Exploring colour in context using Virtual Reality: Does a room change how you feel?

Abstract

The colour-in-context theory suggests that our reactions to colour vary depending on the context in which the colour is presented. Our understanding of how colour affects mood in different contexts is not well understood. We used Virtual Reality to explore mood and valence (colour preference) responses to colours in three different contexts: a living room, a hospital waiting room, and an empty cube-shaped room. Our hypothesis was that mood and preference responses to colour would vary depending on the virtual environment in which it was presented. Members of the general public participated in this prospective, within-participant case-crossover experimental study. Participants were randomised to one of the eight clusters, with five different colours presented in each cluster. Forty colours were investigated in total. Participants used a Google Daydream View head-mounted display to view the three virtual room environments, which each appeared ‘painted’ in one of the five different colours. Participants provided mood and valence responses at each exposure. Random effects logistic regression was used to explore responses to the colours in context. A total of 745 people participated. In one cluster, the mood and valence responses were significantly different in response to the same colour(s) in different rooms, indicating that context can impact mood and valence responses to colours. Virtual Reality is a feasible methodology to study colour in context. We found that the context in which a colour is presented can impact mood and valence responses, but this was not consistent across clusters.