A new qualitative study of how the totally blind and an achromatope navigate colour in the sighted world

In a fascinating new study published in Acta Psychologica, our research team explored how individuals who cannot see colours - including those who are totally blind and those with achromatopsia (complete colour blindness) - understand and navigate colour in our predominantly sighted world. Through in-depth interviews with 11 participants, we discovered that colour plays a surprisingly important role in their lives, primarily as a tool for social inclusion and communication with sighted peers. While participants who lost sight later in life could remember and visualise colours, those blind from birth understood colour more abstractly through learned associations. Intriguingly, all participants demonstrated detailed knowledge of colours and had strong opinions about them - from clothing choices to home décor - and associated colours with various emotions and concepts in ways similar to sighted individuals, suggesting that many aspects of colour understanding can develop without direct visual experience.

Interested? Read the entire article here for some food for thought!

From Unsplash