Testing color discrimination without the use of special stimuli or technical equipment

Recently a number of self-report inventories have been developed to provide quick, valid, and reliable measures of sensory function without the use of technical equipment. One such measure, the 10-item Color Screening Inventory, was developed to detect individuals with deficient color perception. In the present study we used a sample of 268 subjects who were tested on both the Farnsworth-Munsell 100-hue test and the Color Screening Inventory. Analysis showed that inventory scores also predict continuous variations in and individuals' ability to discriminate colors, with an eta of .69, which explains 48% of the predictive variance. It was possible to describe the data using a quadratic regression equation which has a corrected correlation of .52. Using this, a conversion table was generated to allow rapid estimation of 100-hue test scores from the inventory. On the basis of the results, the Color Screening Inventory appears to be a quick and effective means of testing color discrimination without requiring special stimuli, technical equipment, or controlled testing environments.