Studies on the physiology of awareness: The differential influence of color on capillary blood-oxygen saturation

Abstract

PROBLEMThe present investigation attempts to assess the physiological influence of color on emotions and awareness. The quality of affect was estimated by a ranking preferance technique and the levels of awareness by their equivalence with blood-oxygen saturation values@# 9, lo* 11, 12, l 3 v 14), both variables being considered in terms of response to a sequence of separately presented hues. The effects of color on healthy subjects were compared and contrasted with those on a group of psychiatric patients. EXPERIMENTAL METHODSThe responses of 87 Ss. were investigated. Of this total, 49 were healthy controls (39 males and 10 females) with ages ranging from 18 to 45 years. The remaining 38 Ss. were a group of 21 male and 17 female psychiatric patients aged 16 to 62 years. They included 5 patients with neurosis, 4 with depression, 11 with schizophrenia, 6 with