Memory colors of familiar objects induce general color preference

Previous studies have offered multiple explanations for the causality of color preference but no consensus has been reached. In this study, we propose an alternative explanation that the memory colors of familiar objects, especially food colors of humans can induce color preferences. We conducted two experiments. In Experiment 1, the memory color experiment, we asked participants to rate the similarity between presented color samples and memory colors of five familiar fruits and vegetables in Japan; we then calculated the location of the colors in the CIELAB color space that looked most similar to the remembered objects using the bivariate Gaussian function. In Experiment 2, the color preference experiment, color variations were created based on the memory colors obtained from Experiment 1. A different group of participants rated their preference for each color variation, then we applied regression analysis to these ratings. We observed two types of regressions between preference ratings and distance to memory colors: (1) for colors from red to green that represent the food colors for primates, color preference increased when the color was closer to the memory colors of the fruits and vegetables found in Experiment 1; and (2) for blue and purple colors, colors were preferred when they became bluer. We suggest that the evolutionarily acquired mechanism of color preference derives crucial cues from our ecological environment. Therefore, the mechanism produces the same color preference trend among people who grow up in similar environments, for example, environments containing the same fruits.