Supplementary file 1_Colored tones of emotions: the relationship between music, emotions and color.docx

Previous studies have demonstrated that major keys and faster tempi are often associated with bright hues and positive affect, whereas minor keys and slower tempi tend to evoke darker shades and negatively valenced emotional states. However, how tempo and tonality jointly relate to emotional and chromatic responses has rarely been systematically examined, and the role of emotion in linking musical features to color choices remains underexplored.</p>Methods<p>In this study, 80 participants with no formal musical training listened to 30-second excerpts derived from the 18th-century Neapolitan repertoire and other classical works.

These excerpts varied in tonality (major/minor) and in the pitch class of their tonic (C-B), and each was presented at three tempi (-60, original, +60 BPM). Following each excerpt, participants reported an emotion in free-text form, which was mapped onto continuous Pleasure-Arousal-Dominance (PAD) scores using the NRC-VAD lexicon, and selected a color using an HSL-based picker; colors were analyzed in terms of Hue, Saturation and Lightness.