Module 3: The Science of Color Perception

1. Dr. Beau Lotto from the University College of London explains how color is effectively an illusion which helps us see the world in a way that is useful to us.  There is nothing literal about color in the world, but how color makes individuals feel is astounding.  For instance, when a women wears a red dress or red lipstick it can contribute to feelings of passion and love.  When a bar or restaurant lights up with blue lights it can create a relaxing and comfortable sensation within us, causing people to stay and hangout for longer.  Color has a huge effect on our emotions and many individuals or businesses will use it to their advantage.


2. The theoretical aspect of color that most intrigues me is the effect of wearing the color red.  I personally hate the color red and own almost nothing red so this really stuck with me.  The color red has conflicting emotions of both passionate love and danger.  Dr. Russell Hill describes how wearing the color red can manipulate in the world of sports as well.  He did a couple of experiments throughout his research, one of them being a Tae Kwon Do match.  The competitors were dressed in both blue and red attire.  Majority of the winners were wearing red so they switched the winners into blue and the losers into red and had them compete again.  Even after switching the better individuals into blue, majority of the winners were still wearing red.  This experiment indicated that the color red manipulated both the referees and the judges.


3. Professor Jay knight made the biggest impression on me in regards to color.  He explained how color perception began with our early ancestors.  Back when the world was just water, the particles from the waters would come up for energy from the sun in the day time and go back down where the uv could not reach them throughout the night.  Color perception began with just blue and yellow and as life evolved and changed then came red and green.  Another idea that made an impression on me was the fact that we have object knowledge.  We learn what colors specific items are suppose to be so we naturally see them that way.  For example, we know that a banana is suppose to be yellow so we will always look to see a banana as yellow.