One of the great curiosities that we have about newborn babies is how they see, if they see in black and white or in color, and if so, which do they prefer.
Alice Skelton, a doctor in psychology and a specialist in children’s color perception, wants to put an end to the myth that babies only see in black and white . The human being is born with the ability to recognize colors, and distinguish them from each other, he says, something that will be perfected as the brain and vision mature.
In fact, babies use their biology to group colors just like adults. They don’t know that blue is called blue, or red is called red, but they know that two different shades of blue belong to the same group, for example.
Babies look longer at colors that adults are more likely to prefer, suggesting that there is an element of color preference that is innate . When adults’ favorite colors are tested, blue always comes first and dark yellow last, and our research shows it’s the same for babies, she says.
How does the baby see colors?
Newborns can see the contrast of black and white shapes , and they can see some color from birth, they just have to be very intense.
The first months may notice contrasts between colors, which is why black and white toys are the best option for babies under six months. They also have a preference for bright colors that catch their eye, particularly red.
It takes three to four months before babies’ color vision allows them to start noticing differences in color shades , particularly between red and green, although they still need a greater difference between colors to see them.
Between five and eight months babies will develop a deeper perception, and will be able to differentiate five categories of colors.
Babies prefer bright colors
In a color research experiment conducted by scientist Anna Franklin at the University of Sussex in England, babies aged 4 to 6 months were shown 14 different colors from a color wheel. After being shown the same color multiple times, they were shown a different color. If the child looked at this new color longer than the previous one, it meant that he recognized it as a new color. This is concluded by using something known as “infant gaze time”, which is the idea that babies will look at something longer if it is unfamiliar.
While it was previously thought that our color separation might be an arbitrary social construct, this experiment suggests otherwise. After studying the reactions of 179 babies, the results of the study showed that babies can separate colors into five different categories: red, yellow, green, blue, and purple . This innate ability to distinguish colors may have been useful to our earliest ancestors in having to recognize “safe” versus “dangerous” colors for certain situations in nature, such as encountering poisonous plants or animals.
Image | depositphoto
In Babies and more | How does a newborn see you? (and at what distance it recognizes you)
