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The Psychological and Physiological Effects of Light and Colour on Space Users

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Nadeen Abbas
Nadeen Abbas
Nadeen Abbas
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Dinesh Kumar at RMIT University
Dinesh Kumar
Neil Mclachlan at University of Melbourne
Neil Mclachlan
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Abstract

The impact of colour and light conditions on our emotional and physical health and wellbeing is gaining greater importance in our urban societies. While large resources are allocated for well designed buildings with the right choice of colour and lighting conditions, there are little scientific evidence that supports these choices. The aim of this research was to determine the impact of different colours and lighting conditions on people, using non-invasive means. Close correlations between cardiac activity, our emotions and health are well reported in literature and hence it is expected to be a good measure of environmental conditions on people. Electrocardiogram (ECG) is the non-invasive recording of the cardiac activity. Thus, this paper reports experimental research conducted where changes in ECG were measured when the participants were exposed to different colour and light conditions. The results of these experiments show that there is a change in heart rate (HR) due to change in colour and lighting conditions.
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Psychological and Physiological Effects of
Light and Colour on Space Users
A Dissertation Submitted in Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Master of Engineering
by
Nadeen Abbas
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Science, Engineering and Technology Portfolio
RMIT University
March 2006
c
2006 Nadeen Abbas
All Rights Reserved
Declaration
I certify that except where due acknowledgement has been made, the work is that of the author
alone; the work has not been submitted previously, in whole or in part, to qualify for any other
academic award; the content of the thesis is the result of work which has been carried out since
the official commencement date of the approved research program; and, any editorial work, paid
or unpaid, carried out by a third party is acknowledged.
Signed: .................................................................... Date:...............................
Nadeen Abbas
i
This dissertation is dedicated to my Parents, Family & Friends
Acknowledgements
I would like to first thank Almighty God for all his blessings, one of them is being able to complete
this work which I hope will contribute to the welfare of people.
I would like at this juncture to express my deepest appreciation and gratitude to my supervisor
A/Prof. Dinesh Kank Kumar for his support, assistance and advice throughout my candidature
at RMIT University. My deepest thanks are extended to my co-supervisor Dr. Neil Mclachlan.
I gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Australian Postgraduate Awards
(APA), which grated me a scholarship for supporting my research and living expenses.
I also wish to express my appreciation to A/Prof. Panlop Zeephongsekul, Faculty of Applied
Science Mathematics and Statistics at RMIT University, for his help and valuable comments
on statistical analysis. I also extend my deepest thanks and appreciation to Dr. SeedAhmed
Mahmoud and Dr. Esref Turker, RMIT University for their great support, help and encouragement
throughout my candidature.
I would like to thank my colleagues Prashant Suryanarayanan, Zuraini Dahari, Djuwari
Djuwari and Alexandru Fechete, with whom I shared the research office, for their suppor t and
the wonderful time I spent with them. I would like to particularly thank my colleague Prashant
Suryanarayanan for his continuous help, assistance and support.
I would like to express my deepest appreciation and gratitude to my cousins Amin Abbas
and Nada Abuhamdeh, my friends Wigdan Mahamed, Yasmeen Hiyabo and Ruqaya Basheer
for their unlimited support. They are always there for me and are the ones I fall back upon when
I am weak. My deepest gratitude is extended to Mr Abdelkarim Hilli for his great support and
iii
advice. His doors were always open to me whenever I seek his help.
Finally I would like to dedicate this work to my parents, sister and brothers. I always tried
my best to make them proud of me. They have always been there to support me. No words can
ever express what they mean to me and how grateful I am to have them.
iv
Publications
Conference Publications
1. Nadeen Abbas, Dinesh Kumar and Neil Mclachlan, The Psychological and Phys-
iological Effects of Light and Colour on Space Users, 27
th
Annual International
Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, Shanghai, China,
September 2005.
2. Nadeen Abbas, Dinesh Kumar and Neil Mclachlan, Measuring the emotional and
physiological effects of light and colour on space users, 2
nd
International Confer-
ence on Informatics in Control, Automation & Robotics, Barcelona, Spain, September
2005.
3. Nadeen Abbas, Prashant Suryanarayanan and Dinesh K. Kumar, The Psychophys-
iological Impact of Colours and Lighting on Space Users, 5
th
Australian Space
Science Conference, September 2005.
Submitted Journal Publications
1. Nadeen Abbas, Dinesh K. Kumar and Neil Mclachlan, The Psychological and
Physiological Effects of Light and Colour on Space Users, Journal of Color Re-
search and Application .
2. Nadeen Abbas, Prashant Suryanarayanan and Dinesh K. Kumar, Correlation of
Psychological and Physiological Measures of Emotion, Journal of Bioengineering
v
and Technology.
vi
Keywords
Colour, Electrocardiogram, Emotion, Heart Rate, Heart Rate Variability, Light, Lighting, Self
Assessment Manikin, Skin Conductance.
vii
Preface
T
he main topic of this reseach is to study the emotional effects of colour and lighting on
space users using physiological and psychological measures. It is clear from literature
that the choices of colour and lighting of constructed spaces are not based on scientific facts,
thus there is a need for a research that studies the impact of colour and light on people using sub-
jective and objective measures. I hope that this work will help Architects and Interior-Designers
in their choices of colour and light and inspires further research into this field.
Melbourne
March 2006
Nadeen Abbas
viii
CONTENTS
Declaration i
Acknowledgements iii
Publications v
Keywords vii
Preface viii
Acronyms xx
Abstract xxi
1 Introduction 1
2 Literature Review 3
2.1 Light, colour and emotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2 Measuring emotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.3 Physiological measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.3.1 Cardiac Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.3.2 Skin conductance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.4 Psychological measure: Self Assessment Manikin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.5 Aim of the research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
ix
3 Methodology 10
3.1 Participants selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.2 Experimental set up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.3 Equipments and signal processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.4 Statistical analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4 Results and Observation 15
4.1 ECG results and analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.2 SC results and analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.3 SAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
4.3.1 Arousal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
4.3.2 Valence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4.4 One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.5 Two-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
5 Discussion 31
5.1 Summary of Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
6 Conclusion 39
A ECG Recordings 41
B SC Recordings 72
C HR Charts 78
D SC Charts 84
E Arousal Charts 90
F Valence Charts 96
G Plain Language Summary 102
H Participant Consent Form 104
Bibliography 105
x
LIST OF FIGURES
3.1 Electrode Placement for ECG Recordings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.2 Electrode Placement for SC Recordings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.1 ECG signal for participant 1 under White light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4.2 Difference in mean HR for subject 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.3 SC signal for participant 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.4 Change in mean SC for participant 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
4.5 Change in arousal par t icipant 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
4.6 Change in valence participant 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
A.1 Participant 1 - ECG Recordings for participant 1 for all colour lights . . . . . . . 42
(a) White light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
(b) Blue-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
(c) Blue-high light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
(d) Green-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
(e) Green-high light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
(f) Red-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
(g) Red-hig light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
(h) Natural light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
A.2 Participant 2 - ECG Recordings for participant 2 for all colour lights . . . . . . . 44
(a) White light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
xi
(b) Blue-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
(c) Blue-high light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
(d) Green-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
(e) Green-high light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
(f) Red-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
(g) Red-hig light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
(h) Natural light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
A.3 Participant 3 - ECG Recordings for participant 3 for all colour lights . . . . . . . 46
(a) White light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
(b) Blue-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
(c) Blue-high light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
(d) Green-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
(e) Green-high light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
(f) Red-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
(g) Red-hig light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
(h) Natural light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
A.4 Participant 4 - ECG Recordings for participant 4 for all colour lights . . . . . . . 48
(a) White light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
(b) Blue-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
(c) Blue-high light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
(d) Green-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
(e) Green-high light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
(f) Red-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
(g) Red-hig light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
(h) Natural light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
A.5 Participant 5 - ECG Recordings for participant 5 for all colour lights . . . . . . . 50
(a) White light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
(b) Blue-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
(c) Blue-high light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
(d) Green-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
(e) Green-high light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
xii
(f) Red-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
(g) Red-hig light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
(h) Natural light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
A.6 Participant 6 - ECG Recordings for participant 6 for all colour lights . . . . . . . 52
(a) White light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
(b) Blue-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
(c) Blue-high light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
(d) Green-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
(e) Green-high light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
(f) Red-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
(g) Red-hig light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
(h) Natural light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
A.7 Participant 7 - ECG Recordings for participant 7 for all colour lights . . . . . . . 54
(a) White light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
(b) Blue-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
(c) Blue-high light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
(d) Green-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
(e) Green-high light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
(f) Red-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
(g) Red-hig light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
(h) Natural light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
A.8 Participant 8 - ECG Recordings for participant 8 for all colour lights . . . . . . . 56
(a) White light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
(b) Blue-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
(c) Blue-high light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
(d) Green-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
(e) Green-high light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
(f) Red-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
(g) Red-hig light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
(h) Natural light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
A.9 Participant 9 - ECG Recordings for participant 9 for all colour lights . . . . . . . 58
xiii
(a) White light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
(b) Blue-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
(c) Blue-high light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
(d) Green-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
(e) Green-high light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
(f) Red-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
(g) Red-hig light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
(h) Natural light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
A.10 Participant 10 - ECG Recordings for participant 10 for all colour lights . . . . . 60
(a) White light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
(b) Blue-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
(c) Blue-high light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
(d) Green-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
(e) Green-high light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
(f) Red-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
(g) Red-hig light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
(h) Natural light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
A.11 Participant 11 - ECG Recordings for participant 11 for all colour lights . . . . . 62
(a) White light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
(b) Blue-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
(c) Blue-high light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
(d) Green-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
(e) Green-high light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
(f) Red-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
(g) Red-hig light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
(h) Natural light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
A.12 Participant 12 - ECG Recordings for participant 12 for all colour lights . . . . . 64
(a) White light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
(b) Blue-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
(c) Blue-high light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
(d) Green-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
xiv
(e) Green-high light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
(f) Red-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
(g) Red-hig light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
(h) Natural light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
A.13 Participant 13 - ECG Recordings for participant 13 for all colour lights . . . . . 66
(a) White light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
(b) Blue-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
(c) Blue-high light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
(d) Green-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
(e) Green-high light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
(f) Red-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
(g) Red-hig light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
(h) Natural light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
A.14 Participant 14 - ECG Recordings for participant 14 for all colour lights . . . . . 68
(a) White light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
(b) Blue-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
(c) Blue-high light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
(d) Green-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
(e) Green-high light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
(f) Red-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
(g) Red-hig light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
(h) Natural light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
A.15 Participant 15 - ECG Recordings for participant 15 for all colour lights . . . . . 70
(a) White light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
(b) Blue-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
(c) Blue-high light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
(d) Green-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
(e) Green-high light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
(f) Red-low light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
(g) Red-hig light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
(h) Natural light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
xv
(a) Participant 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
(b) Participant 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
(c) Participant 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
(a) Participant 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
(b) Participant 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
(c) Participant 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
(a) Participant 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
(b) Participant 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
(c) Participant 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
(a) Participant 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
(b) Participant 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
(c) Participant 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
(a) Participant 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
(b) Participant 14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
(c) Participant 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
(a) Participant 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
(b) Participant 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
(c) Participant 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
(a) Participant 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
(b) Participant 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
(c) Participant 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
(a) Participant 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
(b) Participant 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
(c) Participant 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
(a) Participant 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
(b) Participant 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
(c) Participant 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
(a) Participant 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
(b) Participant 14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
(c) Participant 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
xvi
(a) Participant 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
(b) Participant 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
(c) Participant 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
(a) Participant 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
(b) Participant 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
(c) Participant 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
(a) Participant 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
(b) Participant 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
(c) Participant 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
(a) Participant 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
(b) Participant 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
(c) Participant 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
(a) Participant 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
(b) Participant 14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
(c) Participant 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
(a) Participant 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
(b) Participant 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
(c) Participant 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
(a) Participant 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
(b) Participant 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
(c) Participant 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
(a) Participant 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
(b) Participant 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
(c) Participant 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
(a) Participant 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
(b) Participant 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
(c) Participant 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
(a) Participant 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
(b) Participant 14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
(c) Participant 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
xvii
(a) Participant 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
(b) Participant 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
(c) Participant 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
(a) Participant 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
(b) Participant 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
(c) Participant 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
(a) Participant 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
(b) Participant 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
(c) Participant 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
(a) Participant 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
(b) Participant 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
(c) Participant 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
(a) Participant 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
(b) Participant 14 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
(c) Participant 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
xviii
LIST OF TABLES
3.1 Intensities of coloured lights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4.1 RR & HR values for participant 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4.2 Mean HR (beats/min) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.3 Difference in mean HR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.4 Normalised values of mean HR (White light as reference) . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4.5 Mean SC values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
4.6 Difference in mean SC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
4.7 Normalised values of mean SC (white light as reference) . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
4.8 Values of arousal rating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
4.9 3-point scale of arousal (N=neutral, E=excited, R=relaxed) . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
4.10 Values of valence rating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4.11 3-point scale of valence (N=neutral, H=happy, UH=unhappy). . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.12 One-way ANOVA for HR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.13 One-way ANOVA for SC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.14 One-way ANOVA for arousal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.15 One-way ANOVA for valence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.16 Two-way ANOVA for HR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4.17 Two-way ANOVA for SC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4.18 Two-way ANOVA for arousal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4.19 Two-way ANOVA for valence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
xix
Acronyms
ANS - Autonomic Nervous System
ANOVA - Analysis of Variance
ECG - Electrocardiogram
EDA - Electrodermal Activity
HR - Heart Rate
HRV - Heart Rate Variability
SC - Skin Conductance
SAM - Self Assessment Manikin
SS - Sum of Sq uares
df - Degrees of Freedom
MS - Mean Squares
xx
Abstract
T
he impact of colour and lighting conditions on the emotions and per formance of people
is gaining greater importance in our urban societies. While large resources are allocated
for well designed spaces with the right choices of colour and lighting conditions, there is little
scientific evidence that supports these choices.
Although the literature on light and colour is extensive, it does not present a uniform set of
findings for a consistent perspective on the influence of colour and light. Most of the research
reported in this field uses subjective measures to study the emotional effects of light and colour
on people. It has been reported in literature that emotion manifests itself in three separate
sections; (i) physiological (i.e. objective measures), (ii) psychological (subjective measures),
(iii) behavioral, and it is necessary that studies not be limited to the assessment of a single
response but include sam ple measures from each of the three manifestations.
This research is built on the current body of knowledge that there is a need for a study on the
emotional effects of light and colour on people using physiological and psychological measures,
to ensure the objectivity and reproductivity of the experiments.
It is well documented in literature that there is close correlation between emotions, heart
rate (HR), and skin conductance (SC). Hence HR and SC are expected to be good physiological
measures of environmental conditions on people. Thus this thesis reports changes in the HR, SC
and self-assessment repor ts of arousal and valence (SAM) for people when exposed to different
colour and intensity lights. The aim is to help provide an objective rationale for the choice for
light intensity and colour by architects, interior designers and other professionals.
xxi
The experiments were conducted on 15 participants who were exposed to 8 different colour
and intensity light conditions. The participants’ HR and SC were recorded under each colour
and intensity light, and they were asked to complete SAM.
The research demonstrates that there is a change in HR, SC, arousal and valence of par-
ticipants due to change in the colour and intensity of lights. However, the direction of change
was subject dependent, where the same colour and intensity light can have different effects
on people. The research suggests that architects and designers of any space must take into
account the individual differences of the predicted users when designing the lights and colours.
It is also seen from the results that some colour and i ntensity lights have greater impact on
the emotions of participants than others. Although it is not possible to correlate the colour and
lighting conditions to a specific effect on all participants, general effects for some colour lights
were drawn from the results.
It is well documented in literature that HR and SC are a good measure of emotion. However
the results of this study show very high inter subject variation in HR and SC. This is due to
people having different HR and SC in normal conditions. This research demonstrates that the
use of HR and SC to measure the effect of a stimulus on a group of people is unreliable because
it is hard to compare the results.
xxii
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... In addition (Abbas, Kumar, and Mclachlan 2005), details how 15 volunteers' heart rates changed after being exposed to various colors and lux levels of light. According to the research of (Abbas, Kumar, and Mclachlan 2005) and (Lasauskaite and Cajochen 2018), a change in heart rate was brought on by a change in light color and lux level. Further (Abdelaziz Mahmoud, El Samanoudy, and Jung 2023) related the lux level directly to the physical activity of a room using scientific methodology. ...
... Mushtaha et al. (2022) A quantitative survey, DIALux lighting software, and field measurements. Three parameters: illuminance level (Lux), Uniformity ratio (U0), and Unified Glare Rating (UGR), Abbas, Kumar, and Mclachlan (2005) Experiments were conducted where measurable changes in HR were recorded in response to change in color and intensity of light. Lasauskaite and Cajochen (2018) Following selection subjects were required to complete a range of questionnaires to provide measures of physical and psychological health. ...
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Thesis
Full-text available
  • Jan 2023
Mindfulness as a concept has transformed from a theological practice that aims to connect with the creator to become a secular practice. A practice that aims to connect with the self and a method to find the balance between body, mind, and spirit. In parallel, this transformation was reflected in architecture. As the power of the built environment goes beyond the fulfillment of basic human needs, from shelter and safety; this interdisciplinary research links both architecture and psychology to understand the relation between mindfulness and the built environment. This research argues that the transformation of the concept of mindfulness resulted in a new building typology known in Egypt as retreat centers and that the design of the retreat centers is affected by the historical religious places of mindfulness. This research aims to understand the quality of spaces that help in mindfulness and its relation to the spaces where it is practiced. Two retreat centers in Egypt are analyzed in this qualitative case study. The research follows two data collection phases. First in-field data collection that includes documentation of the architectural features through sketches and photographs, observations, and interviews with the managers and the founders of the retreats included. The second phase of data collection is off-field and follows the netnography approach (Kozinets, 2010) to analyze different users' experiences and reviews on social media. Collected data was analyzed in relation to each other and in relation to the literature and previous research. The findings highlight the architectural qualities of spaces that promote mindfulness. KEYOWRDS: Mindfulness, Retreat, Well-being, Retreat Centers
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... The architectural spaces alongside their basic utilitarian function to perform a specific activity and function represent a high value because of what can arise and result in multiple effects on the users of those spaces by their composition and formation; whereas interacting with these spaces can move the user to a state rich in sense, thought, and sense of intellectual, psychological and materialistic Valence. the architectural spaces contains many factors that affect the perception and the psychological and emotional state of users, such as the quality and efficiency of natural and artificial lighting, colors and parameters and design parameters of windows and slots, the quality of sight and an external view, which are the most important factors affecting the user whose importance has been clarified and study its impact in a series of previous studies (Abbas, Kumar, & Mclachlan, 2006;Jalili & Sefidi, 2016;Knez & Kers, 2000;Leather, Pyrgas, Beale, & Lawrence, 1998;Veitch & Galasiu, 2011). ...
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... Recent research focuses on the application of the scientific method in the design of architectural spaces, known as Evidence-Based Design (EBD), which links scientific evidence and design parameters with user outcomes. New technological advances and interdisciplinary approaches enable the scientific community to employ neurophysiological and traditional techniques to measure user experiences, offering tools for the study of cognitive and emotional response [39]- [41]. ...
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Outdoor lighting design is a multidisciplinary topic that involves, among other aspects, design, energy savings, protection of nocturnal biodiversity and profitability, all of which are important functional and regulatory requirements. However, they do not necessarily consider user needs, which make perception and emotional response difficult parameters in the lighting design process. The studies carried out on lighting and its impact on emotions have mainly been done indoors. The objective of this work is to propose a methodology to evaluate emotional response to the illuminated nocturnal urban space with the purpose of providing knowledge to create emotionally efficient luminous spaces that improve people's perception and well-being. The instrument used was the survey (online questionnaires), based on Kansei engineering, created to incorporate the emotional variable in product design. The research was carried out with participants from Peru, Spain, and Germany. The results collected the reaction of the participants to different types of night-time luminous spaces presented, which contributes to a better understanding of user needs and activities regarding the space. This knowledge is intended to help designers meet their expectations.
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... It is worth noting that about a third of neurons in the human cerebral cortex is dedicated to interpreting visual data, more than any other sense. Many studies show that different lighting environments affect people's psychological and neuro-physiological emotions [54,55]. In addition, scientists have only recently begun to understand the effects of light on the human mind and body. ...
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Visual comfort includes the ability to provide sufficient daylight without exaggeration. When daylight levels are insufficient inside a place or when daylight is intense, inhabitants experience visual discomfort. This study examines visual comfort in prayer halls by investigating the effectiveness of daylighting performance, including daylight amounts, such as illuminance level and daylight factor, and glare, including daylight glare probability, in different mosque morphologies. The evaluation had done by applying a quantitative method via the most recently updated daylighting simulation software using Autodesk-Insight-360 for Revit-2023 and SolemmaClimateStudio for Rhinoceros-6. Results show that mosques with courtyard lighting have reduced glare, and windows placed uniformly along the vertical axis get lots of natural light. The study concluded that levels of visual comfort in the prayer halls, in turn, vary according to mosques morphology. The current research contributes to detecting visual discomfort in mosque architecture based on differences in typological and morphological design characteristics.
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  • Mar 2023
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The colours in our daily lives have a profound effect on our emotions and behaviour. Colour psychology has shown that different colours elicit the same emotional responses and behavioural tendencies in people (Elliot and Maier in, Annu Rev Psychol 65:95–120, 2014). This influence can be both on a conscious and subconscious level. From the colours of the environment we live in, to the clothes we choose to wear, the use of colours in brand logos and advertisements, everything quietly influences our psychology and behaviour (Bellizzi and Hite in, Psychol Mark 9:347–363, 1992). This influence can be significant or subtle, and colour plays an important role in shaping our perceptions of the world.
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Background: Color perception is vital in many aspects of human behavior. It is tremendously engaged in the early stage of information processing to accelerate attention. Several studies focused on different aspects of the psychological effect of colors, which showed that color designs induce positive emotion, increased cognitive effort, and better learning outcomes compared to achromatic stimuli. Considering the importance of our daily encounters with colored stimuli, especially the RGB, black and white, studying the effect of these stimuli on brain activities is essential. Method: We investigated the significant differences in spatiotemporal brain activity of black, white, and RGB information. We used a task in which 12 participants (3 females) were presented with random black-and-white and RGB-colored stimuli in a dark room. Each stimulus was displayed on the whole screen of a CRT calibrated monitor for 10 seconds. A 64-channel EEG device was used to aquiring the EEG data. Results: Our results show that for RGB-colored stimuli, the beta power of the occipito-parietal region in early period (85 - 120 ms after stimulus onset) for RGB is higher than that of black ( p <0.05), while in late period (800 - 855 ms after stimulus onset), for RGB it is higher than that of both black and white ( p <0.05). Moreover, the alpha power of the centro-parietal region in late period (930 - 1360 ms after stimulus onset) for RGB is higher than that of black ( p <0.01). Finally, ITPC of alpha band in occipariatal region in the late period (840 - 920 ms after stimulus onset) for white is higher than black ( p <0.05) and RGB ( p <0.01). Conclusion: The results regarding brain responses to black/white and RGB stimuli, as well as beta and alpha-band differences in centro-pariatal and occipito-parietal regions provide valuable insights that can be interpretted within perception, emotional activities, and visual processes. Practical applications may span psychology, biofeedback, and BCI systems, with implications for cognitive training, rehabilitation, and human-computer interaction.
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  • MEDIA PSYCHOL
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Article
  • Mar 1997
Word associations or verbal synesthesia between concepts of color and emotions were studied in Gersnany, Mexico, Poland, Russia, and the United States. With emotion words as the between-subjects variable, 661 undergraduates indicated on 6-point scales to what extent anger, envy, fear, and jealousy reminded them of 12 terms of color. In all nations, the colors of anger were black and red, fear was black, and jealousy was red. Cross-cultural differences were (a) Poles connected anger, envy, and jealousy also with purple; (b) Germans associated envy and jealousy with yellow; and (c) Americans associated envy with black, green, and red, but for the Russians it was black, purple, and yellow. The findings suggest that cross-modal associations originate in universal human experiences and in culture-specific variables, such as language, mythology, and literature.
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Effects of Office Lighting on Mood and Cognitive Performance And A Gender Effect in Work-xRelated Judgment
Article
  • Jul 1998
The study presents an investigation of the effects of the recommended office lighting on subjects' mood and cognitive performance in the physical setting of an office. In addition, a gender effect in the performance appraisal task was examined, both as a between-and within-subject factor. The results showed no significant effect of the lighting on the performance of cognitive tasks. However, an interaction between gender and color temperature on mood showed that 3000K (more reddish) and 4000K (more bluish) office lighting may communicate different affective loadings or meanings to each gender. The cognitive workload induced by almost 2 hours of intellectual work diminished the subjects' positive mood and augmented a negative mood. Moreover, independently of their gender, the raters evaluated the neutral female significantly different from the neutral male ratee. Implications of these findings for the mood effects of indoor lighting and the gender effect in work-related judgment are discussed.
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Windows in the WorkplaceSunlight, View, and Occupational Stress
Article
  • Nov 1998
This article investigates the direct and indirect effects of windows in the workplace onjob satisfaction, intention to quit, and general well-being. The impact of three specific influencing mechanisms are examined: general level of illumination, sunlight penetration, and view. The extent to which these environmental features might moderate the negative consequences of job stress is investigated. The sample consisted of 100 white-and blue-collar workers who were employed in a large wine-producing organization in the Mediterranean region of Southern Europe. The results showed a significant direct effect for sunlight penetration on job satisfaction, intention to quit, and general well-being. A view of natural elements (i.e., trees, vegetation, plants, and foliage) was found to buffer the negative impact of job stress on intention to quit and to have a similar, albeit marginal, effect on general well-being. No effects for general level of illumination were found.
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Measuring Emotion: Behavior, Feeling, and Physiology
Chapter
  • Jan 2000
This book, a member of the Series in Affective Science, is a unique interdisciplinary sequence of articles on the cognitive neuroscience of emotion by some of the most well-known researchers in the area. It explores what is known about cognitive processes in emotion at the same time it reviews the processes and anatomical structures involved in emotion, determining whether there is something about emotion and its neural substrates that requires they be studied as a separate domain. Divided into four major focal points and presenting research that has been performed in the last decade, this book covers the process of emotion generation, the functions of amygdala, the conscious experience of emotion, and emotion regulation and dysregulation. Collectively, the chapters constitute a broad but selective survey of current knowledge about emotion and the brain, and they all address the close association between cognitive and emotional processes. By bringing together diverse strands of investigation with the aim of documenting current understanding of how emotion is instantiated in the brain, this book will be of use to scientists, researchers, and advanced students of psychology and neuroscience.
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Fear Imagery and Text Processing
Article
  • Jan 2007
  • PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGY
This study examined the effect of three variables held to influence heart rate response during imagery-related text processing: mode of processing, content of text, and inclusion of response information in the text. Sixty-four undergraduates imagined and silently repeated fearful and neutral sentences in a paradigm designed to allow for self-initiation of sentence processing. Fear sentences either included or did not include information about bodily responses in the image. Heart rate accelerated more during fear imagery than during neutral imagery or silent repetition of either type of sentence. Inclusion of response information in fear material did not increase heart rate response to imagery, but did affect self-report in the predicted direction. Heart rate waveform prior to the sentence tasks indicated pre-processing of fearful material. The results were discussed in relation to a bio-informational theory of imagery, which asserts that emotional imagery accesses the same centrally-mediated response program as is evoked in the target reality context, and thus occasions measurable activity in the appropriate effectors.
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Effects of Indoor Lighting, Gender, and Age on Mood and Cognitive Performance
Article
  • Nov 2000
The impact of indoor lighting, gender, and age on mood and cognitive performance was examined in a between-subject experiment. It was hypothesized that indoor lighting is an affective source that may convey emotional meanings differentiated by gender, age, or both. A two-way interaction between type of lamp and age on negative mood showed that younger adults (about 23 years old) best preserved a negative mood in the “warm” (more reddish) white lighting while working with a battery of cognitive tasks for 90 minutes; for the older adults (about 65 years old), “cool” (more bluish) white lighting accounted for the identical effect. The younger females were shown to preserve the positive mood as well as the negative mood better than the younger males, and a main effect of age in all cognitive tasks revealed the superiority of younger to older adults in cognitive performance.
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Emotion And Autonomic Nervous System Activity In The Minangkabau of West Sumatra.
Article
  • Jul 1992
Physiology and emotional experience were studied in the Minangkabau of West Sumatra, a matrilineal, Moslem, agrarian culture with strong proscriptions against public displays of negative emotion. Forty-six Minangkabau men were instructed to contract facial muscles into prototypical configurations of 5 emotions. In comparison with a group of 62 Ss from the United States, cross-cultural consistencies were found in (a) autonomic nervous system (ANS) differences between emotions and (b) high configuration quality being associated with increased ANS differentiation and increased report of emotional experience. These findings provide the first evidence that these patterns of emotion-specific ANS activity and the capacity of voluntary facial action to generate this activity are not unique to American culture.
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The psychophysiology of disgust: Differentiating negative emotional contexts with facial EMG
Article
  • Jun 1993
The goals of this study were (a) to examine differing views on the relationship between self-report of emotion and physiological expression of emotion, (b) to differentiate between negative emotional contexts during imagery using facial electromyogram (EMG), and (c) to describe the facial muscle patterning and autonomic physiology of situations that involve expelling or avoiding disgusting sensory stimulation. Fifty subjects imagined situations eliciting disgust, anger, pleasure, and joy in 8-s trials using a tone-cued imagery procedure. Heart rate, skin conductance level, and facial EMG at the corrugator, zygomatic, and levator labii superioris/alesque muscle regions were recorded during imagery, and self-reports of emotion were collected after imagery trials. Self-reports of emotion produced results consistent with the affective categorization of the images. Activity at the levator labii region was higher during disgust than during anger imagery. Corrugator region increase characterized the negative as compared with the positive emotional contents, and activity at the zygomatic region was higher during joy imagery than during the other three emotions. Heart rate acceleration was greater during disgust, anger, and joy imagery than during pleasant imagery. Disgust imagery could be discriminated from anger imagery using facial EMG, and the expressive physiology of disgust was occasioned by the action set of active avoidance or rejection of sensory stimulation.
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Looking at pictures: Affective, facial, visceral, and behavioral reactions
Article
  • Jun 1993
Colored photographic pictures that varied widely across the affective dimensions of valence (pleasant-unpleasant) and arousal (excited-calm) were each viewed for a 6-s period while facial electromyographic (zygomatic and corrugator muscle activity) and visceral (heart rate and skin conductance) reactions were measured. Judgments relating to pleasure, arousal, interest, and emotional state were measured, as was choice viewing time. Significant covariation was obtained between (a) facial expression and affective valence judgments and (b) skin conductance magnitude and arousal ratings. Interest ratings and viewing time were also associated with arousal. Although differences due to the subject's gender and cognitive style were obtained, affective responses were largely independent of the personality factors investigated. Response specificity, particularly facial expressiveness, supported the view that specific affects have unique patterns of reactivity. The consistency of the dimensional relationships between evaluative judgments (i.e., pleasure and arousal) and physiological response, however, emphasizes that emotion is fundamentally organized by these motivational parameters.
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