Understanding colour perception and preference

Colour is a critical cue for many vital behavioural tasks: material identifi cation, object recognition and social–sexual signalling. Given the importance of the behavioural uses of colour, and the known perceptual and physiological properties of colour vision, it is likely that preference for coloured objects drives preference for colours themselves. The underlying universality in patterns of human colour preference (liking for blue, dislike for yellow and yellow–green) supports the notion of evolved emotional responses to colour. More recent studies demonstrate both universality and individuality of colour preference, as well as mutability across culture and age. These variations in preference, and other evidence, argue that the ability to form emotional associations to colour, whether on an ontogenetic or evolutionary timescale, is deeply embedded in human nature.