Seeing Red: Using Red In Your Cognitive Lifestyle

By Michael Cerreto, MS, CSC, LDR, Edu-K

Take one minute of your day and count how many different shades of color you see in your environment. The total number may surprise you. What’s even more surprising is how all of those colors and shades have a direct effect on your mind. To create a healthy lifestyle for your brain’s development, you need to use the right colors for the task at hand or mood you want to create. Let’s take a close look at the color red.

Red unconsciously effects the mind and causes people’s reactions to become faster and forceful.  According to researchers at the University of Rochester and University of British Columbia, red is a signal to the brain that danger is lurking. It makes us more attentive and motivates us to focus on small details.  

According to Juliet Zhu, Ph.D., the author of the UBC study in the journal Science, “Thanks to stop signs, emergency vehicles and teachers’ red pens, we associate red with danger, mistakes and caution. “The avoidance motivation, or heightened state, that red activates makes us vigilant and thus helps us perform tasks where careful attention is required to produce a right or wrong answer.” 

Red can also have a negative effect. Exposure to red can trigger your nervous system to set in motion feelings of worry that distract your attention and drain your mental energy. In some cases, the color red can work against you and cause a stressful response. For example, I was in a cardiologist’s office getting a stress test for my heart. The office walls were painted in soft blue and green colors with only one very large painting on the wall. Every image in that painting was red and I found myself uneasy looking at it. I am sure that “uneasiness” is the last feeling the cardiologist wanted her patients to experience in an office that treats heart issues. She was obviously unaware of the emotional reaction red can trigger in the mind and body.

When you look at your environment, pay close attention to how you use the color red. Do you use it in ways that motivate you to pay special attention such as writing with red ink on a calendar the most important appointments you must attend? Are you using red in ways that unnecessarily cause you to have an stressful reaction? 

You should find ways to use the color red to help your mind focus, and avoid red when it would make you feel uneasy and distract your attention. By doing so, you will be taking a small step in your journey to a healthy cognitive lifestyle.

Sources:

University of British Columbia (2009, February 5). Effect Of Colors: Blue Boosts Creativity, While Red Enhances Attention To Detail.ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 14, 2012, from ScienceDaily

University of Rochester (2011, June 2). Color red increases the speed and strength of reactions. ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 14, 2012, from ScienceDaily