Non-visual colour: A qualitative study of how the totally blind and an achromatope navigate colour in the sighted world
Colour plays an important role in the sighted world, not only by guiding and warning, but also by helping to make decisions, form opinions, and influence emotional landscape. While not everyone has direct access to this information, even people without colour vision (i.e., blind, achromatope) unders...
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Elsevier
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Acta Psychologica |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691824005602 |
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| author | Domicele Jonauskaite Nina Gierlinger Klara Geiger Claudia Busse Aline Frick Christine Mohr Helmut Leder |
| author_facet | Domicele Jonauskaite Nina Gierlinger Klara Geiger Claudia Busse Aline Frick Christine Mohr Helmut Leder |
| author_sort | Domicele Jonauskaite |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Colour plays an important role in the sighted world, not only by guiding and warning, but also by helping to make decisions, form opinions, and influence emotional landscape. While not everyone has direct access to this information, even people without colour vision (i.e., blind, achromatope) understand the meanings of colour terms and can assign sensory and affective properties to colours. To learn which aspects of colour are transmitted non-visually, and thus, are pertinent to those without colour vision, we conducted qualitative interviews with 11 participants (2 congenitally blind, 2 early blind, 4 late blind, 2 late blind with synaesthesia, and 1 achromatope). Our thematic analysis revealed that all participants had detailed knowledge of colours and displayed opinions and attitudes. Colour was important to them as it allowed to take part in the sighted world, navigate the surroundings, and communicate with the sighted peers. While participants with non-congenital colour vision absence could remember and even visualise colours, colour was more abstract to participants with congenital colour vision absence. This was possibly a reason why colour was not very important to their personal lives. Nonetheless, all our participants associated colours with diverse objects, concepts, and emotions, and also had colour preferences, indicating that semantic (conceptual, symbolic, affective) meanings of colour can be transmitted without direct visual experience. Future quantitative and qualitative studies are needed for a systematic understanding of such connotations in the visually impaired population, and their implications to those who can and cannot see colour. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-30d23bf5da5f4e5daa75dd514c0ef9b3 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 0001-6918 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Acta Psychologica |
| spelling | doaj-art-30d23bf5da5f4e5daa75dd514c0ef9b32025-08-20T02:13:48ZengElsevierActa Psychologica0001-69182025-03-0125310468210.1016/j.actpsy.2024.104682Non-visual colour: A qualitative study of how the totally blind and an achromatope navigate colour in the sighted worldDomicele Jonauskaite0Nina Gierlinger1Klara Geiger2Claudia Busse3Aline Frick4Christine Mohr5Helmut Leder6Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Corresponding author at: Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Switzerland.Institute of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, AustriaFaculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, AustriaFaculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, AustriaFaculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the NetherlandsInstitute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, SwitzerlandFaculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, Vienna, AustriaColour plays an important role in the sighted world, not only by guiding and warning, but also by helping to make decisions, form opinions, and influence emotional landscape. While not everyone has direct access to this information, even people without colour vision (i.e., blind, achromatope) understand the meanings of colour terms and can assign sensory and affective properties to colours. To learn which aspects of colour are transmitted non-visually, and thus, are pertinent to those without colour vision, we conducted qualitative interviews with 11 participants (2 congenitally blind, 2 early blind, 4 late blind, 2 late blind with synaesthesia, and 1 achromatope). Our thematic analysis revealed that all participants had detailed knowledge of colours and displayed opinions and attitudes. Colour was important to them as it allowed to take part in the sighted world, navigate the surroundings, and communicate with the sighted peers. While participants with non-congenital colour vision absence could remember and even visualise colours, colour was more abstract to participants with congenital colour vision absence. This was possibly a reason why colour was not very important to their personal lives. Nonetheless, all our participants associated colours with diverse objects, concepts, and emotions, and also had colour preferences, indicating that semantic (conceptual, symbolic, affective) meanings of colour can be transmitted without direct visual experience. Future quantitative and qualitative studies are needed for a systematic understanding of such connotations in the visually impaired population, and their implications to those who can and cannot see colour.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691824005602Total blindnessAchromatopsiaColour-blindnessSynaesthesiaQualitative interviewsColour |
| spellingShingle | Domicele Jonauskaite Nina Gierlinger Klara Geiger Claudia Busse Aline Frick Christine Mohr Helmut Leder Non-visual colour: A qualitative study of how the totally blind and an achromatope navigate colour in the sighted world Acta Psychologica Total blindness Achromatopsia Colour-blindness Synaesthesia Qualitative interviews Colour |
| title | Non-visual colour: A qualitative study of how the totally blind and an achromatope navigate colour in the sighted world |
| title_full | Non-visual colour: A qualitative study of how the totally blind and an achromatope navigate colour in the sighted world |
| title_fullStr | Non-visual colour: A qualitative study of how the totally blind and an achromatope navigate colour in the sighted world |
| title_full_unstemmed | Non-visual colour: A qualitative study of how the totally blind and an achromatope navigate colour in the sighted world |
| title_short | Non-visual colour: A qualitative study of how the totally blind and an achromatope navigate colour in the sighted world |
| title_sort | non visual colour a qualitative study of how the totally blind and an achromatope navigate colour in the sighted world |
| topic | Total blindness Achromatopsia Colour-blindness Synaesthesia Qualitative interviews Colour |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691824005602 |
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