A century later, the hue-heat hypothesis: Does color truly affect temperature perception?

Abstract

The present study aims to determine whether color has an impact on temperature perception, a paradigm known as the hue-heat hypothesis. Our results shows that a color-temperature association exists since the participants hold a hot vessel longer when associated with blue and similarly a cold vessel longer when paired with red. Participants’ ratings of the perceived temperature were also influenced by crossmodal interaction between color and temperature confirming the effect of color on temperature perception. These findings are consistent with previous studies and validates the hue-heat hypothesis that was first investigated almost a century ago.