Abstract
Abstract: Introduction. There is an accumulating evidence of various ophthalmological symptoms, accompanied by visual impairment, post-COVID-19. We hypothesized that color vision may have been affected post-COVID-19 too manifesting as changes in color-naming patterns. To test this hypothesis, we compared color naming in individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 (N = 201, 54 men and 147 women, aged 19–65 years, M = 33.4, SD = 13.2) and those participants whose responses were obtained before the pandemic (hereafter, non-COVID-19 controls) (N = 2,457, 1,052 men and 1,402 women, aged 16–98 years, M = 41.36, SD = 17.7). Methods. We collected data in an online experiment (http://colournaming.com) with Russian respondents in their native language. Participants were presented, with virtual color cards selected from 606 stimuli randomly by a computer program. We asked respondents to name each color using the most appropriate color descriptor (an unconstrained color-naming method). Results. The study showed that, compared to non-COVID-19 controls, post-COVID-19 respondents revealed an altered pattern of color naming. In particular, we found a significant increase in ‘brown’, ‘green’, and ‘gray’ names, along with an increased use frequency of achromatic modifiers “dirty”, “pale”, “dull”, and “pastel”. Discussion. These differences suggest general “darkening” and decreased saturation of perceived colors. The change in the color-naming pattern provides an indirect evidence of the impact of coronavirus on color vision. We speculate that a relatively high frequency of use of color terms koričnevyj ‘brown’ and seryj ‘gray’ may reflect an accelerated aging of the crystalline lens, while general “darkening” and desaturation of perceived colors may point to an affected processing of luminance contrast. These assumptions are currently being tested (by the authors) in COVID-19 survivors by using a color vision diagnostic test.
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