Document Type

Honors Thesis

Publication Date

Spring 2015

Abstract

This study is a continuation of the “open door” technique of color acuity determination. The open door experiment is a computer based program that tests the subject’s ability to discern a continuity break in the outline of a box. When presented with the image of a box on an LED screen, the subject is asked to indicate the location of the open door within three seconds. The addition of a joystick provides subjects with four selection options- top, bottom, left, right- for the location of the open door, as well as a fifth option if they did not believe the open door to be present. Along with varying the colors of the box and the background and the location of the open door, the computer also varied the width of the open door from 1-6 pixels, allowing for an acuity number determination at a defined criterion value within this range. The goal of this study is to determine whether color acuity differences exist among various two color combinations and whether males and females exhibit color acuity differences. This study also examines whether or not background and foreground orientations of two colors affects the ability to discriminate between them. The analyzed results from 12 male and 12 female subjects showed significant color acuity differences among four different color combinations, but suggested no significant differences between genders or background vs. foreground orientation. All subjects experienced great difficulty in discriminating between color combinations including yellow, particularly when the combination of green and yellow.

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