Color Research and Application, Vol.43, No.3, 396-404, 2018
The influence of color on impulsiveness and arousal: Part 1-Hue
Impulsiveness and arousal are two similar yet distinct emotional and behavioral states that have been shown to be influenced by color in many fields, such as clothing and environment design. This series of studies investigates the fundamental theory of how color impacts on people's impulsiveness and arousal states. To achieve this goal, psychophysical methods were used to examine the impact of color environment on impulsiveness and arousal. Two main factors were used to quantify them: response time and error rate in problem solving. The psychophysical experiment was designed to examine whether, in a particular color environment, the response time and error rate were different. Participants sat in front of a large TV screen showing different colored backgrounds against which a range of psychometric tests were completed. The color backgrounds varied in hue. During the experiment, participants were required to give their responses to each of the psychometric tests as quickly and accurately as possible. The results showed that different colors can significantly influence response time and error rate, which suggests that color has a distinct influence on impulsiveness and arousal. Gender difference has also been investigated. This article mainly discusses hue influence on impulsiveness and arousal. The influence of chroma along with hue will be explored in the next article.