Effect of viewed color on hand-grip strength

Published reports on the effects of viewed color on physical strength are compromised by failure to specify each of the three dimensions of the color stimuli used. The present study investigated the relationship between color and grip strength by independently measuring the effects of the three dimensions of color. 80 students with normal color vision were tested for hand-grip strength while viewing color-stimuli sets which differed only in hue, saturation, or lightness. A two-way analysis of variance with two repeated measures showed no significant difference in hand-grip strength with changes in any dimension of color. Formal equivalence testing indicated that these results were not due to low statistical power but rather to an actual similarity in grip strength across different viewing conditions. The findings give clear support to those studies that have found no relationship between viewed color and strength.