Senescent Effects on Color Perception and Emotion

Senescent effects are the gradual deterioration of function caused by biological aging. Senescent effects on color vision are not clearly understood even after considerable researches. Part of the reason is that the color vision is a complex phenomenon resulting from various factors such as organic systems, and the physical (neuro-optical) and the psychological (experiential) processes of color perception. We performed a field experiment on color perceptional differences due to aging vision. Our experiment was applied to two different groups in South Korea: an experimental group (46 subjects of over the age of 61 years) and a control group (49 subjects in their twenties). The experimental tools are comprised of (1) six gradual yellowing detector board (40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%); (2) pairs of vivid-strong, vivid-deep, grayish-deep, deep-dull, and bright-light tones of Blue (B) and Purple (P) colors; (3) Red (R), Yellow (Y), Green (G), Blue (B), and Purple (P) colors of dull-tones and pale-tones; and (4) a questionnaire on the semantic differential scales of the color images and color differences. A diagnosis system of gradual yellow vision, developed by the authors for this study, was adapted to generate the color detecting boards. The results are as follows. (1) There are significant differences between the two groups in detecting colors that simulate 40% and 50% of yellow vision. (2) As to the color difference detecting ability between similar tones, the experimental group shows difficulties in pairs of vivid-strong tones and deep-dull tones of the B color. And (3), the emotional responses to the dull tone and the pale tone are not stable in the red, the yellow, blue, and purple. Thus, we empirically demonstrate the specific differences in color perception between the old and young groups.