This is one of the entries of A Light In The Rains blog. See the blog for parts 2 and 3.

Colour and the Brain part 1 of 3 Red

Look at the following three colours and rate from 1-10, where 1 means greatly dislike and 10 means love. Blue Green Yellow Pink Purple Red

Which colours are your favourite? And which dont you like? If you did not rate all the colours equally, you now know for sure that colour matters. Different colours activate different parts of the human brain, and create different emotional experiences. Knowing what colours are associated with certain emotions, and utilizing them, can give your website and marketing campaign a strategic advantage. One example demonstrating the effect of colour is a study done by Elliot et al [see The Effect of Red....] published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology in 2007. It showed that the colour red impaired the performance of students on tests. The first study looked at 71 college students in the US. They were first given a practice test based on word problems, and then given a real test with a participant number written on each page in either red, green, or black ink. The experimenter asked students to check that the number was on each page. What this study found was that students who had a participant number written in red ink did 20% worse on average than those with a number in green or black ink (who had nearly the same average result). The researchers then did another study in Germany where they did a similar test but instead of using a participant number, they used a black word in a box that was either red, green or non-existent. Once again they found that those who had a red box did approximately 20% worse than those with a green or non-existent box. They then repeated this experiment twice in high school classes and got the same results. Similarly, multiple studies have been done on the colours people use on their desktops, have around their work areas, etc. And these studies have nearly all shown that people dont tend to have the colour red around. The researchers did not stop there however. They went on to further test their theory. In an experiment where high school students were given an IQ test with easy and difficult questions, those who saw a red background on one page rather than a green or grey background ended up choosing significantly more easy questions. Next they took the same background and gave an on-screen test to 30 college students while measuring brain activity. What they found was that those who saw the red background had much greater asymmetrical activity in the right frontal cortex (which has long been known to be associated with avoidance). Those who saw the grey or green background had the same amount of activity.

What this study essentially shows is that red clearly has a specific effect on our brains. The effect may be due to our association between red and danger (not just in modern society but even in ancient times). Blood is red, many poisonous animals and fruits are bright red, etc. However, the study did not necessarily account for culture, the environment, and many other factors. So what can you learn from this? Most importantly, if you are trying to convince someone to make a risky decision such as hiring you over competitors, avoid using red. Further, if you are trying to provide information, try to avoid having red on the page. Does this mean red is bad? Not at all. Red can also be associated with power, Andrew Elliot also found that red makes men more attractive towards women, and that even primates associate red with dominance. You can watch a video of him speaking about the colour red here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1rx61XmcDk&feature=player_embedded#! What this means is that if you want to make your business look like its dominant in its industry, you may want to have small spots of red on the home page or around the banner/logo. In other words, knowing the effects that red has on people you can balance your web pages out so that red is strategically used in some situations and avoided in others. Another interesting discovery about red was made by Derval Research. They found that visual acuity determined whether or not individuals were attracted to red [see Refraction Attraction?...]. This research was based on the length of colour waves and refraction, with the finding that people who were far-sighted gravitated towards long-wave colours like red, while those who were short-sighted preferred colours like blue which have shorter waves. Knowing when to use the colour red can be confusing and difficult if you are not aware of the numerous reports and journal articles on the subject. A Light in the Rain can help you determine the best ways to utilize colours, and maximize your success. Next week we will discuss the remaining colours. Sources Cited / Further Research Colour and psychological functioning: The effect of red on performance attainment. Andrew J Elliot, Markus A Maier, Arlen C Moller, Ron Friedman, Jrg Meinhardt http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/200701821-008 [Press Release] Refraction attraction? New science helps firms pick colors most alluring to consumers Derval Research - http://derval.blogspirit.com/archive/2011/01/27/press-release-refraction-attractionnew-science-helps-firms.html Copyright A Light in the Rain Ltd. 2012