Historically, there have been a number of attempts to characterize the relationship between perceptions of color and perceptions of music (e.g., McClain, 1978; Cuddy, 1985; Shaw-Miller, 1959; Arnheim, 1986). One line of recent research suggests that associations between color and music are based on the shared emotions that they evoke (Schloss, Lawler, & Palmer, 2008). The current study explored this hypothesis further by examining particular features of music contributing to color-music associations. Corroborating previous research, we found consistent correlations between emotional ratings for musical selections and emotional ratings for colors. Specifically, we show that the same piece can be associated with different colors on the basis of manipulating tempo alone.
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