Detecting Color-Blindness using Brain Signals

Why?

My school participated in a science fair for the first time last year. I really liked the idea and therefore took part in it. As I was looking for project ideas, my dad bought me a book about neuroscience that I found really interesting. In this book, Gage and Marzullo (2022) describe an experiment where you compare brain signals with your eyes open versus with your eyes closed. After thinking about this experiment, I came up with an idea. I thought that if I change this experiment, so that instead of comparing eyes open and eyes closed, I compared two colors that a color-blind person could, versus could not, differentiate between I would be able to detect color-blindness.

I am color-blind myself, so this would also help me, because with my experiment I could automatically and objectively determine which color combinations cause problems for me. This would be a phenomenal accomplishment because with this knowledge it would be easy to correct problematic color combinations on a screen. Since 8% of the male population and 0.5% of the female population are color-blind (Color Blind Awareness, 2024), this test would have a big impact on society overall. For example, think about young children in primary school where many educational games are based on color. It has a negative impact on their schooling and well-being if these young children are not aware of the colors they cannot see properly. I can say this with certainty because this is what happened to me.

How?

A lot of my research came from the book about neuroscience (Gage & Marzullo, 2022), and from a very helpful website about color-blindness (Color Blind Awareness, 2024). Additionally, I used my own knowledge, as I am color-blind myself.

In a first step, I used a very simple bio amplifier for my experiment. To pick up on the brain signals, I used electrodes, alligator clips, electrode gel (great conductor), and a headband on which two additional electrodes were attached. First, I would put the headband on in such a way that the two electrodes connected to it were at the back of my head, directly above the visual cortex (part of the brain controlling everything from the eyes). Then, I would connect these electrodes to the bio amplifier using alligator clips. In between the electrodes and my head, I placed electrode gel, to make the connection better. Finally I connected the bio amplifier to a laptop, that had a very simple analysis software downloaded. The key challenge of this setup, is that the electrodes on the headband have to be placed perfectly. When I placed them even more than a centimeter off, the results were all inaccurate, and I had to redo the experiment.

Here is the procedure I used:

• The experiment was done in a dark room to minimize unwanted optical stimulation. I therefore did the experiments in the late evening.
• I used two laptops: One of them measured the brain signals with the analysis software. The other showed color combinations on a monitor that I looked at. 
• I connected the bio amplifier with the laptop and made sure that the laptop was not connected to a plug point (for safety reasons).  
• I applied the electrodes as mentioned before.
• The analysis software showed the brain signals in the form of a line chart.

In my experiment, I showed color combinations on a screen that could differentiate between and color combinations that I could not differentiate between. When looking at the brain signals, I could see a difference between the two cases.

The initial results were very promising, but the basic equipment had considerable disadvantages. For example, the signals were very weak and the analysis software did not allow me to use statistical methods to prove my hypothesis. Additionally, the simple headband did not allow me to produce consistent results.

This is why I decided to ask for a donation and sponsorship from Open BCI. I found that their equipment was perfect for my project. Not only was it very professional and well designed, the software that comes with it will make analyzing the brain signals much easier than previously.

I asked for the following equipment, and I am really excited that my request has been accepted:

Why is this so important?

In conclusion, I am working on a method to automatically and objectively detect color blindness. Unlike the test currently used called the Ishihara color plate test (Color-blindness Tests, 2024), which requires the person being tested to be able to communicate properly, my method can be used for people of all ages. Additionally, we can change the colors on the screen to determine exactly which colors are causing problems for color-blind people. Finally, I would like to develop an algorithm and a product that can change color displays in such a way that color-blind people can differentiate between them.

References

Bibliography:

Gage, G., & Marzullo, T. (2022). How your brain works: neuroscience experiments for everyone. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. 

Color Blind Awareness (2024, January). About Color Blindness. Retrieved from: https://www.colourblindawareness.org/.

Color-blindness Tests (2024, March). Ishihara Color Test. Retrieved from:

Pyke, J. (2019). Living color: CBC The Nature of things with David Suzuki. Vancouver: Living Color Productions Inc. Retrieved from https://gem.cbc.ca/the-nature-of-things?autoplay=1 

Weermeijer, R. (2019). [Brain] [Photograph]. Unsplash. Retrieved from:

https://unsplash.com/photos/brown-brain-decor-in-selective-focus-photography-3KGF9R_0oHs