Application of near-Infra-Red spectroscopy for the analysis of the impact of black color on neural response

In a traditional survey [1] of 75 respondents, black was either the first color of choice or the second. This raises the question, is the choice of black color by chance or the choice of the respondents is cognitively influenced? To address this question, we used a multichannel NIRS (Near-Infra-Red Spectroscopy) device to analyze the neural cognitive activity of nine respondents. Using a block design paradigm, the participants were shown concept words (e.g. cheap, high quality, reliability etc.) followed by 10 colors (e.g. white, green, black etc.) with the order of black color strategically placed. Spatio-temporal clustering of the neural response identified channels having correlated neural activity. We found such correlated brain activity between left temporal lobe channels and inferior parietal lobe channels when black color was shown; thus indicating negative priming similar to Steel, et al.[2].