Many of us “see red,” “feel blue,” or “turn green with envy.” Are such color-emotion associations fundamental to our shared cognitive architecture, or are they cultural creations learned through our languages and traditions? To answer these questions, we tested emotional associations of colors in 4,598 participants from 30 nations speaking 22 native languages. Participants associated 20 emotion concepts with 12 color terms. Pattern-similarity analyses revealed universal color-emotion associations (average similarity coefficient r = .88). However, local differences were also apparent. A machine-learning algorithm revealed that nation predicted color-emotion associations above and beyond those observed universally. Similarity was greater when nations were linguistically or geographically close. This study highlights robust universal color-emotion associations, further modulated by linguistic and geographic factors. These results pose further theoretical and empirical questions about the affective properties of color and may inform practice in applied domains, such as well-being and design.

User experience (UX) is key in the immediate and future relationship between the client and business. Achieving a satisfying UX can only be achieved by understanding the wishes and user needs. The following study is carried out as an improvement tool for a Mexican coffee company. The objective is to achieve greater efficiency, attraction, and engagement on the part of the user. The main question is whether the new dynamic website design can directly increase the valence of user emotions compared to the static website design. To answer this question, 39 participants were exposed to the two different web page designs and elicited the following emotions using eye tracking and facial expression analysis (FEA) techniques: joy, anger, surprise, fear, contempt, disgust, sadness, neutral, positive, and negative. Through a Wilcoxon signed-rank test, the results showed a significant increase for the new dynamic design in the following emotions; joy, anger, surprise, disgust, fear and neutral. Thus, five of the seven basic emotions had a significant change that could lead to greater attraction and commitment on the part of the user and also influence, either consciously or unconsciously, their decision when interacting with the company.

The present work examined how the esthetic impression caused by a specific mug selection seems to influence the expected flavor elicited by a coffee beverage. Participants from Mexico viewed online photographs of espresso, Americano, latte and cappuccino presented in two different mugs, including a transparent glass mug and a white ceramic mug. The type of mug influenced participants’ subjective ratings of the drinks. Espresso and Americano were expected to be more aromatic, bitter, hotter and more intense when served in a transparent glass mug rather than in a white ceramic mug. Results extend the knowledge of consumer preferences and bring an idea for the best way to better fulfill customer’s sensory expectations.

This article presents a free association database containing responses to 62 stimulus words (including colour terms, emotion words, and common nouns) across seven languages: English, Estonian, French, German, Italian, Lithuanian, and Spanish. Data were collected online from 1,439 participants (mean age 31.47 years) across 14 countries, yielding 223,786 responses. All data were cleaned, normalised, and organised for analysis, with both raw and processed datasets available on OSF. This cross-linguistic resource enables research on semantic networks, psycholinguistics, translation studies, and cross-cultural comparisons, providing insights into how meaning is constructed within and across different languages and cultures.