The color red distorts time perception for men, but not for women

Abstract

We investigated the effect of the color red on time perception using a temporal bisection task with human adults. The results showed that the perceived duration of a red screen was longer than was that of a blue screen. However, the results reflected sex differences; men, but not women, overestimated the duration of the red screen. Additionally, the reaction times to a red screen were faster than those to a blue screen, and we found a significant correlation between reaction time and the tendency to overestimate the duration of a red screen. Participants who reacted quickly to a red screen overestimated its duration. These results are discussed within the context of recent studies indicating that the color red exerts certain special psychological effects on human behavior.

The effect of the color red on encoding and retrieval of declarative knowledge

“…The preference for red color could reduce the red color effect, particularly when women are exposed repeatedly to this favored color. This assumption is supported by a recent study showing that the repeated presentation of red distorts time perception in men but not in women (Shibasaki & Masataka, 2014), indicating "a sex difference in the emotional valence of red" (p. 3).…”

“…Some of the previous studies found similar color effects for both genders (e.g., Maier et al, 2008;Mehta & Zhu, 2009), but others found a stronger effect of the color red on male than on female participants (Gnambs et al, 2010;Hill & Barton, 2005;Ioan et al, 2007;Shibasaki & Masataka, 2014). For example, Gnambs et al (2010) showed that men (but not women) scored significantly lower on a web-based general knowledge test when parts of the survey page were colored red as compared to green.…”

“…This should facilitate the positive effect of red on approach motivation in females, that is, red should lose its initially impeding nature in the retrieval phase and approach motivation should be the dominant mechanism, due to the generally positive valence of red for females (cf. Shibasaki & Masataka, 2014). Consequently, we expect that the presentation of red during learning and later retrieval will result in no performance difference compared to a control condition in which gray is used.…”

“…Elliot et al, 2007). Due to a potential gender effect in the emotional valence of red, seeing red should induce avoidance but not approach motivation in males (Shibasaki & Masataka, 2014). However, as males perceive less danger in achievement situations than females (Carver & White, 1994;Pollak & Gilligan, 1982) the effect of red should be smaller when presented only at one time, that is, either in the learning phase or in the retrieval phase.…”

Red clothing increases perceived dominance, aggression and anger

“…Whether or not this sex difference reflects different biases in social perceptions requires further investigation. For example, the colour red distorts time perception in men but not in women [19], and wearing red enhanced the probability of winning combat sport bouts in male, but not female, athletes [13,14]. Participants categorized targets significantly more often as 'angry' when presented in the red condition.…”