Blue or Red? Exploring the Effect of Color on Cognitive Task Performances
Mehta and Zhu aim to reconcile inconsistent findings on the effect of colour on cognitive task performance. They show that red, compared with blue, induces mainly an avoidance motivation, and that red improves performance on a detail-oriented task while blue improves performance on a creative task. Further studies replicate the results in product design and in the evaluation of persuasive messages, and show that the effects occur outside individuals' conscious awareness.
Mehta and Zhu aim to reconcile inconsistent findings on the effect of colour on cognitive task performance. They show that red, compared with blue, induces mainly an avoidance motivation, and that red improves performance on a detail-oriented task while blue improves performance on a creative task. Further studies replicate the results in product design and in the evaluation of persuasive messages, and show that the effects occur outside individuals' conscious awareness.
Written from the abstract as shown on the OpenAlex record, read 2026-11-04.
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Mehta, R., & Zhu, R. (2009). Blue or Red? Exploring the Effect of Color on Cognitive Task Performances. Science, 323(5918), 1226-1229. doi:10.1126/science.1169144.