THE INVESTIGATION OF DESIGN FEATURES OF BRAINWAVES INDUCED BY COLORS
METHODS PARTICIPANTS
The participants of this study were 12 right-handed undergraduate and graduate students, whose ages were from 18 to 23 years old (21.16 on average), of college of design in one university of science and technology in Taiwan, including 4 males and 8 females. Every participant should pass the red-green color vision defects test to make sure that he/she does not have visual deficiencies or if his/her eyesight is above 0.8 after correction. Only who
passed the test can participate in the experiment.
Forty-eight hours before the experiment, each participant stopped using stimuli such as caffeine, which will affects brainwaves, and avoided intense activities, in order to exclude other interference effects from brain wave records.
MATERIALS
According to the results of market observation, most convenience stores, supermarkets, and other retail stores display their products under 6500K color temperature lights (61.65%). These stores sell mainly juice, tea, water, energy drinks, soft drinks, coffee and so on, which were mostly in 1/3 (71.84%)aspect ration round-shaped PET bottles. According to observation, the colors of the PET bottles are mainly matched by two visual base colors. Research has indicated that when two colors of the same square measure putting together, the harmony of colors perceived by people would be more consentient (Jhuang Míng Jhen & Ye Cing Lín, 1998). The present study was aimed to investigate two colors
combination, so the experimental stimuli were designed in 1:1 square measure with up-down juxtaposition. The present study was based on the Munsell color wheel, the representative example of color appearance system, and considered the angles of two colors on the Munsell color circle (Mahyar, Cheung, & Westland, 2010; Pridmore, 2008;
Westland, Laycock, Cheung, Henry, & Mahyar, 2007;
Uchita, 2008) to analyze the survey results of the color combinations of 360 PET and retort pouch samples in markets in Wan-Hua District of Taipei in Taiwan (see Note 1).Three categories applied most often in the markets served as the representatives of the stimuli: red/green (46.80%), yellow/red (13.92%), and yellowish-green/green (18.14%). Three color combinations in 80% of the bottle’s square measure were put on three 1/3 aspect ratio round-shaped PET bottles respectively, and were collocated with white cap as the experimental stimuli of the present study.
Among all the physical factors in the illumination environment, light intensity and color temperature have the biggest and most direct effects on human bodies (Jiang Jhe Míng, Wang Wei, Liou Jian Jhìh, &
Chen Jìng Wun, 2007). The light intensity of most convenience stores in Taiwan is above 1,000Lux, and
3 between 1,000~3,000Lux in exhibit areas of
supermarkets (Bureau of Standards, Metrology &
Inspection, 1987). Therefore, the display color temperature was controlled in 6,500K, and the light intensity was set between the convenience stores and the exhibit areas of supermarkets as 2,000Lux.
After choosing appropriate LED, the light box was customized. In order to decrease other interference effects in the illumination environment, the
experiment was conducted in a laboratory in which the lights were turned off. The experimental stimuli were designed as in Table 1.
Color
combinations red/green yellow/red yellowish-green/green Munsell hue
value
Table 1. Experimental sample design
Before the experiment, participants briefly practiced to familiarize with the measurement of the
brainwave experiment; during the experiment, every stimulus randomly appeared for 30 times, and the same kind of stimuli did not appear continuously.
The total amount is 90 times. The experiment was conducted in a brainwave observation laboratory in the college of design of one university of science and technology in Taiwan. The experimental environment was strictly controlled to avoid interference effects such as noises, lights, room temperature and so on.
The experimental light box was placed on a 70 cm high table and was at a distance of 70-80 cm from the participant. The horizontal viewing angle was adjusted to 10-20.
The experiment recorded aesthetic brainwaves and the results were analyzed by the SPSS 12.0 statistic software through multivariate statistical analysis.
RESULTS
The aesthetic brainwave results, which were induced by experimental samples of color combination designs, were recorded from 12 electrodes and categorized the brain into 3 areas—“left hemisphere, central, and right hemisphere” and 4 areas—“frontal lobe, central, parietal lobe, and occipital lobe.” The statistic analysis results of the aesthetic brainwave data and the brain areas are as follows (see Table 2).
The experimental samples of three color combinations have significant effects on Ⱦleft, central, and right hemispheresȿ in terms of aesthetic brainwave amplitudes (F = 4.835炻P = 0.010<0.05). The results of TukeyȽs HSD post hoc comparison showed that: the aesthetic brainwave amplitude induced by “red/green” combinations was greater than “yellowish-green/green” one. The interaction between experimental samples of three color combinations and “frontal lobe, central, parietal lobe, and occipital lobe” has significant effects on aesthetic brainwave amplitudes on average, multivariate test revealed that Wilks’Λ value was 0.508 (P = 0.015 <0.01).The results of Tukey’s HSD post hoc comparison indicated that in parietal lobe area, aesthetic brainwave amplitudes induced by “red/green” combination was greater than “yellowish-green/green” one; in occipital lobe area, aesthetic brainwave amplitude induced by
“red/green” combination was greater than
“yellow/red” or “yellowish-green/green” ones; in
“red/green” combination, aesthetic brainwave amplitude in parietal lobe was greater than in occipital lobe and central brain, which was also greater than in frontal lobe; in “yellow-red”
combination, aesthetic brainwave amplitude in parietal lobe was greater than in the occipital lobe and frontal lobe; in “yellowish-green/green”
combination, aesthetic brainwave amplitude in parietal lobe was greater than in central brain, which was greater than in frontal lobe, and the aesthetic brainwave amplitude in parietal lobe was greater than in the occipital lobe.
DIVERSITY AND UNITY
4 Independent
variables
Dependent Variables Results Brain areas Aesthetic
Brainwaves Tukey’s HSD炷M炸 ANOVA
F-value P-value
Color Combination
left, central, right brain
Aesthetic Brainwaves
Red/green炷4.97炸烍yellowish-green/green炷6.58炸 4.835 0.010*
frontalˣ centralˣ parietalˣ occipital
Frontal lobe烉炼
Under red/green烉parietal 炷10.83炸烍occipital 炷8.36炸ˣcentral炷8.19炸 烍frontal炷5.76炸
11.626 0.000***
Central brain烉炼
Under Yellow/red烉parietal
烍yellowish-green/green 炷8.97炸
Under Yellowish-green/green烉parietal 炷8.97炸烍central炷7.04炸 烍frontal炷5.00炸; parietal 炷8.97炸烍occipital炷6.03炸 Occipital烉red/green炷8.36炸烍yellow/red
炷6.80炸ˣyellowish-green/green炷6.03炸 Table 2. Results of the Independent variables
Color-related brainwave research has indicated that brain can response more quickly when there is greater contrast between the background color and the foreground color (Liu, Wang, Song, & Wu, 2010).
The aesthetic brainwave amplitude is related to attention task efficiency that a greater amplitude is related to better cognitive memory performance (Boucher, et al., 2010).Compared the results of the aesthetic brainwave amplitudes induced by three color combinations samples, red/green combination caused greater amplitudes than
yellowish-green/green one, and red/green combination also made the brain respond quicker, attracted attention, complete attraction tasks, and had better cognitive memory performance.
In terms of color design, red and green, complementary colors in two ends of the color circle’s diameter, become the best color
combination design which satisfied people’s visual desires and needs because of the human eyes’
physiological characteristics. Besides, red/green and yellowish-green/green are also harmonious color combinations (Nagai & Uchikawa, 2009; Ou & Luo, 2006; Pridmore, 2008; Westland, et al., 2007). To sum up the discussion above, red/green combination can attract attention more quickly and have better cognitive memory performance, which can serve as a unique color combination design. Three physical
channel color combination samples are shown in table 3.
Color
combinations red/green yellow/red
yellowish-green /green
Pictures
Table 3. Color combinations of physical channel samples
Observing three color combination samples, they all have significant effects on the aesthetic brainwaves in “frontal lobe, central, parietal lobe, and occipital lobe” areas. The amplitude in parietal lobe was greater than 3 other brain areas (see Figure 1).
Research has pointed out that when participants changed or updated attention distribution on the targets or the stimulus environment changed, the aesthetic brainwave was induced by sensation and was positively and significantly related to the parietal lobe area (Polich, 2007).
Otherwise, the aesthetic brainwave was related to background updates of working memory, memory storage, and cognition control process (Fjell, et al., 2007; Gómez & Flores, 2011; Liu, et al., 2010; Polich, 2007). Therefore, red/green color combination can induce the greatest aesthetic brainwave amplitude, a design which connect sensory memory, retrieve and store memory more quickly.
DIVERSITY AND UNITY
2 5 57 7 red/green yellow/green yellowish-green/green Figure 1. Responses of the aesthetic brainwave amplitudes of 3 color combination samples
Although three color combination samples did not have significant effects on the aesthetic brainwaves in Ⱦleft hemisphere, central brain, and right
hemisphereȿ (F = 0.000炻P=1.000>0.005), compared the aesthetic brainwaves in with left hemisphere and right hemisphere (see figure 1), it was found that red/green color combination induced greater amplitude in right hemisphere than the yellowish-green/green combination. The results of this study were similar with previous research related to colors, attention and memory: aesthetic brainwaves were more likely to occur in the right brain, which dominated the sensation (Chen, et al., 2007; Polich, 2007; Simon-Dack, et al., 2009).
DISCUSSION
Among 3 color combinations, red/green is a design which can catch attention, connect sensory memory and store memory more quickly. The present study used 3 color combinations in PET bottles as
experimental samples to investigate the effects of color combinations on aesthetic brainwaves and the relationships between them. Liu, et al. (2010) investigated the effects of the colors of the traffic signs on brain cognition. The research found out that when the content of the traffic sign was easier and the contrast of the background and foreground colors were greater, the brain can respond more quickly.
Cano, et al.(2009)applied negative, neutral, and positive pictures in International Affective Pictures System (IAPS) to investigate the relationship between colors and aesthetic brainwaves. The research indicated that object colors help to define sensation completely, and also help to adjust memory activation and other affective-related process. Furthermore, the research results which used Stroop’s test also pointed out that the aesthetic brainwave was related to better oral cognitive memory. The amount of the amplitude was related
to the speed of color recognition process, the
interference of attention index, and the shorter time to complete the task (Boucher, et al., 2010). Early brainwave research about color and attention has been searching for color-related target words to understand how the brain’s cognition worked. The research suggested that there was a component, which was related to searching words in colors, occurred late and longer after the stimulus appeared.
The relative detection of the targets would induce aesthetic brainwave components in the parietal lobe (Wijers, et al., 1989). Although the experimental stimuli and situations were different, the research also suggested that in brain cognition process and retail situation, color combinations had quite large effects on attention, target detection, situational information categorization and update, memory formation, and so on.
Red/green color combination induced greater amplitude in the right brain than the yellowish-green/green one. This result is similar with the previous research which indicated that the aesthetic brainwaves occurred in sensory-related right brain (Chen, et al., 2007; Polich, 2007; Simon-Dack, et al., 2009). Simon-Dack, et al., (2009) took dynamic laser light as stimulus to investigate the visual and tactile synesthesia. Chen, et al., (2007) pointed out that inductive reasoning and other visual-related cognitive tasks are closely related to the right hemisphere. Polich, J. (2007) found that when processing oddball task, which had various kinds of stimuli, the right hemisphere had the greater aesthetic brainwave amplitude than in the left or central one. The present study manipulated “color combination” designs as experimental stimuli also aroused greater aesthetic brainwave amplitudes in the right brain. Related research has indicated that right brain has more remarkable connections to keep attention, evaluate stimuli, detect targets, and update working memory/background information.
Therefore, to summarize the above, red/green combination can catch consumers’ attention more quickly, connect to sensory memory faster, produce designs with desires and memory, and contribute to the final buying action more easily.
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PRODEEDINGS IASDR2011
36
CONCLUSION
The results of the present study clearly revealed colors, aesthetic brainwaves, and the activation of the brain, and found that: (1) red/green combination induced greater aesthetic brainwave amplitudes; (2) the activation of the brain verified that parietal lobe was a reliable area to observe color, attention, and memory.
The aesthetic brainwaves play important roles in synesthesia in terms of early stage of perceptions, late stage of attention or during the inhibition process (Gebuis, et al., 2009). Recently, oddball studies which applied aural and visual stimuli have found that when the participants were anxious or depressed, the amplitudes of the aesthetic brainwaves in the parietal lobe would be lower (Campanella, et al., 2010). Therefore, it inferred that the red/green combination, which induced greater amplitudes, would have better attention, better cognitive memory performance, and arouse positive emotions more easily. The common impression of the red/green combinations such as merry Christmas, delicious fruits like tomatoes, watermelons and so on can easily arouse positive emotions. Colors play important roles in the brain’s attention, emotions, memory and other cognitive process. On the basis of the results of the present study, it is suggested that the following research can further investigate the effects of colors on
consuming emotions and consuming desires combined with brain cognitive activities and behavior to
construct more completed cross-disciplinary database of colors and consumers’ emotional cognition and consuming behavior models. The present study designed PET bottle samples to investigate the effects of color combinations on the aesthetic brainwaves and was benefit for the future commercial colors application and cross-disciplinary research.
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[Note 1]
The present study was based on the hue angles of the main hues and other hues at the Munsell color wheel (Westland, Laycock, Cheung, Henry, & Mahyar, 2007; Chita, 2008; Di & Wang, 2009) to quantify two colors’ included angle as 180, 150-120, and 90-30 three different levels. According to the The International Commission on Illumination (CIE), the types of the fluorescent light tube in the stores and the records of their color temperature when leaving the factory, the fluorescent light was quantified as three categories, high (7,500~5,000K), medium (3,300-5,000K), and low color temperature (below 3,300K). The present study took
“the color temperature of white fluorescent light” and “hue angles” of color combinations to infer the market observational results (see Table 4).
Package Colors Number/Rank (%)
Color temperature of the white fluorescent light in the stores High color
temperatur Table 4. The percentage of the color in the present study