engineering Research Lab, School of Mechanical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran
| | - Shamim Sasani Ghamsari
- Biomechatronics and Cognitive Engineering Research Lab, School of Mechanical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran
| | - Borhan Beigzadeh
- Biomechatronics and Cognitive Engineering Research Lab, School of Mechanical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran.
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5
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Weijs ML, Jonauskaite D, Reutimann R, Mohr C, Lenggenhager B. Effects of environmental colours in virtual reality: Physiological arousal affected by lightness and hue. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2023; 10:230432. [PMID: 37830019 PMCID: PMC10565396 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.230432] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2023] [Accepted: 09/18/2023] [Indexed: 10/14/2023]
Abstract
It is a popular belief that colours impact one's psychological and affective functioning. However, clear-cut scientific evidence is still lacking, largely due to methodological challenges. Virtual reality (VR) enabled us to control and modify the environment. We exposed 60 participants to red or blue environments varying in lightness and saturation. We assessed participants' physiological responses (i.e. arousal) with heart rate and skin conductance measures, and their self-reported levels of valence and arousal in response to the coloured environments. The results revealed physiological effects of lightness and hue. When compared with the baseline measures, heart rate increased, and heart rate variability decreased more in the dark than the medium lightness rooms. Both measures signalled higher arousal in the darker room, irrespective of hue. Also, when compared with the baseline measures, skin conductance increased more in the red than the blue rooms, again signalling higher arousal in the red condition. The difference between the red and the blue conditions was detectable only on some saturation and lightness combinations. We conclude that being immersed in environments of different colours can change physiological arousal. However, not all changes are driven by hue and not all the effects are measurable on all physiological parameters.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marieke Lieve Weijs
- Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich 8006, Switzerland
- Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich 8050, Switzerland
| | - Domicele Jonauskaite
- Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne 1015, Switzerland
- Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna 1010, Austria
| | - Ricarda Reutimann
- Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich 8006, Switzerland
| | - Christine Mohr
- Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne 1015, Switzerland
| | - Bigna Lenggenhager
- Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich 8006, Switzerland
- Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz 78457, Germany
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6
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Shirai M, Soshi T. Color features continuously represent negative and positive aspects of sadness. THE JOURNAL OF GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY 2023; 150:96-119. [PMID: 33988083 DOI: 10.1080/00221309.2021.1922344] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Emotion is assumed to be stored in long-term memory as a concept by a feature (e.g., "tears" for "sadness") that is a memory unit of a concept. Memory activation of emotion concepts via features is supposed to enable recognition of emotional states. Emotion concepts are associated with various perceptual features oriented toward the interior and exterior of the body. Although previous studies have revealed that internal perceptual features need to recognize emotional experiences, how external perceptual features contribute to memory representation of emotions is unclear. This study focused on sadness and aimed to identify how color, which is an external perceptual feature, represents sadness in long-term memory. We hypothesized that colors continuously represent positive and negative aspects of sadness. Participants rated the congruency between each of 99 color visual stimuli and five major emotions, six sadness-related situations, and five psychological properties. Consistent with the prediction, two bluish color groups appeared to represent sadness based on emotional congruency ratings. Colors with the highest sadness ratings were related to dark and dull bluish ones. On the other hand, lighter bluish colors mixed with green appearance were similarly congruent with both sadness and happiness. The lightness properties of these sadness-related bluish colors continuously represent sadness dominancy (sadness rating minus happiness rating). Additionally, sadness dominancy of each sadness-related color group was differently associated with sadness-related situations. These findings indicate that color features contribute to memory representation of sadness in association with situations and that color features continuously instantiate negative and positive aspects of sadness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mariko Shirai
- Department of Psychology, Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Takahiro Soshi
- Graduate School of Advanced Integrated Studies in Human Survivability, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
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7
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Tumeh IBRG, Bergerot CD, Lee D, Philip EJ, Freitas-Júnior R. mHealth program for patients with advanced cancer receiving treatment in a public health hospital in Brazil. Psychooncology 2023; 32:125-132. [PMID: 36284459 DOI: 10.1002/pon.6059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2022] [Revised: 09/06/2022] [Accepted: 09/25/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Previous studies have suggested the benefit of routine screening for biopsychosocial symptoms among patients with cancer. In recognition of the lack of data from low- and middle-income countries, this study sought to test and determine the effect of a mHealth program to screen biopsychological symptoms among patients with advanced breast or gynecological cancer. METHODS This was a quasi-experimental pre-post study conducted in a public hospital located in central western Brazil. Patients diagnosed with advanced breast of gynecological cancer who were about to initiate chemotherapy treatment at this institution and had access to Internet by smartphone, computer or tablet were invited to participate. Patients received training on using the app Comfort, a program developed to rate their physical and emotional symptoms during the 6-month of the proposed study. Patients were also asked to complete the EuroQOL 5D (EQ-5D-3L) every month. Mann-Whitney U test was used to determine differences among groups of patients (engaged and non-engaged). RM-ANOVA was used to determine the effect of time on mean visual analog scale (VAS) score. RESULTS A total of 125 patients were recruited (median age = 46.6 years old, 41.6% married). Mostly, patients possessed lower levels of education and had relatively low monthly incomes. Notably, 67.2% of patients engaged with the Comfort program, and few patients (4%) withdrew due to lack of engagement with the program or issues with internet connection. In general, patients who engaged with the program reported improvement in physical and emotional symptoms (p < 0.01), as well as in their overall quality of life (VAS; p = 0.009), compared with patients who did not engage with the program. CONCLUSIONS This is the first mHealth program developed in Brazil for patients in a low resource setting. Our findings suggest that Comfort could be an effective resource to assist patients and health care providers track symptoms and improve patients' quality of life.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - David Lee
- University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
| | - Errol J Philip
- University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
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8
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Kim H, Jang JM. Disadvantages of red: The color congruence effect in comparative price advertising. Front Psychol 2022; 13:1019163. [DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1019163] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2022] [Accepted: 10/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Based on the metaphorical association of color, the color red is often associated with a “hot deal” in a price promotion context, which has led to the popular use of red in promotions in the marketplace. In two studies, this research challenges the lay belief that the color red used in price advertising positively influences consumers’ perceptions of value. The findings from the two studies revealed a contrasting pattern of results depending on the depth of the discount. When the discount depth was high (consistent with consumers’ lay belief), the red color led to more favorable responses to a price promotion than other colors (white or blue in Study 1 and green in Study 2). In contrast, when the discount depth was unambiguously low, consumers who were exposed to a red colored price promotion advertisement reported a perception of a lower value compared to those who saw the same advertisement with other colors We attribute this effect to the degree of “processing fluency” that arises from the congruence between the color and promotion content. Our research adds to the existing psychology literature on color functioning by showing a match between the referential meaning of the color red (i.e., a hot deal) and consumers’ perceptions in marketing communication.
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Gasteiger N, Lim J, Hellou M, MacDonald BA, Ahn HS. A Scoping Review of the Literature On Prosodic Elements Related to Emotional Speech in Human-Robot Interaction. Int J Soc Robot 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s12369-022-00913-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Background
Sentiment expression and detection are crucial for effective and empathetic human-robot interaction. Previous work in this field often focuses on non-verbal emotion expression, such as facial expressions and gestures. Less is known about which specific prosodic speech elements are required in human-robot interaction. Our research question was: what prosodic elements are related to emotional speech in human-computer/robot interaction?
Methods
The scoping review was conducted in alignment with the Arksey and O’Malley methods. Literature was identified from the SCOPUS, IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library and PsycINFO databases in May 2021. After screening and de-duplication, data were extracted into an Excel coding sheet and summarised.
Results
Thirteen papers, published from 2012 to 2020 were included in the review. The most commonly used prosodic elements were tone/pitch (n = 8), loudness/volume (n = 6) speech speed (n = 4) and pauses (n = 3). Non-linguistic vocalisations (n = 1) were less frequently used. The prosodic elements were generally effective in helping to convey or detect emotion, but were less effective for negative sentiment (e.g., anger, fear, frustration, sadness and disgust).
Discussion
Future research should explore the effectiveness of commonly used prosodic elements (tone, loudness, speed and pauses) in emotional speech, using larger sample sizes and real-life interaction scenarios. The success of prosody in conveying negative sentiment to humans may be improved with additional non-verbal cues (e.g., coloured light or motion). More research is needed to determine how these may be combined with prosody and which combination is most effective in human-robot affective interaction.
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10
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Surov IA. Quantum core affect. Color-emotion structure of semantic atom. Front Psychol 2022; 13:838029. [PMID: 36248471 PMCID: PMC9554469 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.838029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2021] [Accepted: 08/08/2022] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Psychology suffers from the absence of mathematically-formalized primitives. As a result, conceptual and quantitative studies lack an ontological basis that would situate them in the company of natural sciences. The article addresses this problem by describing a minimal psychic structure, expressed in the algebra of quantum theory. The structure is demarcated into categories of emotion and color, renowned as elementary psychological phenomena. This is achieved by means of quantum-theoretic qubit state space, isomorphic to emotion and color experiences both in meaning and math. In particular, colors are mapped to the qubit states through geometric affinity between the HSL-RGB color solids and the Bloch sphere, widely used in physics. The resulting correspondence aligns with the recent model of subjective experience, producing a unified spherical map of emotions and colors. This structure is identified as a semantic atom of natural thinking-a unit of affectively-colored personal meaning, involved in elementary acts of a binary decision. The model contributes to finding a unified ontology of both inert and living Nature, bridging previously disconnected fields of research. In particular, it enables theory-based coordination of emotion, decision, and cybernetic sciences, needed to achieve new levels of practical impact.
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Liao S, Sakata K, Paramei GV. Color Affects Recognition of Emoticon Expressions. Iperception 2022; 13:20416695221080778. [PMID: 35265312 PMCID: PMC8900290 DOI: 10.1177/20416695221080778] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2021] [Revised: 12/30/2021] [Accepted: 01/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
In computer-mediated communication, emoticons are conventionally rendered in yellow.
Previous studies demonstrated that colors evoke certain affective meanings, and face color
modulates perceived emotion. We investigated whether color variation affects the
recognition of emoticon expressions. Japanese participants were presented with emoticons
depicting four basic emotions (Happy, Sad, Angry, Surprised) and a Neutral expression,
each rendered in eight colors. Four conditions (E1–E4) were employed in the lab-based
experiment; E5, with an additional participant sample, was an online replication of the
critical E4. In E1, colored emoticons were categorized in a 5AFC task. In E2–E5, stimulus
affective meaning was assessed using visual scales with anchors corresponding to each
emotion. The conditions varied in stimulus arrays: E2: light gray emoticons; E3: colored
circles; E4 and E5: colored emoticons. The affective meaning of Angry and Sad emoticons
was found to be stronger when conferred in warm and cool colors, respectively, the pattern
highly consistent between E4 and E5. The affective meaning of colored emoticons is
regressed to that of achromatic expression counterparts and decontextualized color. The
findings provide evidence that affective congruency of the emoticon expression and the
color it is rendered in facilitates recognition of the depicted emotion, augmenting the
conveyed emotional message.
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Affiliation(s)
- Songyang Liao
- Graduate School of Human Sciences, Kanagawa University, Kanagawa, Japan
- Department of Fine Arts, Joshibi University of Art and Design, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Katsuaki Sakata
- Department of Fine Arts, Joshibi University of Art and Design, Tokyo, Japan
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12
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Winskel H, Forrester D, Hong M, O'Connor K. Seeing red as anger or romance: an emotion categorisation task. JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2021.1936538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Heather Winskel
- Psychology, School of Health and Human Sciences, Southern Cross University, Coffs Harbour, Australia
| | - Declan Forrester
- Psychology, School of Health and Human Sciences, Southern Cross University, Coffs Harbour, Australia
| | - Madelyn Hong
- Psychology, School of Health and Human Sciences, Southern Cross University, Coffs Harbour, Australia
| | - Kourtney O'Connor
- Psychology, School of Health and Human Sciences, Southern Cross University, Coffs Harbour, Australia
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13
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Barbosa Escobar F, Velasco C, Motoki K, Byrne DV, Wang QJ. The temperature of emotions. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0252408. [PMID: 34081750 PMCID: PMC8174739 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0252408] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2020] [Accepted: 05/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Emotions and temperature are closely related through embodied processes, and people seem to associate temperature concepts with emotions. While this relationship is often evidenced by everyday language (e.g., cold and warm feelings), what remains missing to date is a systematic study that holistically analyzes how and why people associate specific temperatures with emotions. The present research aimed to investigate the associations between temperature concepts and emotion adjectives on both explicit and implicit levels. In Experiment 1, we evaluated explicit associations between twelve pairs of emotion adjectives derived from the circumplex model of affect, and five different temperature concepts ranging from 0°C to 40°C, based on responses from 403 native speakers of four different languages (English, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese). The results of Experiment 1 revealed that, across languages, the temperatures were associated with different regions of the circumplex model. The 0°C and 10°C were associated with negative-valanced, low-arousal emotions, while 20°C was associated with positive-valanced, low-to-medium-arousal emotions. Moreover, 30°C was associated with positive-valanced, high-arousal emotions; and 40°C was associated with high-arousal and either positive- or negative-valanced emotions. In Experiment 2 (N = 102), we explored whether these temperature-emotion associations were also present at the implicit level, by conducting Implicit Association Tests (IATs) with temperature words (cold and hot) and opposing pairs of emotional adjectives for each dimension of valence (Unhappy/Dissatisfied vs. Happy/Satisfied) and arousal (Passive/Quiet vs. Active/Alert) on native English speakers. The results of Experiment 2 revealed that participants held implicit associations between the word hot and positive-valanced and high-arousal emotions. Additionally, the word cold was associated with negative-valanced and low-arousal emotions. These findings provide evidence for the existence of temperature-emotion associations at both explicit and implicit levels across languages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francisco Barbosa Escobar
- Department of Food Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
- * E-mail:
| | - Carlos Velasco
- Department of Marketing, Centre for Multisensory Marketing, BI Norwegian Business School, Oslo, Norway
| | - Kosuke Motoki
- Department of Food Science and Business, Miyagi University, Sendai, Japan
| | - Derek Victor Byrne
- Department of Food Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Qian Janice Wang
- Department of Food Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
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Jonauskaite D, Sutton A, Cristianini N, Mohr C. English colour terms carry gender and valence biases: A corpus study using word embeddings. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0251559. [PMID: 34061875 PMCID: PMC8168888 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0251559] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2020] [Accepted: 04/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
In Western societies, the stereotype prevails that pink is for girls and blue is for boys. A third possible gendered colour is red. While liked by women, it represents power, stereotypically a masculine characteristic. Empirical studies confirmed such gendered connotations when testing colour-emotion associations or colour preferences in males and females. Furthermore, empirical studies demonstrated that pink is a positive colour, blue is mainly a positive colour, and red is both a positive and a negative colour. Here, we assessed if the same valence and gender connotations appear in widely available written texts (Wikipedia and newswire articles). Using a word embedding method (GloVe), we extracted gender and valence biases for blue, pink, and red, as well as for the remaining basic colour terms from a large English-language corpus containing six billion words. We found and confirmed that pink was biased towards femininity and positivity, and blue was biased towards positivity. We found no strong gender bias for blue, and no strong gender or valence biases for red. For the remaining colour terms, we only found that green, white, and brown were positively biased. Our finding on pink shows that writers of widely available English texts use this colour term to convey femininity. This gendered communication reinforces the notion that results from research studies find their analogue in real word phenomena. Other findings were either consistent or inconsistent with results from research studies. We argue that widely available written texts have biases on their own, because they have been filtered according to context, time, and what is appropriate to be reported.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Adam Sutton
- Department of Computer Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Nello Cristianini
- Department of Computer Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Christine Mohr
- Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
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15
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Jonauskaite D, Camenzind L, Parraga CA, Diouf CN, Mercapide Ducommun M, Müller L, Norberg M, Mohr C. Colour-emotion associations in individuals with red-green colour blindness. PeerJ 2021; 9:e11180. [PMID: 33868822 PMCID: PMC8035895 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.11180] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2020] [Accepted: 03/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Colours and emotions are associated in languages and traditions. Some of us may convey sadness by saying feeling blue or by wearing black clothes at funerals. The first example is a conceptual experience of colour and the second example is an immediate perceptual experience of colour. To investigate whether one or the other type of experience more strongly drives colour-emotion associations, we tested 64 congenitally red-green colour-blind men and 66 non-colour-blind men. All participants associated 12 colours, presented as terms or patches, with 20 emotion concepts, and rated intensities of the associated emotions. We found that colour-blind and non-colour-blind men associated similar emotions with colours, irrespective of whether colours were conveyed via terms (r = .82) or patches (r = .80). The colour-emotion associations and the emotion intensities were not modulated by participants’ severity of colour blindness. Hinting at some additional, although minor, role of actual colour perception, the consistencies in associations for colour terms and patches were higher in non-colour-blind than colour-blind men. Together, these results suggest that colour-emotion associations in adults do not require immediate perceptual colour experiences, as conceptual experiences are sufficient.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Lucia Camenzind
- Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland
| | - C Alejandro Parraga
- Comp. Vision Centre/Comp. Sci. Department, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Cécile N Diouf
- Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland
| | | | - Lauriane Müller
- Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland
| | - Mélanie Norberg
- Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland
| | - Christine Mohr
- Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland
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16
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Schloss KB, Witzel C, Lai LY. Blue hues don't bring the blues: questioning conventional notions of color-emotion associations. JOURNAL OF THE OPTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA. A, OPTICS, IMAGE SCIENCE, AND VISION 2020; 37:813-824. [PMID: 32400715 DOI: 10.1364/josaa.383588] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2019] [Accepted: 03/15/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
It is commonly held that yellow is happy and blue is sad, but the reason remains unclear. Part of the problem is that researchers tend to focus on understanding why yellow is happy and blue is sad, but this may be a misleading characterization of color-emotion associations. In this study, we disentangle the contribution of lightness, chroma, and hue in color-happy/sad associations by controlling for lightness and chroma either statistically or colorimetrically. We found that after controlling for lightness and chroma, colors with blue hue were no sadder than colors with yellow hue, and in some cases, colors with blue hue were actually happier. These results can help guide future efforts to understand the nature of color-emotion associations.
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Jonauskaite D, Parraga CA, Quiblier M, Mohr C. Feeling Blue or Seeing Red? Similar Patterns of Emotion Associations With Colour Patches and Colour Terms. Iperception 2020; 11:2041669520902484. [PMID: 32117561 PMCID: PMC7027086 DOI: 10.1177/2041669520902484] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2019] [Accepted: 12/17/2019] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
For many, colours convey affective meaning. Popular opinion assumes that perception of colour is crucial to influence emotions. However, scientific studies test colour-emotion relationships by presenting colours as patches or terms. When using patches, researchers put great effort into colour presentation. When using terms, researchers have much less control over the colour participants think of. In this between-subjects study, we tested whether emotion associations with colour differ between terms and patches. Participants associated 20 emotion concepts, loading on valence, arousal, and power dimensions, with 12 colours presented as patches (n = 54) or terms (n = 78). We report high similarity in the pattern of associations of specific emotion concepts with terms and patches (r = .82), for all colours except purple (r = .-23). We also observed differences for black, which is associated with more negative emotions and of higher intensity when presented as a term than a patch. Terms and patches differed little in terms of valence, arousal, and power dimensions. Thus, results from studies on colour-emotion relationships using colour terms or patches should be largely comparable. It is possible that emotions are associated with colour concepts rather than particular perceptions or words of colour.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Christine Mohr
- Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
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18
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19
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Jonauskaite D, Wicker J, Mohr C, Dael N, Havelka J, Papadatou-Pastou M, Zhang M, Oberfeld D. A machine learning approach to quantify the specificity of colour-emotion associations and their cultural differences. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2019; 6:190741. [PMID: 31598303 PMCID: PMC6774957 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.190741] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2019] [Accepted: 08/22/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
The link between colour and emotion and its possible similarity across cultures are questions that have not been fully resolved. Online, 711 participants from China, Germany, Greece and the UK associated 12 colour terms with 20 discrete emotion terms in their native languages. We propose a machine learning approach to quantify (a) the consistency and specificity of colour-emotion associations and (b) the degree to which they are country-specific, on the basis of the accuracy of a statistical classifier in (a) decoding the colour term evaluated on a given trial from the 20 ratings of colour-emotion associations and (b) predicting the country of origin from the 240 individual colour-emotion associations, respectively. The classifier accuracies were significantly above chance level, demonstrating that emotion associations are to some extent colour-specific and that colour-emotion associations are to some extent country-specific. A second measure of country-specificity, the in-group advantage of the colour-decoding accuracy, was detectable but relatively small (6.1%), indicating that colour-emotion associations are both universal and culture-specific. Our results show that machine learning is a promising tool when analysing complex datasets from emotion research.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jörg Wicker
- School of Computer Science, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Christine Mohr
- Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Nele Dael
- Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Department of Organizational Behavior, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | | | | | - Meng Zhang
- Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, People's Republic of China
| | - Daniel Oberfeld
- Institute of Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz, Germany
- Laboratoire ICube UMR7357 Université de Strasbourg, France
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