Colours are everywhere. Colour is the visual perceptual
property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, blue, yellow,
etc. Everything has a colour to represent. In fact, colour theories create a
logical structure for colour. For example, if we have an assortment of fruits
and vegetables, we can organize them by colour and place them on a circle that
shows the colours in relation to each other. A colour circle, based on red,
yellow and blue, is traditional in the field of art. Colour pretty much existed
ever since the whole universe began and plays a part in everyone’s daily life.
According to various international studies, the world’s most
popular colour is blue. Based on the survey conducted by several global
marketing firms, they’ve concluded that people worldwide picked blue as
their favourite colour followed by purple. Though, some researchers also
suggest that red and green are a close second and third respectively. White,
orange, and yellow are some of the least favourite colours. Other than that, recent
studies have shown that infants as young as 2 weeks of age can already
distinguish the colour red. Probably because red has the longest wavelength
among colours making it the easiest colour to process by the developing
receptors and nerves in the baby’s eyes.
Another eye-opening fact is that men and women may see the
world differently in terms of colours. For example, woman may see crimson,
burgundy, and tomato red while men just see the colour red. Neuroscientists
have discovered that women are better at distinguishing among subtle
distinctions in colour, while men appear more sensitive to objects moving
across their field of vision. Scientists have long maintained that the sexes
see colours differently. But much of the evidence has been indirect, such as
the linguistic research showing that women possess a larger vocabulary than men
for describing colours. Experimental evidence for the vision thing has been
rare.
Colours have also been known to affect our taste receptors
when eating or drinking from coloured utensils. Recent discovery shows that colours
affect the way we taste foods. For instance, an orange or cream-colored cup
definitely makes chocolate taste better than in any other cup with a different colour.
However, in some situations, a cross over from one pathway to the other occurs.
Seeing the colour yellow-green may evoke taste sensations of sourness; pink may
evoke sweetness. Seeing the colour grey may evoke olfactory sensations of
smokiness. To give the impression of a certain taste, flavour, or quality, food
colouring or dyes are added to processed, packaged, and even fresh foods.
Adding a red colorant to the skin of an apple, for example, may influence
consumers into believing the apple is sweeter in taste.
Lastly, a perplexing questions still remains, what came
first, the orange fruit or the orange colour? Just like the eternal question
between the egg and the chicken, the orange shares the same mystery. But
according to studies, the word “orange” appears in the English language as
early as the 13th century referring to the fruit. The colour orange was
initially called Geoluhread which means yellow-red. The word's use as a colour
name doesn't crop up for another 200 years, in the early 1500s. On a related
note, it is widely accepted that there is no single English word is a true
rhyme for orange.
In conclusion, colours can play different effects, like
yellow makes people happy, red makes them angry, blue calms, and so on. Of
course there are exceptions and not every person feels the same and gets the
same effects from colours. The psychological effects of colour are apparent in
everyday life. However, it is important to note that certain colours should not
be overused simply for their calming or exciting effects. Colours from a
cognitive perspective explain many of life's occurrences and can further help
researches explore the processes of learning, decision making, reasoning,
judgment, and many other mind processes.
