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The Science Behind ‘I’m Feeling Blue’: Sad People See Less Colors

| Sep 10, 2015 06:37 AM EDT

Inside Out

The sorrowful literary expression "I'm feeling blue" is now regarded by scientists as a possible scientifically correct statement. A new scientific research discovered a deeper connection between color and mood.

research, led by psychology researcher Christopher Thorstenson of the University of Rochester, concluded that sadder people were less accurate in identifying colors on the Blue-Yellow Axis.

In a controlled experiment, 127 participants were randomly divided. A group was made to watch a sad animated clip and another was shown an amusing stand-up comedy routine. Everyone was then tasked to identify colors in 48 consecutive, de-saturated color swatches.

In identifying colors in the blue-yellow axis, the group which viewed the sad clip scored lower than the group who enjoyed the happy flick. There was no significant difference in the group's performance for sorting colors along the red-green axis.

In another test, 130 participants were again divided into two groups. The first group watched a sad clip. The second group watched a video judge to be neutral. The first group turned out to be less accurate in identifying colors along the blue-yellow axis than the neutral group. Again, there was no difference in the two group's performance is recognizing colors along the red-green axis.

Following the results of his research, Thorstenson suggest that the phrase "I'm feeling blue" has a scientific origin, CNET reported.

Previously, a story among artists says that "I'm feeling blue" was first said by a seafarer who lost a comrade.

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