To the question of the relevance of the study of the effect of color on humans

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Лобаева Т.А., Катханова Ю.Ф. To the question of the relevance of the study of the effect of color on humans // Мир педагогики и психологии: международный научно-практический журнал. 2020. № 07 (48). Режим доступа: https://scipress.ru/pedagogy/articles/to-the-question-of-the-relevance-of-the-study-of-the-effect-of-color-on-humans.html (Дата обращения: 09.07.2020)

Currently, among modern people, especially among urban residents and residents of megacities, psychosomatic disorders (somatic diseases caused by psychogenic factors), which are dominant among all noncommunicable diseases, are becoming more common. The frequency of such disorders ranges from 15 to 60% among the general population. Up to 40–68% of pediatric and pediatric referrals are complaints related to various psychosomatic diseases and symptoms [1, 3, 6].

A common cause and trigger for the development of diseases in humans is stress. From the point of view of psychology, there are 2 options for stressful conditions for a person: eustress and distress. Eustress activates the internal capabilities and reserves of a person, improves the flow of mental, biochemical and physiological functions. Distress is a destructive process that disorganizes human behavior, worsens the flow of all body functions. Eustress is short-term and gives a feeling of an increase in internal forces. Distress refers to prolonged stress and can turn into somatic and mental illnesses (neurosis, psychosis). In some cases, to restore the activity of the body can be used the effect of color on the human body - color therapy [4, 7, 11].

The mechanism of action of color on a person is based on the laws of physical chemistry, biophysics, and psychophysiology of man. This effect occurs under the influence of electromagnetic waves of a certain length on the visual analyzer, which has a specific effect in various diseases.
However, at present, the degree of influence of color and artistic and aesthetic images has not been sufficiently studied in various groups of people, both in norm and in pathology. For example, in the scientific literature there is practically no data on the effectiveness of the effects of color therapy and art therapeutic techniques on people with different lifestyles, upbringing and ethno-cultural heritage, the possibilities of normalizing the psycho-somatic state among people of different professions are not described [6, 8, 11, 12].

In this regard, the aim of our study is to study the influence of color and artistic images on the human condition in normal and pathological conditions, including in different groups of people (students, teachers, practitioners).

The theory of color has occupied the minds of many scientists and philosophers for a long time. One of the first known color theories was presented in the treatise "On Color," written in Ancient Greece. Much later, in 1676, Isaac Newton conducted experiments using a trihedral prism and decomposed white sunlight into a color spectrum; he discovered that white light is a combination of all colors. In 1810, the German poet, thinker and scientist Wolfgang von Goethe published his book Theory of Color, which he devoted to human perception of color  [4, 5, 9, 11].

In 1810, German artist Philip Otto Runge published his theory of color. He ranked white and black as the main colors, placing them at the poles of his color sphere, between which color belts were located. In 1839, the French chemist Michel Eugene Chevreul introduced his color hemisphere, he also found that the green receptors in the retina get tired and they need an additional green color for balance. At the beginning of the 20th century, American artist Albert Henry Mansell created one of the most significant color models in the history - the Mansell color tree. Now in design, painting and architecture, the color wheel of the Swiss artist and teacher Johannes Itten is widely used.  According to I. Itten, word and sound, form and color are carriers of a transcendental (connecting together) entity [1, 4, 7].

From the point of view of the exact sciences, color is the ability of objects to reflect or emit light waves of a separate part of the spectrum. It is known that light exhibits the properties of material particles and at the same time the properties of a wave (electromagnetic field), the wavelength of radiation is determined by the energy of its quantum. The human eye is capable of distinguishing colors with a wavelength in the range of 400 to 700 nanometers, with the smallest wavelength corresponding to purple and the largest to red. Each color of the spectrum is characterized by its own wavelength [1, 2, 4].

Light waves themselves are colorless, and color occurs when the waves are perceived by the human eye and brain. Thus, exposure and color perception is a complex process due to psychological neurophysiological factors. It is shown that the long-wavelength part of visible light (red, orange, yellow) has a sympathetic tonic effect, and the short-wavelength part (blue, blue, purple) has a parasympathetic effect [5, 7, 12].

The healing properties of color have been known for a long time. Color therapy was widely used in Ancient China, Ancient India, Ancient Egypt, using natural transparent and translucent colored minerals. In Europe, interest in color therapy appeared after the advent of inexpensive colored glass, and in Russia in 1891 a reflector with a blue light bulb, or “Minin's lamp”, was offered for medicinal purposes. A number of works by V. M. Bekhterev (1916) are devoted to the effect of color on the psycho-emotional state of a person [5].

Specialists in the field of color therapy [12] have shown that all the colors of visible light radiation cause certain biochemical reactions in the photoreceptor system of the retina, as a result of which neural (electrical) impulses of strictly defined modality are formed there, which are transmitted through the optic nerves to the central nervous system (occipital cortex )

In neurons of the visual cortex of the brain under the influence of visual impulses, various switchings to associative fibers with other parts of the cortex occur, which ultimately forms a certain color sensation. Therefore, color perception is the reaction of certain parts of the central nervous system of a person to strictly defined physical impulses caused by the light spectrum on the retina [4, 5, 11].

Considering that human emotions are formed through the interaction of various departments of the cerebral cortex, subcortical structures, vegetative centers and nuclei of the brain stem, it can be argued that the influence of colors on the emotional sphere and human psychology is very extensive. Due to the effect on the autonomic nervous system, various colors have one or another effect on such physiological parameters as the level (concentration) of hormones and neurotransmitters in the blood, heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), muscle tone, depth and frequency respiratory movements, tone of the bronchi and smooth muscle organs, etc [7, 11, 12].

It has been reliably established that due to the effect on the human neuroendocrine system, various colors affect the secretion of almost all neuropeptides enkephalins, endorphins), which leads to corresponding biological effects. Due to the effect on higher nervous activity, colors can regulate biorhythms, emotional background, level of wakefulness, reaction speed, memorization of information and other processes. A special area of ​​color therapy is chromopuncture, in which the point effect of color on biologically active points of a person is carried out [1, 4, 5].

In addition to color therapy, art pedagogy and art therapy are among the areas of interdisciplinary nature that are actively developing today to address issues of human development. According to teachers, the medical practice of using the psychology of art (art therapy) is implemented mainly at the stage of rehabilitation of the individual and his secondary social adaptation, and pedagogical practice uses the compensatory, catharsic and communicative functions of art at the stage of prevention of tendencies of emotional irregulation, sensory exhaustion or hyperactivity and human emotional instability syndrome [7, 9, 10].

The subject of art pedagogy is the formation of man by means of art and artistic activity in the educational space. The tasks of art pedagogy, as a separate independent direction of pedagogical science, include, first of all, a comprehensive description and interpretation of the mechanisms of the influence of art and artistic activity on a person in the educational space, upbringing, development and training of a person. Huge didactic material has been accumulated in this area [3, 6, 10].

The professional tasks of art therapy are primarily the therapeutic effects on the psyche (ridding a person of various emotional, personal, social problems), psychocorrection (correcting the characteristics of psychological development, forming the necessary psychological qualities, increasing the level of adaptation to changing conditions, etc.). and psychoprophylaxis (prevention of neuropsychic and psychosomatic diseases, as well as relief of acute psychotraumatic reactions) [1, 2, 3, 7].

It is shown that in contemporary art there are a number of artists whose paintings bring positive changes in relation to well-being and health, for example, the works of B. Talkambaev, N. Roerich, A. Viktorov, D. Davitashvili. But there are paintings that negatively affect the watching: “The Scream” by E. Munch, “The Crying Boy” by D. Bragolin, “Water Lilies” by C. Monet and others [7, 9,10].

Thus, color as well as artistic images are a powerful tool in the hands of a wide range of specialists. The potential impact of art, color, images, sounds on the worldview and human health is huge and requires detailed further study, especially in the case of the influence of color and artistic and aesthetic means on people with various psychosomatic deviations. It is shown that color therapy and art therapy can be used in combined methods for the habilitation and rehabilitation of people with disabilities, and art pedagogy enhances the educational component of self-development and improvement. We decided to combine the achievements of three areas (color therapy, art therapy and art pedagogy) into a single system with the aim of a comprehensive impact on the psycho-emotional sphere of man. In this regard, we have developed 2 algorithms that are evaluated in practice [12]. The obtained primary results completely correlate with theoretical postulates.

Further research work will be associated with the development, refinement and implementation of the proposed algorithms that combine the achievements of medicine, psychology and art and aimed at stabilizing the human condition in various stressful situations.