Adebabay 1 Sarah Adebabay Ms. Larson DVS Physics March 31

Adebabay 1 Sarah Adebabay Ms. Larson DVS Physics March 31, 2014 How Does the Brain Associate Colors and Emotions? Hello, my name is Sarah Adebabay. Today, we will be discussing color, the brain, how both are associated in our perception of colors and our emotions, and just how our brains associate colors and emotion? I chose to investigate this question because I have a curiosity of sophisticated and unique organ, we call the brain. At first I predicted, that colors with a low frequency, cycles per second, would be the most calming. Low frequency colors include red, yellow, and orange. These have low frequency meaning they have a wavelength that is longer, compared to high frequency colors. Most people might think that the primary colors of light are the same as the primary colors of pigments. Through this presentation, you will know why this is not true. Both, engineers and scientists use conceptual models! Engineers use models to test a specific design. In contrast, scientists use conceptual models to share and explain how different aspects of the world work, in this case color! The model I’m using, to explain and share our findings, is a combination of both a behavioral and structural model. This is because it is showing the behaviors of the eye, brain, and light. Additionally, our project incorporates qualities of a mental model through the color meaning portion. I believe this type of model clearly shows absorption, a property of light, because of the diagrams and examples I’ve drawn. This part of my model clearly shows the sun and three Adebabay 2 different examples of objects in nature. In addition, I created captions to further elaborate on each diagram. Before, I explain what the process of absorption, lets talk about what light is first! Light is a transverse wave, a wave that travels up and down. Also, light travels at the speed of 186, 287 miles per second! The fastest velocity for a wave, in physics! A wave is a disturbance of vibration that travels through space and a transfer of energy. We know light is a wave because when two light beams pass through each other there is no crashing as a particle would. Additionally, light creates interference patterns. Inference patterns are the complicated undulations, a wavelike motion, that happen when two wave patterns occupy the same space. Only waves create interference patterns, therefore light is a wave. My model shows absorption, which is the process where sun emits colors of light. After the sun emits colors of light, it goes on to hit an object. When the light hits the object, the color the object is the color that is reflected off the surface more and the rest of the colors are absorbed into the object. Later, the rest of the colors are turned into heat. In black objects, the process is slightly different. Instead of reflecting any of the colors, the black object absorbs all the colors. Additionally in the white, objects the process differs from both black and colored objects. After the sun emits colors and it hits the white object, all the light is reflected off the surface. Some light vocabulary you will need to understand include cones, rods, and visible spectrum. Cones are the cells, located in the retina, that allow us to see color. Our cones come in three different colors: red, blue, and green. As I stated before, a common misconception in the world about color is that the primary colors of light are the same as the primary colors of pigments. This is absolutely wrong because the primary colors of pigment (red, blue, and yellow) and the primary colors of light are Adebabay 3 different! The primary colors of light are red, blue, and green as are the kinds of cones we have. Speaking of cones, the opposite of cones are rods! Rods are located in the retina, as well! Our rods help us see the grays because rods are used for low light situations. Our rods and cones both relate to the next vocabulary term: visible spectrum. The visible spectrum, located on my model, is the colors that our eyes allow us to see from red to violet. On the visible spectrum, red has the lowest frequency and violet has the highest frequency. In contrast, red has a longest wavelength while violet has the shortest wavelength on the visible spectrum. The electromagnetic spectrum, from most energy to lowest energy, includes gamma rays, xrays, UV rays, visible rays, infrared red, microwaves, and radio waves. Compared to the entire electromagnetic spectrum, visible rays are located exactly in the middle. Through my investigation to find the answer to my research question, I have broken my project into three parts: color, the emotional aspects of the brain, and how both are associated with each other. To begin with, color is, nothing more than, the frequency our eyes can detect. It is the measure of how quickly the light waves are moving. In addition, the brain has many parts that control different emotions. These parts include: anterior cingulate gyrus, basal ganglia, prefrontal cortex, deep limbic system, and temporal lobes. For further elaboration, you may look on my model. Both color and the emotional aspects of the brain are associated with each other, through how they are seen universally, culturally, and individually. For example, the color white universally is associated with peace. Culturally it is associated with holiness but personally, to me, it is associated with cleanliness. I have this individual association because of my childhood. As a child, I would keep my white clothes very clean. Adebabay 4 In summary, the brain associates colors and emotions with our past experiences, emotions, universal, and cultural meanings. After building our model, I learned that what I might feel about a color may be different from the person next to me. My biggest challenge in creating this model was clearly depicting the color, light, and the process of absorption. Yet, I have overcome this challenge and have this model to show. This model is better than a mental model because it has the qualities of a behavioral and structural as well. After I finished creating my model, I have taken more time to observe color around me all the time. Thank you for your time. Do you have any questions? Adebabay 5 Work Cited "Amazing Space Myths: Light & Color." Amazing Space Myths: Light & Color. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2014. "Color Psychology." About.com Psychology. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2014. Kelleher, Colm. “What is color?” (December 18, 2012). Kelleher, Colm. “Is light a particle or a wave?”(January 17, 2013) Kelleher, Colm. “How we see color” ( January 8, 2013) Paramapoonya, Om. "What Part of the Brain Controls Emotions?" EHow. Demand Media, 30 Sept. 2009. Web. 22 Mar. 2014. "Sun." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Mar. 2014. Web. 29 Mar. 2014. "The Psychology of Color in Marketing and Branding." Help Desk Software. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2014.

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