Neural Responses to the Human Color Preference for Assessment of eco-friendliness: A functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

Kim, T.H.; Song, J.K.; Jeong, G.W.

doi:10.22059/ijer.2012.566

Neural Responses to the Human Color Preference for Assessment of eco-friendliness: A functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

Document Type : Original Research Paper

Authors

T.H. Kim ¹

J.K. Song ²

G.W. Jeong ¹

¹ Department of Radiology, Chonnam National University Hospital, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Republic of Korea

² Department of Architectural Engineering, Chonnam National University, Republic of Korea

10.22059/ijer.2012.566

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the brain activation patterns in response to the
human color preference by using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). A total of 31 healthy
humans without color blindness were participated in this study. The brain activation was induced by viewing
of eight different colors: black, gray, blue, green, earthy yellow, red, yellow and white. The questionnaires for
color preference showed that green color was mostly favorite to the subjects, whereas the black color was
mostly unfavorite. During the visual stimulation with favorite colors, the brain areas dominantly activated
included the pons, supramarginal gyrus, paracentral lobule, midbrain and globus pallidus. During the stimulation with unfavorite colors, on the other hand, the predominantly activated brain areas included the body of the caudate nucleus, parahippocampal gyrus, anterior cingulate gyrus, splenium of the corpus callosum, hippocampus, orbitofrontal gyrus, amygdala, thalamus and angular gyrus. The differential brain activation patterns associated with color preference are assumed to reflect the human emotional response and status being assessed.

Keywords

Brain activation

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Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)