The dermo-optical perception of color as an information source for blind travelers

Dermo-optical color perception refers to a person's ability to distinguish color surfaces through "skin perception" without the use of sight. The aims of this study were (1) to assess prior research findings which apparently demonstrated the existence of dermo-optical color perception and (2) to explore the possibilities of using color to indicate reference points for blind travellers. Three experiments were conducted with 20 congenitally blind subjects and a sighted blindfolded control group matched on age, sex, and education. In Exp. 1 on a discrimination task subjects were asked if two boards were of the same color and on a pairing task were asked to match a colored board with one among a set of three boards having the same color. In Exp. 2 the discrimination task was identical to that in Exp. 1, but instead of using boards perceived through haptic exploration, we used colored cubicles in which the whole body would be exposed to the color. In Exp. 3 subjects were asked to walk along the corridor of a labyrinthine set-up and to identify any changes of color they could perceive. The experiments were designed to provide measures of reliability of subjects' responses. Analysis showed little or no support for the ability to perceive color by dermo-optical means. The comparisons of the blind and the sighted control groups were nonsignificant. On the basis of our findings, the use of color to help blind travellers has to be rejected. The paper concludes with a discussion suggesting reasons for the contradictory results emerging from studies on dermo-optical color perception.