Background

Shape-to-Color Associations in Non-synesthetes: Evidence for Emotional Mediation Michela Malfatti1, Karen B. Schloss2, Liliana Albertazzi1,3, & Stephen E. Palmer4

Objective Features vs Subjective Ratings

Conclusions

References and Acknowledgements

General Methods

Relations Between Color, Shape, and Emotion

1 Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento 2 Department of Cognitive, Linguistic & Psychological Sciences, Brown University

3 Department of Humanities, University of Trento4 Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley

The Color of Line-Shapes

Color and Shape: Stimuli

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(-)

(+)

(+)

(+)

(+)

(+)(+)

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Saturatio

n

Lightness

Red/Green

Yellow/B

lue

Varia

nce

expl

aine

d

Stepwise Multiple Linear Regression

Objective Geometric Features Subjective Perceptual Ratings Subjective Emotional Ratings

Pred

icto

rs Curved(0)/Angular(1)

Open(0)/Closed(1)

Asymmetric(0)/Symmetric(1)

# of Line-Segments

Smooth(-)/Pointy(+)

Open(-)/Closed(+)

Asymmetric(-)/Symmetric(+)

Simple(-)/Complex(+)

Weak(-)/Strong(+)

Not-Angry(-)/Angry(+)

Passive(-)/Active(+)

Calm(-)/Agitated(+)

Sad(-)/Happy(+)

Safe(-)/Harmful(+)

# of Intersections

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Saturatio

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Lightness

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lue

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Emotional Mediation Hypothesis: Colors are mapped onto shape through their shared emotional content.

Evaluate emotionalcontent of shape

People choose colors with matching

emotional content

People look ata shape

SATURATED

MUTED

LIGHT

DARK

4 Color Appearance Dimensions : Saturation, Lightness, Red/Green, Yellow/Blue

37 Colors (Berkeley Color Project) 44 Line-Shapes

4 Shape Features:Curviness: Curved, angularSymmetry: Asymmetric, symmetricClosure: Open, intersecting-once, intersecting>1# of Line-Segments: 2, 3, 8 line-segments

8 Hues: Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, Orange, Chartreuse, Cyan, Purple4 Saturation/Lightness levels (”cuts”): Saturated, Light, Muted, Dark+ 5 Achromatic Colors: White, Black, Light, Medium, & Dark Gray 1a 1c 2a 2c 3a 3c 4a 4c 5a 5c 6a

6c 7a 7c 8a 8c 9a 9c 10a 10c 11a 11c

12a 12c 13a 13c 14a 14c 15a 15c 16a 16c 17a

17c 18a 18c 19a 19c 20a 20c 21a 21c 22a 22c

Shape-Color Associations

Pick the 3 colors that are most consistent (and the 3 that are most inconsistent) with the shape in order (1st, 2nd, 3rd).

Shape Emotional Ratings

HappySad

Color Emotional Ratings

HappySad

Shape Appearance Ratings

PointySmooth

Group 1 Participants: 44 non-syns., determined by synesthete.org Group 2 Participants: 20 non-syns.

Rate each color/shape on 9 bipolar (emotional + other) scales: Rate each shape on 5 bipolar perceptual scales:

Sad/HappyCalm/AgitatedNot-Angry/Angry

Passive/ActiveWeak/StrongSafe/Harmful

Cool/WarmUnfamiliar/FamiliarUnpleasant/Pleasant

Smooth/PointyOpen/ClosedSimple/Complex

Asymmetric/SymmetricConvex/Concave

EMOTIONAL PERCEPTUAL

Geometric features of the shape (in particular its curviness and closure) in�uence the colors picked to go with it for di�erent Color Appearance Dimensions (e.g. more angular and intersecting line-shapes are consistent with more saturated colors).

Non-synesthetes have systematic associations between hues and shapes (Albertazzi et al., 2012). Here we extend the study of shape-to-color associations in non-synesthetes to other color attributes and a wider variety of shapes and shape features. Moreover, we test if such associations might be mediated by emotions, as music-to-color associations are (Palmer et al., 2013).

SCA

Sco

re

Lightness Yellow/BlueSaturation Red/Green

most consistent color

most inconsistent color

Shape-Color Association (SCA Score): SCAd,s = Cd,s - Id,s

The weighted average of the colors picked as most consistent with the shape (Cd,s) minus the weighted average of the colors picked as most inconsistent with the shape (Id,s), along a given dimension (d). Id,s = (3i1,d,s+2i2,d,s+ i3,d,s )/6

-200

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Lig

ht

Dar

k

Curved

Angular

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Red

Gre

en

Curved

Angular

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Sat.

Un

sat.

Curved

Angular

Support for the Emotional Mediation Hypothesis: There are strong correlations between emotional ratings of each line-shape and emotional ratings of the colors consistent with that shape, except for Sad/Happy.

Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of the Dimensions showed that 83% of variance could be explained by 1 Component that roughly corresponded to Not-Angry/Angry (PC loadings: Not-Angry/Angry = .99; Safe/Harmful = .99; Calm/Agitated = .99; Passive/Active = .93; Weak/Strong = .91; Sad/Happy = -.62).

Multidimensional Scaling of Shapes based on Emotional Ratings

p < .001

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elat

ion

(r)

Sad/Hap

py

Calm/Agit

ated

Not-Ang

ry/Ang

ry

Passiv

e/Activ

e

Weak/S

trong

Safe/Harm

ful

Dimension 1

Dim

ensio

n 2

-1.5 -1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5-0.8

-0.6

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0

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0.8

1a

1c

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Angry

Happy

Not-Angry

Sad

The color of a line-shape could be better predicted by its Subjective Ratings rather than its Objective Features. Both Subjective Perceptual Ratings and Subjective Emotional Ratings explained a good amount of variance.

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Red/Green

Yellow/B

lue

- Systematic associations between shapes and colors in non-synesthetes were con�rmed.

- We investigated what Shape Features are mapped to what Color Appearance Dimensions speci�cally , and we found main e�ects of the curviness and closure of line-shapes in particular on the saturation and lightness of the associated colors.

- We further found support for the Emotional Mediation Hypothesis: line-shapes and colors picked to go together were associated with many overlapping emotions, which mainly re�ect the Not-Angry/Angry emotional dimension. When making shape-to-color associations, subjects may evaluate the emotional content of the shape and then choose the colors that have a similar emotional content.

Open Int.=1 Int.>1

Closure

Open Int.=1 Int.>1

Closure

Open Int.=1 Int.>1

Closure

-200

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200

Yello

wB

lue Curved

Angular

Open Int.=1 Int.>1

Closure

Smooth/Pointy

Open/Closed

CORRELATIONS Sad/Happy Calm/Agitated Not-Angry/Angry Passive/Active Weak/Strong Safe/Harmful

-0.53 0.55 0.61 0.35 0.67 0.60

-0.07 0.49 0.44 0.62 0.45 0.49

Albertazzi L., Da Pos O., Canal L., Micciolo R., Malfatti M., & Vescovi, M (2012). The Hue of Shapes. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 39, 37-47.Albertazzi L., Malfatti M., Canal L., Micciolo R. (in press). The Hue of Angles: Was Kandinsky right? Art and

Perception.Palmer, S. E., Schloss, K. B., Xu, Z. R. M., & Prado-Leon, L. R. (2013). Music-color associations are mediated by

emotion. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110, 22, 8836-8841. Whiteford, K. L., Schloss, K. B., & Palmer, S. E. (2013). Music-Color Associations from Bach to the Blues:

Emotional Mediation in Synesthetes and Non-synesthetes. Presented at the 13th Annual Meeting ofthe Vision Science Society, Naples, FL, May 2013.

Acknowledgements: We thank Will Griscom (at UC Berkeley) and Kelly Whiteford (at University of Minnesota) for support throughout the development of the project.

Cd,s = (3c1,d,s+2c2,d,s+ c3,d,s )/6