PNAS：发现大脑会在音乐与色彩间建立联系

“音乐与色彩的联想受情感主导”，这是近日发表在《美国科学院院刊》PNAS上一篇文章的标题。美国伯克利加利福尼亚大学的研究人员表示，无论欣赏巴赫的交响乐或布鲁斯（蓝调）音乐，我们的大脑都会在音乐与色彩之间建立某种联系，而这种联系的属性取决于音乐的旋律本身所赋予我们的心理感受。

莫扎特那首欢快的《G大调长笛第一协奏曲》让人联想到浅黄色及橙色，而他那首忧伤的《D小调安魂曲》则让人联想到深黑色及蓝灰色。有趣的是，美国人与墨西哥人在听同一首古典管弦乐时，可以勾起对同一种颜色的联想。这说明人类享有共同的情感模式，这似乎是人类与生俱来的本能，可以跨越不同的国界及文化界限。

参与实验的自愿者倾向于将大调、快拍子音乐匹配较浅而鲜艳的黄色，而喜欢将小调、慢拍子音乐冠以较深而灰暗的蓝色。根据音乐的属性（愉快或忧伤），研究人员居然能以95%的准确性预测自愿者听完音乐后将要选择的匹配颜色。同样，当自愿者听到大调旋律时，会联想到愉快的面容，而听到小调旋律时，则联想到忧伤的面容。

早有研究发现，婴儿听莫扎特的音乐因减少能量消耗而长得更壮实，老年人可以通过听音乐降低血压，音乐还可以为心脏病患者减轻压力。这项研究则有助于解释“连感”（比如听音乐见颜色）这一神经现象的发生机理。2009年上演的电影《独奏者》中，就再现了一个生动的“连感”场景：大提琴家Ayers一边听洛杉矶交响乐团的演奏，一边产生旋转迷彩交互辉映的奇异联想。（生物谷Bioon.com）

doi:10.1073/pnas.1212562110
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Music–color associations are mediated by emotion

Stephen E. Palmera,1, Karen B. Schlossa, Zoe Xua, and Lilia R. Prado-Leónb

Experimental evidence demonstrates robust cross-modal matches between music and colors that are mediated by emotional associations. US and Mexican participants chose colors that were most/least consistent with 18 selections of classical orchestral music by Bach, Mozart, and Brahms. In both cultures, faster music in the major mode produced color choices that were more saturated, lighter, and yellower whereas slower, minor music produced the opposite pattern (choices that were desaturated, darker, and bluer). There were strong correlations (0.89 < r < 0.99) between the emotional associations of the music and those of the colors chosen to go with the music, supporting an emotional mediation hypothesis in both cultures. Additional experiments showed similarly robust cross-modal matches from emotionally expressive faces to colors and from music to emotionally expressive faces. These results provide further support that music-to-color associations are mediated by common emotional associations.