The emotional significance of color in television presentations

A within-subjects experiment was conducted to investigate the emotional eff ects of color in brief television presentations. The study involved obtaini ng physiological measures (skirt conductance, heart rate, and facial electr omyography) during the presentation of 54 short (6-sec) television clips to the study's 34 participants (16 women, 18 men). Self-report measures of th e participants' emotional reactions were also obtained. Results indicate th at the influence of color appears in the self-reports of emotional experien ce, but in none of the physiological measures. These results suggest that p eople feel, or consciously believe they feel, that color pictures are more pleasing and exciting than monochrome versions of the same images, yet ther e is no difference in their physiological responses. The implications of th is dissociation of emotional responses are discussed.