Contact: Michael Mullaney
mullam@rpi.edu
518-276-6161
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Using Nude-colored Hospital Gowns to Overcome Evolutionary Biases of the Human Eye

Caption: A new study from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Professor Mark Changizi suggests that changing the color of hospital gowns and bed sheets to match a patient’s skin color could greatly enhance the ability of a doctor or nurse to detect cyanosis and other health-related skin color changes. Perceived color on skin crucially depends on the background color. For example, the five small squares are identical in each of pictured boxes. The change and gradation of the small squares, however, are much easier to identify in the box on the bottom row -- which is the same color as the middle square -- than the hospital gown-colored boxes in the top row.

Credit: Rensselaer/Changizi

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Related news release: Nude-colored hospital gowns could help doctors better detect hard-to-see symptoms