Perception of color by man. Effect of color on a person

Man has the ability to see the surrounding world in all the variety of colors and shades. He can admire the sunset, the emerald greenery, the bottomless blue sky and other beauties of nature. The perception of color and its impact on the psyche and the physical state of man will be discussed in this article.

What is color?

Color refers to the subjective perception by the human brain of visible light, differences in its spectral structure, perceived by the eye. People have the ability to distinguish colors better than other mammals.

Light affects the photosensitive receptors of the eye retina, and then they develop a signal transmitted to the brain. It turns out that the perception of color is formed in a complex way in the chain: the eye (neural networks of the retina and exteroceptors) - visual images of the brain.

Thus, color is an interpretation of the surrounding world in a person's consciousness, resulting from the processing of signals coming from photosensitive cells of the eye-cones and rods. At the same time, the former are responsible for the perception of color, and the latter for the sharpness of the twilight vision.

"Color disorders"

The eye reacts to three primary tones: blue, green and red. And the brain perceives colors as a combination of these three basic colors. If the retina loses the ability to distinguish a color, then a person loses it. For example, there are people who are not able to distinguish green from red. In 7% of men and 0.5% of women there are such features. Very rarely people do not see the colors around, it means that the receptor cells in their retina do not function. Some suffer from weak twilight vision - this means that they have weak-sensitive sticks. Such problems arise for various reasons: due to a deficiency of vitamin A or hereditary factors. However, a person can adapt to "color disorders", so without a special examination, it is almost impossible to detect them. People with normal vision are able to discern up to a thousand shades. The perception of color by a person varies depending on the conditions of the surrounding world. The same tone looks different in the light of candles or in sunlight. But human vision quickly adapts to these changes and identifies a familiar color.

Form perception

Knowing nature, man kept discovering new principles of the world order - symmetry, rhythm, contrast, proportions. With these impressions he was guided, transforming the environment, creating his own unique world. In the future, objects of reality gave rise to stable images in the human mind, accompanied by clear emotions. Perception of form, size, color is associated with the individual with the symbolic associative meanings of geometric figures and lines. For example, in the absence of divisions, the vertical is perceived by man as something infinite, incommensurable, ascending, light. The thickening at the bottom or the horizontal base makes it more stable in the eyes of the individual. But the diagonal symbolizes movement and dynamics. It turns out that the composition, based on clear verticals and horizontals, gravitates to solemnity, static, stability, and the image based on diagonals - to variability, instability and movement.

Double effect

It is universally recognized that the perception of color is accompanied by a strong emotional impact. This problem was studied in detail by painters. VV Kandinsky noted that color has a dual effect on man. First, the individual experiences physical effects when the eye is either enchanted by color or irritated by it. This impression is fleeting, if it comes to familiar objects. However, in an unusual context (an artist's painting, for example), color can cause a strong emotional experience. In this case, we can talk about the second kind of influence of color on the individual.

The physical effect of color

Numerous experiments of psychologists and physiologists confirm the ability of color to influence the physical state of a person. Dr. Podolsky described the visual perception of color by a person as follows.

• Blue color - has antiseptic effect. It is useful to look at when suppurating and inflamed. Sensitive individual blue shade helps better than green. But the "overdose" of this color causes some depression and fatigue.
• Green is hypnotic and analgesic. It positively affects the nervous system, removes irritability, fatigue and insomnia, and also raises the tone and lowers blood pressure .
• Yellow color - stimulates the brain, so it helps with mental failure.
• Orange color - has an exciting effect and speeds up the pulse, without raising the blood pressure. He improves mood, raises vitality, but with time can tire.
• Violet color - affects the lungs, blood vessels, heart and increases the endurance of body tissues.
• Red color - has a warming effect. It stimulates brain activity, eliminates melancholy, but in large doses it irritates.

Types of colors

In different ways, one can classify the effect of color on perception. There is a theory according to which all tones can be divided into stimulating (warm), disintegrating (cold), pastel, static, deaf, warm dark and cold dark.

Stimulating (warm) colors promote excitation and act as stimuli:

• Red - life-affirming, strong-willed;
• Orange - cozy, warm;
• Yellow - radiant, contacting.

Disintegrating (cold) tones muffle excitement:

• Violet - heavy, deepened;
• Blue - emphasizing distance;
• Light blue - guide, leading to space;
• Blue-green - changeable, emphasizing movement.

Pastel colors muffle the effect of pure colors:

• Pink - mysterious and gentle;
• Purple - isolated and closed;
• Pastel green - soft, gentle;
• Gray-blue - discreet.

Static colors can balance and distract from exciting paints:

• Pure green - refreshing, demanding;
• Olive - softening, soothing;
• Yellow-green - liberating, renewing;
• Purple - ambitious, exquisite.

Deaf tones contribute to concentration (black); Do not cause excitement (gray); Extinguish (white).

Warm dark colors (brown) cause lethargy, inertia:

• Ocher - mitigates the growth of excitement;
• Earthy brown - stabilizes;
• Dark brown - reduces excitability.

Dark cool tones (black and blue, dark gray, green-blue) suppress and isolate irritation.

Color and personality

The perception of color largely depends on the person's personality characteristics. This fact was proved in his works on the individual perception of color compositions by the German psychologist M. Lyusher. According to his theory, the individual residing in a different emotional and mental state can react differently to the same color. At the same time, the features of color perception depend on the degree of development of personality. But even with a weak emotional sensitivity, the colors of the surrounding reality are perceived ambiguously. Warm and light tones attract the eye more than the dark ones. And at the same time clear, but poisonous colors cause anxiety, and a person's sight involuntarily searches for a cold green or blue shade to rest.

Color in advertising

In the advertising appeal, the choice of color can not depend only on the taste of the designer. After all, bright tones can both attract the attention of a potential client, and make it difficult to obtain the necessary information. Therefore, the perception of the form and color of the individual must be taken into account when creating advertising. Decisions can be most unexpected: for example, on a motley background of bright pictures, a person's involuntary attention will be attracted by a strict black-and-white advertisement, rather than a colorful inscription.

Children and colors

The perception of color by children develops gradually. First they distinguish only warm tones: red, orange and yellow. Then the development of mental reactions leads to the fact that the child begins to perceive blue, purple, blue and green colors. And only with age, the baby becomes available all the variety of color tones and shades. In three years, children are usually called two or three colors, and learn about five. And some children hardly distinguish the basic tone even at the age of four. They weakly differentiate colors, hardly remember their names, replace the intermediate shades of the spectrum with the basic ones, and so on. In order for the child to learn to perceive the surrounding world adequately, one must teach him to correctly distinguish colors.

Development of color perception

From an early age, one must learn color perception. The kid by nature is very curious and needs a variety of information, but you need to introduce it gradually, so as not to irritate the sensitive psyche of the child. At an early age, children usually associate color with the image of an object. For example, green - Christmas tree, yellow - chicken, blue - sky and so on. The educator needs to take advantage of this moment and develop color perception using natural forms.

Color, unlike the size and shape, you can only see. Therefore, when determining the tone, a large role is assigned to juxtaposition. If two colors are placed side by side, each child will understand whether they are the same or different. At the same time he does not need to know the name of the color, it is enough to be able to perform assignments such as "Plant every butterfly on a flower of the same color." After the child learns to visually distinguish and match colors, it makes sense to proceed with the selection according to the pattern, that is, to the actual development of color perception. To do this, you can use the book GS Shvaiko called "Games and game exercises for the development of speech." Acquaintance with the colors of the surrounding world helps children to feel thinner and fuller reality, develops thinking, observance, enriches speech.

Visual color

An interesting experiment on himself was put by one resident of Britain - Neil Harbisson. He did not know how to distinguish colors from childhood. Doctors have found him a rare sight defect - achromatopsia. The guy saw the surrounding reality as if in black and white cinema and considered himself a socially cut off person. One day, Neal agreed to an experiment and allowed himself to plant into his head a special cybernetic tool that allows him to see the world in all its colorful diversity. It turns out that the perception of the eye color is not necessary. In the back of the Nile, a chip and an antenna with a sensor were implanted, which capture the vibration and transform it into sound. In this case, each note corresponds to a certain color: fa - red, la - green, to - blue and so on. Now for Harbisson, a visit to the supermarket is akin to visiting a night club, and the picture gallery reminds him of going to the Philharmonic. Technology has given the Nile hitherto unprecedented in nature: a visual sound. The man puts interesting experiments with his new feeling, for example, comes close to different people, studies their faces and composes the music of portraits.

Conclusion

You can talk about the perception of color indefinitely. An experiment with Neil Harbisson, for example, suggests that the human psyche is very plastic and can adapt to the most unusual conditions. In addition, it is obvious that people have a desire for beauty, expressed in the inner need to see the world in color, not monochrome. Vision is a unique and fragile instrument, the study of which will take a long time. Learn about it as much as possible will be useful for everyone.