Effects of Saturation on Anger in a Low-Saturation Range: A Comparison of Background Colors in 12 Tones

This study used an online survey to investigate the effects of brightness in low-saturation color ranges on anger processing. Specifically, it explored how background hues—red, yellow-green, and blue-green—affect perceptions of illustrations of an angry red face. The experiment involved 36 color combinations classified into three hue groups and three saturation levels (high, medium, and low) based on the Practical Color Co-ordinate System. The results indicate that the influence of hue disappears in the low-saturation range. Across all the saturation levels, lower brightness intensified the perception of anger, with the anger elicited by darker colors similar in strength to that elicited from vivid red. These findings offer new insights into the role of color in emotional processing, particularly in relation to anger.