Do children and adults experience color the same way?

Color perception is a fascinating puzzle in psychology and neuroscience. How do people experience color, and is that experience the same for everyone? Scientists have long debated the relationship between conscious experience—what something feels like—and the objective activity of the brain.

While researchers can measure brain waves and neural activity, the subjective nature of perception remains difficult to study, especially in children.

Young children experience the world differently from adults, yet studying their conscious experiences presents unique challenges. Their language skills are still developing, making it hard for them to describe what they see.

Past studies relied on behavior-based methods, such as tracking gaze patterns, but these methods couldn't fully capture children's inner experiences. Now, researchers are taking a new approach by measuring the structure of subjective experiences rather than relying on verbal descriptions.

A team from Kyoto University, led by Yusuke Moriguchi, set out to create a way to measure qualia— the personal, subjective experience of perception. Instead of asking children to describe their experiences, researchers asked them to compare colors and judge how similar they appeared.

Using a touch panel, children as young as three years old rated the similarity between different color pairs on a four-point scale. This method eliminated the need for complex verbal explanations and allowed researchers to measure how children experience color.

The study, whose findings were published in the journal Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, included Japanese children between the ages of 3 and 12, Chinese children aged 6 to 8, and Japanese adults. To ensure consistency, the team conducted tests in different environments, both online and in person, using computers and touchscreen devices.

The study focused on nine basic colors and analyzed how children grouped them based on similarity. Scientists used mathematical techniques like multi-dimensional scaling to visualize how the colors related to each other. If a child's perception of color changed as they grew, the structures would look different across age groups. If color perception remained stable, the structures would remain similar.

The results surprised researchers. The way children perceived color was remarkably consistent across ages and cultures. Young children grouped colors in a way that closely resembled how adults did, despite their developing language skills. While researchers observed small differences in how certain colors were categorized, the overall structure of color perception remained stable as children grew.

“We were surprised to observe the consistency of color qualia structures across ages, despite known significant changes in children's understanding and use of color names with age,” Moriguchi said.

This finding contradicts earlier studies suggesting that young children perceive color categories differently from adults. Previous research showed that toddlers often misidentify color names and have difficulty distinguishing color categories. This led scientists to believe that their perception of color was still developing. However, the new study suggests that while children may struggle with naming colors, their ability to perceive and categorize them remains stable from an early age.

One explanation is that children's color perception is shaped by innate biological mechanisms rather than language alone. Infants as young as three months can distinguish colors, and by their first year, they begin developing categorical perception—grouping colors into broad categories like red, blue, or green. Although young children may not yet use color names correctly, their ability to recognize and organize colors appears to be remarkably similar to adults.

One of the study's most important findings was the minimal impact of cultural background on color perception. Despite differences in language and environment, children from Japan and China showed similar color structures. This suggests that the human experience of color may be universal.

The study also tested whether the experimental setting influenced children's responses. Some children took the test in a lab, while others completed it online or at home using a touch screen. Surprisingly, the environment had little effect on the results. This indicates that children's perception of color is robust and consistent, regardless of the testing conditions.

“We did not expect the experimental environment to have such minimal influence on the results,” Moriguchi said. The finding strengthens the reliability of their approach and suggests that the method could be applied to other studies on perception and consciousness.

By providing a scientific method to study subjective experiences in young children, this research opens new doors for understanding human perception. Future studies could explore other senses, such as taste, sound, or touch, using a similar approach. Scientists could also expand the study to include children from a wider range of cultural backgrounds and examine how different factors—such as language exposure or vision development—affect perception.

Understanding how children experience the world can also lead to better educational strategies. If children perceive color in the same way as adults, but struggle with naming them, then teaching methods could focus more on reinforcing verbal associations rather than assuming their perception is incomplete. This insight could also help parents and educators develop better communication strategies that align with how children naturally process visual information.

"Our study provides a new methodology for scientifically investigating conscious experiences in young children," Moriguchi said. "This could contribute to developing better parenting and educational approaches based on children's perspectives."

The study challenges long-held beliefs about how perception develops and suggests that some aspects of experience may remain constant across age and culture.

While more research is needed, these findings bring us closer to understanding one of the most mysterious aspects of human consciousness—how we see and experience the world.

Note: Materials provided above by The Brighter Side of News. Content may be edited for style and length.

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