The interplay between shape and colour: an experimental inquiry

This research deals with some perceptual aspects of shape and colour vision, and specifically with the relation between the widespread phenomenon of amodality in vision and the multifarious characteristics of colour appearances. The study is divided into a theoretical and an experimental part, and the rationale of the two experiments is discussed within the systematic framework illustrated in Chapter 1 and Chapter 2, respectively on the topics of colour and amodality. The third chapter describes an experiment carried out in order to study the effects of colour in dimensional phenomena. The results show that colour has an effect on amodal completion, and particularly regarding dark/light colours and harmonic and disharmonic configurations. The fourth chapter describes an experiment carried out in order to test the existence of a perceived natural relationship between shape and colour using non-geometrical figures. The aim of this study was to verify whether there is a natural relation between colours and natural shapes, and which elements or parts of the shapes – like orientation, type of shape, margins, texture or dimensionality – might be responsible for that relation and explain it. The results confirmed the initial hypothesis. Overall, one of the best achievements of the research reported, has been its demonstration of the feasibility of the phenomenological methods, complementary to psychophysical methods in the scientific analysis of visual perception.