ColourDesign Journal talks to the researchers at Sussex Colour Lab and Baby Group to find out how babies perceive colour and why they might prefer looking at cities.

Researching colour perception

The Sussex Colour Lab and Baby Group specialises in understanding how babies and toddlers see, think and learn about colour. Based at the University of Sussex in the UK, the team’s research mines disciplines from cognitive neuroscience to psychology and philosophy. “The Group is interested in colour perception and how it develops from infancy to adulthood – things like colour discrimination and how intense colour needs to be before you can see it,” explains researcher Dr Alice Skelton. “We’re also interested in how colour preference might be impacted by the environments we grow up in, and what role that might play in our everyday lives.”

A baby’s world of colour

It’s true that children are born into a hazy-looking world – stereoscopic vision is yet to kick in and the visual field is restricted to around 20–25cm. But what’s not true, says Skelton, is that babies see the world in black and white: “It’s a remarkably persistent myth – despite research studies going back 50 years that show babies look longer at red light than white light.”

“At birth it seems babies have colour vision in the red-green dimension but not yet the blue-yellow. The mechanisms of early vision are essentially the same as in adulthood, she explains, “but with the saturation dial turned right down, so everything will look very washed out to babies, who need colours to be really intense before they can see them.”

Colour vision improves rapidly and roughly doubles with age – being twice as good at 6 months as at 3 months, with a peak in colour perception around late adolescence. But the fine distinctions of pastel pink, blue or yellow are, it turns out, sadly lost on newborns.

Green nature versus grey cities

A surprising finding from a recent study at the Lab is that babies might prefer looking at cities to natural environments. Whereas adults have been found to favour photos of scenes of nature, in this study 30 babies looked for longer at photos of cities. “It seems counter intuitive, but it appears that preference for natural environments is a learned response,” says Skelton. “This preference in babies and young children may be driven by what we call low-level sensory mechanisms – the receptors in the eyes seeking out high contrasts that are typical in a city context, like dark windows against lighter backgrounds.”

Growing up with colour

Skelton’s specialist area of research is how humans tune into the unique chromatic make-up of their environments. “It might be about studying the colour perceptions of people who grew up in the countryside versus the city, for example. I’m interested in the impact of environment on colour discrimination and also on aesthetic preference – do our habitats impact our sensitivity to different types of colours, for instance, or what we find pleasing to look at?”

The Lab is currently capturing data on the colour vision experiences of participants from the Chachi community in Ecuador living in either rainforest or city locations. “Basically, volunteers from different developmental backgrounds are wearing headcams and light sensors and we’re capturing what we call the chromatic diet. One interesting thing so far is that despite the apparently big differences across the two environments – with one feeling very green and the other feeling very grey – the bluish-yellow light being recorded is remarkably consistent.”

Colour and design

Awareness of the neuroscience and psychology of how humans perceive colour through cultural lenses is key to understanding the application of colour in design – and what better place to start than with how colour perception develops in infants. To find out more about the work of the Sussex Colour Group and Baby Lab click here. To take part in an online research project click here.