Influence of Color on Academic Performance: A Studio with Auditory Sustained Attention Within a Virtual Scenario

Abstract

It is known that colors and lighting have an influence on human physiology with potential affection to cognitive performance. Although according to some theories, cold colors (bluish) cause relaxation and concentration while warm colors (redish) cause arousal and alertness, researchers have not reached a consensus yet on the net effect that this could cause on the performance of tasks under study. The objective of the present study is to compare the academic performance under two conditions, blue and red lighting, and see if any of them could be advantageous during an auditory attentional task. Participants listened to five auditory sustained attention tests while they were exposed to either red or blue lightning, within a virtual reality environment, and the cerebral activity was recorded using EEG. Our results showed that students under the blue lighting condition achieved better and constant academic performance right after the beginning of the first test and up to the last one (68.3% vs. 60.0% median values). Also, a logistic regression model was able to classify the color condition from the Power Spectral Density of EEG bands (occipital electrodes yielding an accuracy of 84.6% (CI [57.8%–95.7%]). These results suggest that the blue color has a positive and immediate impact on the academic performance of auditory tests with noticeable differences in cerebral activity in comparison with the red color. These promising results encourage researchers to gain insights into the real influence of colors over the academic performance with immediate impact on schools and academic centers.