Enhance Experience

Research by Cowen, Keltner, Fang, and Sauter indicates that there are 13 consistent emotional responses to music; future research, indicating if these findings can be generalized to experiences beyond hearing music, will be useful. Researchers “surveyed more than 2,500 people in the United States and China about their emotional responses to . . . songs from genres including rock, folk, jazz, classical, marching band, experimental and heavy metal.The upshot?

Bertramsand colleagues investigated the implications of using a red font for text related to performance reviews; it is likely their findings can be extended to other contexts. The research group shares that “The color red has been shown to affect psychological functioning. In performance settings, it is associated with negative emotions, avoidance motivation, and cognitive restriction. . . . we conducted a web-based experiment in which . . . participants performed an alleged attention test and were then given moderately critical feedback, including hints for improvement. . . .