The Effect of Age and Gender on Color Perception

The purpose of this research project was to determine how age and gender affected a person’s ability to perceive color. The three colors used were green, blue, and red, which represent the color cones in the human eye. In order to test this, three color palettes were created. Each palette had five squares, with four of the squares being of one shade and the last square a slightly lighter shade. The subjects were then asked which color was different out of the five, thus collecting data on how individuals perceive color. A total of 90 trials were conducted across both genders and three age groups, consisting of 15 males and 15 females from the “developing eyes” category, or youngest age group, the same number from the middle aged or “developed eyes”, and the final 30 coming from the oldest age group, or “deteriorating eyes”.

Six Chi-Square Two-Way Tests were then run, with three of the tests comparing each color against age and the other three comparing each color against gender. After conducting all the statistical tests, it was determined that there was a significant relationship between gender and green color vision, and between age and red color vision. These results were then compared to the descriptive statistics, and it was concluded that females saw a difference in greens significantly more often than men. Additionally, each age group recognized differences in red more often than any of the other colors. This project can apply to advertisement in allowing companies to target demographics using specific colors. Additionally, this project is applicable to optometry, showing the importance of contact lenses that aid in seeing color, which is a topic that has not been explored much but if effective could help millions of people worldwide.

Research Conducted By:

Senna Catenacci
South Lake High School

Sebastien Rivest
South Lake High School

 

 

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