Effect of Color on Processing Emotional Pictures

Abstract

Color facilitates the processing of information in emotional pictures. Studies have reported that the amplitude of event-related potential’s early posterior negativity (EPN) increases more when processing emotional pictures in color than in grayscale. In contrast, the effect of color on the late positive potential (LPP) amplitude is unclear. Color also facilitates perceiving the global properties of pictures. We investigated the effect of color on subjective and psychophysiological indices (EPN and LPP) under perceptually challenging conditions by manipulating the spatial frequency (low-pass pictures). Participants evaluated the valence of pictures (positive, neutral, or negative),and electroencephalograms were measured during the task. The results indicated that positive and neutral pictures in color were rated as more pleasant than in grayscale. Moreover, the EPN amplitudes increased for color than for grayscale images, regardless of the spatial frequency. However, no effect of color was observed on the LPP amplitude. These results suggest that color influences initial visual information processing of emotional pictures, regardless of the spatial frequency.