Abstract
Why do people always associate the blue of the ocean and sky or the green of the forest with feelings of calmness or relaxation? Do these colors directly influence how our brains perceive and respond? Colors are universal in our lives, but subjective sensory stimuli that significantly shape our perceptions and behaviors. This article will discuss a review of the literature that examines why certain colors, such as people think of black are associated with fear or sadness rather than happiness. Different colour tones also affect our emotional state, and the meaning of colours varies across different cultures, such as red is considered festive or good fortune in Eastern culture, but signals danger, aggression, or excitement in Western culture. We also explore certain age groups on color perception and attention, involving children, adults, and the elderly. By synthesizing empirical evidence, this essay underscores the importance of color psychology in practical applications, such as the decision-making of marketing strategies. The colour tones how to influence our physiological responses, such as a warm tone can activate the autonomic nervous system, increasing stress and arousal by stimulating the sympathetic nervous system. Colors are everywhere in our lives and stimulate our visual perception and influence different aspects of human beings. This essay will deeply analyze and discuss how it impacts human cognitive functions and interacts with emotional, attention, and physiological responses.
Introduction
Blue ocean and green sea evoke a sense of relaxation or unwind when people associate them. When looking at them at the seaside, it brings out a feeling of healing, while painting these scenes on the canvas brings people peace and calmness. Have you ever considered that the behind reasons why people find solace can bring them calm? Similarly, people find inner peace when they walk in forests and are surrounded by nature can bring them uplifted energy. Ocean colours are blue, dark blue, or green. Do these colours make people feel visually relaxed, or when they associate blue or green, are feelings of calmness? Undeniably, Colours remind us of nature and provide us with positive energy. Could these colors influence how our brains perceive and respond? What are the factors that impact colours, and are they all connected? The article will explore different colour tones and how they trigger emotional states, and how they affect thoughts, decisions, and behaviors. Moreover, we discuss how different cultures perceive colors and the meaning behind them, and the certain age groups impact their color preferences. The function of emotions, attention, decision-making, and physical responses is interconnected and influences each other actively in our cognition, which we will investigate this depth to understand how powerful impact of color impacts our lives.
Impact of Colors on Attention
In a day, we receive huge messages from daily life, like social media, news, people around us, and the mechanism of our brain to control the data protects us from being overwhelmed, thereby our sensory systems start processing a massive amount of data, and attention that helps us concentrate on certain stimuli while filtering out the rest information. Colours are one of the factors of stimuli in our brain. According to the research, colors influence us to capture and maintain attention, which supports better memory and learning outcomes. Especially, colour stimuli attract more attention than non-colored or greyscale stimuli, warm colors like red, yellow, and orange have a stronger effect on attention than cool colors like brown and grey (Dzulkifli & Mustafar, 2013). Moreover, attention also impacts our memory. If we stimulate more attention, it has a higher chance of being stored in long-term memory. Congruent color conditions can improve memory recall compared to black and white. The data shows 5% to 10% improvement in memory performance for colored images compared to black-and-white images (Dzulkifli & Mustafar, 2013). It shows that colours play a role in stimulating attention in our brain, but the memories could be different across various age groups. The research indicates that children, adults, and the elderly respond to colors in unique ways due to differences in cognitive development and sensory perception (Dzulkifli & Mustafar, 2013). Firstly, children around 4 to 10 years old they particularly sensitive to bright and light colors. Red and green were most effective in enhancing attention and memory in children aged 4 to 5. Girls were responding strongly to red and yellow, while boys responded strongly to green and blue (Dzulkifli & Mustafar, 2013). Secondly, as cognitive processing becomes more advanced in adolescents and adults, which leading response to colours extends beyond brightness to context and emotional association. Warm colors like red make them feel high arousal, urgency, and tend to focus on tasks requiring vigilance or quick responses (Dzulkifli & Mustafar, 2013). Lastly, elderly people around 60 and older tend to have reduced sensitivity to certain colors due to changes in vision, such as yellowing of the lens. High-contrast colors, like black and white, tend to capture their attention (Dzulkifli & Mustafar, 2013).
How Different Colors Affect Emotions
Colors not only capture attention by their visual intensity but also trigger emotional response through psychological associations. Warm tones are more likely to trigger strong emotional reactions, especially enhancing memory retention in the elderly (Dzulkifli & Mustafar, 2013). Emotions and cognitive processes are an integral part of how we perceive the world. Colors constantly affect our senses when people often connect them to certain emotions based on shared cultural experiences or even evolutionary roots (Cherry, 2024). Therefore, we always respond to colors in various settings, influencing our moods and behaviors. For example, people associate yellow with sun colours that reflect happiness and cheerfulness, because it brings warmth and positive emotion colours rather than sadness or fear (Celhay & Luffarelli, 2024). The intensity of color saturation also affects how we perceive emotions. Blue is associated with sky and ocean, making people feel calm or safe, which is why it is commonly used in spaces designed to reduce stress or promote confidence (Elliot, 2015). More and more evidence shows that near or around blue spaces are connected to better mental health and well-being (Geary et al., 2023). The associations of colour can also stem from innate psychological responses and evolutionary roots.
In different cultures, people represent their emotions differently with certain colours. For instance, white is associated with purity and new beginnings in Western culture, such as the bride wearing the wedding dress on the big day. While in certain Eastern cultures, it represents mourning and grief. On the other hand, another study indicated Western university students link the red to energy, love, passion, courage, excitement, danger, and aggression, which shows nursing students’ strong emotions, like their passion for work or the danger and stress they experienced during the pandemic. In Eastern culture, red is respected for happiness, good fortune, and celebration (Atay et al., 2024). These examples demonstrated that the emotional meaning of colors can vary depending on cultural language, geography, and possibly evolutionary roots.
Influence of Colors on Decision-Making
Colours not only impact attention and emotion but also are relevant to decision-making. As the textbook shows, it's the culmination of cognitive processes involving sensation, perception, attention, and memory that are those factors all relevant. For example, the marketing and branding strategies prefer to use red for promotional materials to create a sense of urgency and excitement, encouraging quick decisions (Celhay & Luffarelli, 2024). Blue is used for calmness and trust, which is suitable for corporate and healthcare settings (Chellappa et al., 2011). Black and white evoke sophistication and cleanliness, aligning with luxury or health-related products (Atay et al., 2024), While green shows eco-consciousness, attracts sustainability-focused consumers, and evokes relaxation, which becomes the theme colour of certain skincare brand packages (Celhay & Luffarelli, 2024). Different colours subconsciously evoke specific emotional responses, which in turn drive our decision-making processes or behavior.
However, certain age groups are also affected by different color preferences. Young people prefer the bold, vibrant hues that evoke creativity and energy, while older adults prefer the subdued tones that convey calmness and sophistication (Davis et al., 2021). Based on my observations, more and more elderly people would like to wear bright colours, maybe due to social structure changes that improve the fashion sense, younger psychological age, and other reasons.
Physiological Responses to Colors
We had talked about how Colours impact our emotional levels and attention and stimulate our decision-making. In addition, our physical responses and mental states are also part of them. The emotional well-being, stress levels, and even the activity of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) are relevant. Stress triggers physiological reactions in the ANS, mediated by the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). Warm tones such as red and yellow can stimulate the SNS and increase heart rate and stress levels. Red has been shown to heighten arousal and skin conductivity, while yellow can also elicit excitement and energy. According to the study, it is confirmed that red and yellow environments increase heart rate and physiological arousal. Cool tones such as blue and green have a calming effect on the ANS, reducing heart rate and promoting relaxation (Oh et al., 2021). Warm tone can increase Low-frequency components (LF) activity, which can increase stress levels. In contrast, cool tones increase high-frequency components (HF) activity, can help the body relax. We can find that colors can directly influence our physiological stress and relaxation responses (Oh et al., 2021). On the other hand, high brightness levels enhance arousal and vitality, reducing stress in some cases, and low brightness, especially combined with warm hues, contributes to stress and negative emotional states
In conclusion, we have discussed how colours influence human emotions, behaviors, and physiological responses. It also explains why people feel calm and relaxed while in oceans and forests. It relates to substantiating the idea that colors directly impact how our brains perceive and respond. Colours not only influence our emotional states but also our psychological responses, such as our stress levels (Oh et al., 2021). In culture, colours also have different meanings, such as red across Eastern and Western cultures representing happiness, good fortune, while in Western cultures excitement, danger, and aggression, from shows that different cultural norms also impact on our emotional associations with colors (Atay et al., 2024).
In certain age groups, attention and decision-making are the colors that influence behavior at different stages of life. Young people prefer the vibrant and bold hues as they are in the exploratory and adventurous stage. Older people prefer the high contrast or subdued tones that reflect their need for calm and sophistication (Davis et al., 2021). The decision-making making like marketing or branding strategies, colours are one of the important key factors, such as blue to establish trust and green to be relaxed and be eco-conscious, further illustrating the practical implications of color psychology in guiding consumer behavior (Celhay & Luffarelli, 2024). Through deep analysis and comparison of colors are integral to shaping human perceptions, behaviors, and cognitive processes, and helpful in understanding the treatment cope with mental health disorders. Further research will deeply explore the different aspects of color therapy.
References:
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