From a color-blind perspective: exploring frustration and confidence in schoolchildren with simulated color vision...

Congenital red-green color vision deficiencies (CVDs) affect 8% of males and 0.5% of females. Given the growing number of school materials using color as a resource to learn, affected children are said to be at a clear disadvantage. However, due to an absence of mandatory screening, CVD goes unnoticed in the majority of children with the condition, and necessary adjustments are not made, raising questions about the potential impact on their future motivation to learn. The aim of the current study was to examine children's levels of frustration and self-confidence after inducing CVD. Commercially available Variantor spectacles (simulating dichromacy, affecting 2% of males) were worn by the children while they performed a typical color-based task at school. Using a counterbalanced, repeated measures design, the study was conducted on 181 color-normal schoolchildren performing age-appropriate math tasks. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests revealed significantly poorer task performance, higher levels of frustration, and lower confidence ratings in the simulation condition. We argue that frequent failure at color-related tasks can lead to academic and social-emotional problems, highlighting the need to reintroduce CVD screening at an early age to ensure that appropriate support can be given to CVD children at school.