title: Musical key perception in relation to color.
abstract: A link between musical keys and colors is common among musicians, although there has never been any agreement about which color matches which key. This study tested two alternative key-color associations: E is red and Eb is green, or vice versa. 21 participants (10 men, 11 women; M age = 20 yr., SD = 3.3) with absolute pitch listened to melodies beginning with an anacrusis and a perfect cadence which were played through in C major. Then the melodies began in another key, while four or two colored squares were displayed (in Experiments 1 and 2, respectively). Participants were asked to chose the color which best matched the quality of the new key. The results showed strong support for the E red / Eb green linkage.
authors.affiliation: 1 East Perth, Australia.
authors.forename: Ian C
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Firth
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001244:Association; D003118:Color Perception; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009146:Music; D010897:Pitch Discrimination; D010898:Pitch Perception; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D013998:Time Perception; D055815:Young Adult