In computer-mediated communication, emoticons are conventionally rendered in yellow. Previous studies demonstrated that colors evoke certain affective meanings, and face color modulates perceived emotion. We investigated whether color variation affects the recognition of emoticon expressions. Japanese participants were presented with emoticons depicting four basic emotions (Happy, Sad, Angry, Surprised) and a Neutral expression, each rendered in eight colors. Four conditions (E1–E4) were employed in the lab-based experiment; E5, with an additional participant sample, was an online replication of the critical E4. In E1, colored emoticons were categorized in a 5AFC task. In E2–E5, stimulus affective meaning was assessed using visual scales with anchors corresponding to each emotion. The conditions varied in stimulus arrays: E2: light gray emoticons; E3: colored circles; E4 and E5: colored emoticons. The affective meaning of Angry and Sad emoticons was found to be stronger when conferred in warm and cool colors, respectively, the pattern highly consistent between E4 and E5. The affective meaning of colored emoticons is regressed to that of achromatic expression counterparts and decontextualized color. The findings provide evidence that affective congruency of the emoticon expression and the color it is rendered in facilitates recognition of the depicted emotion, augmenting the conveyed emotional message.

在以计算机为媒介的交流中，表情符号通常以黄色呈现。先前的研究表明，颜色会唤起某些情感意义，而面部颜色会调节感知情绪。我们调查了颜色变化是否会影响表情符号的识别。向日本参与者展示了描述四种基本情绪（快乐、悲伤、愤怒、惊讶）和中性表情的表情符号，每种表情都以八种颜色呈现。在基于实验室的实验中采用了四个条件（E1-E4）；E5 带有额外的参与者样本，是关键 E4 的在线复制。在 E1 中，彩色表情符号被归类为 5AFC 任务。在 E2-E5 中，使用视觉量表评估刺激情感意义，锚点对应于每种情绪。刺激阵列的条件不同： E2：浅灰色表情符号；E3：彩色圆圈；E4 和 E5：彩色表情符号。分别以暖色和冷色赋予愤怒和悲伤表情符号的情感意义更强，E4和E5之间的模式高度一致。彩色表情符号的情感意义回归到消色差表达对应物和去语境化颜色的情感意义。这些发现提供了证据，表明表情符号表达的情感一致性及其呈现的颜色有助于识别所描绘的情感，增强所传达的情感信息。彩色表情符号的情感意义回归到消色差表达对应物和去语境化颜色的情感意义。这些发现提供了证据，表明表情符号表达的情感一致性及其呈现的颜色有助于识别所描绘的情感，增强所传达的情感信息。彩色表情符号的情感意义回归到消色差表达对应物和去语境化颜色的情感意义。这些发现提供了证据，表明表情符号表达的情感一致性及其呈现的颜色有助于识别所描绘的情感，增强所传达的情感信息。