Science & Technology, Canada (Commonwealth Union) – It has long been believed that colors have the ability to influence our moods and emotions, as they evoke certain psychological and physiological responses. While individual experiences and cultural factors can influence these effects to some extent, there are general associations between colors and moods that are commonly observed.
Red is often seen as a vibrant and intense color associated with energy, passion, and excitement. It can stimulate the body and raise heart rate, making it an ideal choice for creating a sense of urgency or drawing attention. However, excessive use of red can evoke feelings of anger or aggression.
Blue has generally been seen as a calming and serene color often associated with peace, tranquility, and stability. It has a soothing effect on the mind and body, promoting relaxation and reducing stress. Blue is commonly used in environments where a sense of calmness is desired, such as bedrooms or meditation spaces. However, too much blue can create feelings of sadness or melancholy.
The association between moods and colors may have new scientific validation with the, University of Toronto (U of T) scientists stating in a new study confirming the links between feelings and certain shades as well as shapes.
The recent study that appeared in the Journal of Vision, where scientists from the Faculty of Arts & Science’s department of psychology together with their collaborators have verified research marking consistent links between certain colors and lines, as well as particular emotions.
Dirk Bernhardt-Walther, who is an associate professor in the department of psychology indicated that what was verified in their study was the systematic application of certain colors as well as lines to depict certain emotions.
The results may assist designers and visual artists put across emotions to users or viewers, or form architectural or designed spaces triggering positive responses. It may further bring about an increased understanding of visual esthetics, the way artists depict emotions in their work and if it brings about the response they want from viewers.
The study was led by author Claudia Damiano, a postdoctoral researcher with the department of brain and cognition at KU Leuven in Belgium, who is also a past graduate student in Bernhardt-Walther’s lab. Damiano carried out the study with Pinaki Gayen, a visiting graduate student who arrived at the U of T’s department of psychology in 2019 with a Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute Research Fellowship. U of T co-authors consist of Bernhardt-Walther together with postdoctoral fellow Morteza Rezanejad, also in the department of psychology.
The research involved, Bernhardt-Walther along with his colleagues recruiting 40 students from visual arts programs at OCAD University as well as 41 non-artists from STEM programs at U of T. All of them were told to produce 2 abstract drawings, where one utilized a color and one lines for each of 6 emotions that included anger, disgust, fear, sadness, joy together with wonder.
The scientists started by validating the concept that distinct emotions were shown in a consistent manner. They 1st carried out computational evaluations of the lines and colors for all the drawings. Then they formed a computational model that was capable of forecasting the emotion from the visual properties of drawings from both artists and non-artists.
Observations were made in the study where drawings indicating negative emotions had an increased number of lines along with darker colors. The drawings having positive emotions where with less density as well as being more curved with brighter colors.
The researchers also discovered that it was simpler to guess the emotion a color drawing is depicting than for a line drawing. Speculations were made that this was due to the links between colors and emotions being stronger for individuals than those between lines and emotions.
In addition, while the research did not go into if these links are innate or learned, Bernhardt-Walther draws on his own study and that of others, noting these color-emotion matches are not just culturally learned, where in other words, they did not learn them simply from the paintings, illustrations as well as movies seen throughout their lives.
