Disciplines
Cognitive Psychology
Abstract (300 words maximum)
Emotion has been shown to affect cognitive processing in several ways; scope of thinking, memory, and mental processing speeds. Previous research tends to suggest that ‘positive’ emotions broaden thought-action repertoire, resulting in the ability to make faster decisions. ‘Negative’ emotions have been shown to result in the opposite, dulling reaction speeds and thought processes. Research has also shown that colors can affect emotion, with bright colors like yellow being linked to more ‘positive’ emotions, and duller colors like black or brown being linked to more ‘negative’ emotions. In this investigation I used the color red to signify anger, blue to represent sadness, and yellow to symbolize happiness. These three colors were coupled with angry, sad, and happily charged words to see if they affected the speed with which participants could verify the color of the words. The words were shown to participants in Dr. Christina Salnaitis’ Cognitive Psychology class via a computerized Stroop Task. There was a significant statistical difference in the speeds with which participants could identify the word colors. Basic words with no emotional connections were identified the fastest. Words with emotional connotations paired with colors that matched those emotions were the second fastest. Emotional words paired with colors that had opposing emotional connections were the slowest. This shows that both colors and emotional words can impact cognitive speeds and sets the stage for further research on the impact of colors on emotion and cognition.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
RCHSS - Psychological Science
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Dr. Christina Salnaitis
Effect of Emotion on Cognitive Speed
Emotion has been shown to affect cognitive processing in several ways; scope of thinking, memory, and mental processing speeds. Previous research tends to suggest that ‘positive’ emotions broaden thought-action repertoire, resulting in the ability to make faster decisions. ‘Negative’ emotions have been shown to result in the opposite, dulling reaction speeds and thought processes. Research has also shown that colors can affect emotion, with bright colors like yellow being linked to more ‘positive’ emotions, and duller colors like black or brown being linked to more ‘negative’ emotions. In this investigation I used the color red to signify anger, blue to represent sadness, and yellow to symbolize happiness. These three colors were coupled with angry, sad, and happily charged words to see if they affected the speed with which participants could verify the color of the words. The words were shown to participants in Dr. Christina Salnaitis’ Cognitive Psychology class via a computerized Stroop Task. There was a significant statistical difference in the speeds with which participants could identify the word colors. Basic words with no emotional connections were identified the fastest. Words with emotional connotations paired with colors that matched those emotions were the second fastest. Emotional words paired with colors that had opposing emotional connections were the slowest. This shows that both colors and emotional words can impact cognitive speeds and sets the stage for further research on the impact of colors on emotion and cognition.