Affective responses to chromatic ambient light in a vehicle

TL;DR

This study explores how different ambient lighting colors inside vehicles affect emotional responses, using self-assessment and EEG data to develop guidelines for optimal interior lighting design.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive method combining subjective and EEG measures to identify preferred vehicle interior lighting colors and proposes guidelines for emotional lighting design.

Findings

Bluish and purplish colors are most preferred and unique.

Ambient lighting increases arousal and decreases alpha waves.

Warm colors are perceived as soft despite low preference.

Abstract

This study investigates the emotional responses to the color of vehicle interior lighting using self-assessment and electroencephalography (EEG). The study was divided into two sessions: the first session investigated the potential of ambient lighting colors, and the second session was used to develop in-vehicle lighting color guidelines. Every session included thirty subjects. In the first session, four lighting colors were assessed using seventeen adjectives. As a result, 'Preference, Softness, Brightness, and Uniqueness were found to be the four factors that best characterize the atmospheric properties of interior lighting in vehicles. Ambient illumination, according to EEG data, increased people's arousal and lowered their alpha waves. The following session investigated a wider spectrum of colors using four factors extracted from the previous session. As a result, bluish and purplish lighting colors had the highest preference and uniqueness among ten lighting colors. Green received an intermediate preference and a high uniqueness score. With its great brightness and softness, Neutral White also achieved an intermediate preference rating. Despite receiving a low preference rating, warm colors were considered to be soft. Red was the least preferred color, but its uniqueness and roughness were highly rated. This study is expected to provide a basic theory on emotional lighting guidelines in the vehicle context, providing manufacturers with objective rationale.