Designing Light for Emotion: A Neurophysiological Approach to Modeling Affective Responses to the Interplay of Color...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Environmental Psychology

Background:

• Indoor environments significantly impact emotional regulation and cognitive function.
• Existing intelligent lighting systems often lack dynamic emotional responsiveness.
• Research needs to explore the combined effects of light color and illuminance on human responses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantitatively analyze the interaction of light color and illuminance on human emotion and cognitive control.
• To investigate physiological responses to various lighting conditions.
• To develop a predictive model for emotional states based on physiological signals and lighting parameters.

Main Methods:

• Participants' physiological data (EEG, ECG) and subjective emotional assessments were collected.
• 18 unique lighting conditions were created by combining six colors and three illuminance levels.
• A random forest model was used to predict emotional valence and arousal.

Main Results:

• The interaction between light color and illuminance significantly impacts emotion regulation indicators.
• Low-illuminance purple light promoted positive emotions and inhibited negative emotions via increased frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) and gamma activity.
• Low-illuminance environments generally impaired cognitive reappraisal and negative emotion inhibition.

Conclusions:

• A quantitative causal model linking lighting, physiological responses, and emotion was established.
• Multi-modal physiological signal analysis (EEG, ECG) enables accurate emotion prediction.
• Findings support the development of human-centered, emotion-adaptive lighting systems emulating natural light-human interactions.