How does perceptual distortion occur? Unraveling the interference mechanism of environmental color in the perception of original colors of cultural artifacts

Color design within museum interiors constitutes a critical factor in shaping visitors’ perception of the authenticity of the original colors of cultural artifacts. Drawing upon multi-source qualitative data, including in-depth interviews and professional texts, this study employs grounded theory to exploratorily construct a theoretical model of the interference mechanism through which environmental colors affect the perception of artifact original colors. The findings reveal that optical-physical, cognitive-psychological, semantic-cultural, and emotional-value jointly constitute four core dimensions underlying such interference effects. At the physical level, environmental colors generate initial chromatic signals, which subsequently produce perceptual deviations through cognitive processing, trigger semantic reconstruction, and ultimately influence value judgments via emotional experiences. These dimensions may operate independently or synergistically, with cognitive processing and semantic association functioning as the central mediating pathways. The study provides an empirically grounded cognitive-psychological explanatory framework for understanding the dynamic relationship between environmental colors and the perception of artifact original colors, thereby offering theoretical support for museums to more effectively address the challenge of chromatic distortion in artifact display.