ABSTRACT
Introduction. There is an accumulating evidence of various ophthalmological symptoms, accompanied by visual impairment, post-COVID-19. We hypothesized that color vision may have been affected post-COVID-19 too manifesting as changes in color-naming patterns. To test this hypothesis, we compared color naming in individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 (N = 201, 54 men and 147 women, aged 19–65 years, M = 33.4, SD = 13.2) and those participants whose responses were obtained before the pandemic (hereafter, non-COVID-19 controls) (N = 2,457, 1,052 men and 1,402 women, aged 16–98 years, M = 41.36, SD = 17.7). Methods. We collected data in an online experiment (http://colournaming.com) with Russian respondents in their native language. Participants were presented, with virtual color cards selected from 606 stimuli randomly by a computer program. We asked respondents to name each color using the most appropriate color descriptor (an unconstrained color-naming method). Results. The study showed that, compared to non-COVID-19 controls, post-COVID-19 respondents revealed an altered pattern of color naming. In particular, we found a significant increase in ‘brown', ‘green', and ‘gray' names, along with an increased use frequency of achromatic modifiers "dirty”, "pale”, "dull”, and "pastel”. Discussion. These differences suggest general "darkening” and decreased saturation of perceived colors. The change in the color-naming pattern provides an indirect evidence of the impact of coronavirus on color vision. We speculate that a relatively high frequency of use of color terms koričnevyj ‘brown' and seryj ‘gray' may reflect an accelerated aging of the crystalline lens, while general "darkening” and desaturation of perceived colors may point to an affected processing of luminance contrast. These assumptions are currently being tested (by the authors) in COVID-19 survivors by using a color vision diagnostic test. © 2022, Russian Psychological Society. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Introduction. There is an accumulating evidence of various ophthalmological symptoms, accompanied by visual impairment, post-COVID-19. We hypothesized that color vision may have been affected post-COVID-19 too manifesting as changes in color-naming patterns. To test this hypothesis, we compared color naming in individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 (N = 201, 54 men and 147 women, aged 19–65 years, M = 33.4, SD = 13.2) and those participants whose responses were obtained before the pandemic (hereafter, non-COVID-19 controls) (N = 2,457, 1,052 men and 1,402 women, aged 16–98 years, M = 41.36, SD = 17.7). Methods. We collected data in an online experiment (http://colournaming.com) with Russian respondents in their native language. Participants were presented, with virtual color cards selected from 606 stimuli randomly by a computer program. We asked respondents to name each color using the most appropriate color descriptor (an unconstrained color-naming method). Results. The study showed that, compared to non-COVID-19 controls, post-COVID-19 respondents revealed an altered pattern of color naming. In particular, we found a significant increase in ‘brown', ‘green', and ‘gray' names, along with an increased use frequency of achromatic modifiers "dirty”, "pale”, "dull”, and "pastel”. Discussion. These differences suggest general "darkening” and decreased saturation of perceived colors. The change in the color-naming pattern provides an indirect evidence of the impact of coronavirus on color vision. We speculate that a relatively high frequency of use of color terms koričnevyj ‘brown' and seryj ‘gray' may reflect an accelerated aging of the crystalline lens, while general "darkening” and desaturation of perceived colors may point to an affected processing of luminance contrast. These assumptions are currently being tested (by the authors) in COVID-19 survivors by using a color vision diagnostic test. © 2022, Russian Psychological Society. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The article provides the results of an analysis of color representations related to COVID-19 pandemic in the Russian online media in terms of dramaturgical, cultural and ritual theories of emotions in sociology. The study was held in February - August 2020 and uses complex techniques including content analysis and online experiments. At the first stage, the authors studied the emotional energy of the coronavirus color images using content analysis. The data the study relies on are coronavirus-related publications made by officially registered Russian online media. Multistage cluster sampling was used to select items (N= 1 200);Google keyword search tool and dominant color search were used to sort them. Two online experiments involving 344 respondents (246 women and 98 men aged 18-78) were conducted at the second stage;the authors used the Russian version of the Geneva Emotion Wheel (GEW) to analyze the emotional management. The content analysis suggests that the most widely cited visual representation of COVID-19 in the Russian online media is the image of the source of infection - the COVID-19 virus. The color of the image serves to maintain emotional background of the message and correlates with the topic representing the general vision of the situation and its future evolution. Three basic emotions are dominant in the perceptions of the COVID-19 color images across different age and gender groups;they are interest, fear and disgust. Any characteristics of information which usually perform quite well to gain attention (novelty, incertitude, extravagance, and uncertainly) work in the opposite direction when merged with disgust: they evoke an absolutely different emotion which is fear. © 2020 Russian Public Opinion Research Center, VCIOM. All rights reserved.