Do you have working smoke alarms? It could mean the difference between life and death. Smoke alarms are the first line of defense in a house fire. They act as an early warning sign, allowing you enough time to evacuate the premise. While these devices are small and often unnoticed, they could save your life. If you can’t recall the locations of your smoke alarms or when they were last tested, now is the time to act.

Medical News Today published an article on the effect of room lighting on decision making. Invoking crime dramas in which suspects are interrogated under bright lights, the report suggests that people tend to feel emotions more intensely in brighter light. This finding is significant not just for retailers but for anyone who consciously uses light in their spaces for a desired effect.

Medical News Today’s story is based on research conducted by academics from the University of Toronto Scarborough and Northwestern University and published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology. As you can guess, based on the journal that published the research, findings about how people act under different lighting conditions has important implications for how people act as CONSUMERS.

Here’s how the study went: A bunch of test subjects were asked to rate an eclectic mix of things, from the spiciness of chicken wings to the aggressiveness of a fictional character. Subjects were also asked to assess the flavor of two kinds of juice, the emotional tenor of certain words, and the attractiveness of a person. The scientists changed lighting levels as they observed their participants’ reactions to these stimuli. As the scientists suspected, lighting levels had an impact on how the participants felt about the things they were rating.

According to Medical News Today, previous studies have established that “people are more optimistic about the stock market, report higher well-being and are more helpful during sunny days, whereas being exposed to gloomy days for long periods of time can result in depressive feelings.”

But, then, the researchers ask, why do suicide rates peak during late spring and early summer months? This new study complicates the common belief that more light equals more happiness.

The researchers have concluded that brighter light levels do not necessarily make people happier. Instead, brighter light levels intensify both positive AND negative emotions. In the brighter room, during the experiment, participants felt more positive emotions in related to positive words and more negative emotions about negative words. They found people more attractive in the brighter room AND felt the fictional character to be more aggressive.

If you’re like us, you are proud of the artwork you’ve chosen to adorn the walls of your home or business. A framed movie poster, an original oil painting, or even a stylish wall hanging all serve to bring color, and life to a room. Make sure that the images that have been so carefully selected are seen in their full splendor with the right lighting.