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Colour category effects

Evidence from asymmetries in task performance
  • Oliver Wright
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Colour Studies
This chapter is in the book Colour Studies

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of recent experiments (Hanley and Roberson 2011; Wright 2012) investigating asymmetries in performance of two kinds of task, two-alternative forced choice (2-AFC) and visual search. Previous research has reported colour category effects in performance of both tasks and suggests such category effects can be interpreted as evidence of a Whorfian effect. Two key questions addressed here are: first, whether asymmetries in performance of 2-AFC and visual search tasks might also represent a Whorfian effect, and second, whether asymmetries in the two tasks can be accommodated within a framework that implies Whorfian effects in the domain of colour depend critically on on-line stimulus categorization. In addition to interpretations that offer affirmative answers to these questions, alternative interpretations are considered.

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of recent experiments (Hanley and Roberson 2011; Wright 2012) investigating asymmetries in performance of two kinds of task, two-alternative forced choice (2-AFC) and visual search. Previous research has reported colour category effects in performance of both tasks and suggests such category effects can be interpreted as evidence of a Whorfian effect. Two key questions addressed here are: first, whether asymmetries in performance of 2-AFC and visual search tasks might also represent a Whorfian effect, and second, whether asymmetries in the two tasks can be accommodated within a framework that implies Whorfian effects in the domain of colour depend critically on on-line stimulus categorization. In addition to interpretations that offer affirmative answers to these questions, alternative interpretations are considered.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface ix
  4. Acknowledgements x
  5. Abbreviations xi
  6. Prehistoric colour semantics
  7. Prehistoric colour semantics 3
  8. Colour and Linguistics
  9. Preface to Section II 29
  10. Towards a historical and cultural atlas of colour terms in the Near East 31
  11. The evolution of GRUE 53
  12. Linguistic categorization of BLUE in Standard Italian 67
  13. From blood to worms 79
  14. The motivational analysis of some Finnic colour terms 93
  15. Her blue eyes are red 109
  16. The spread of RED in the Historical Thesaurus of English 126
  17. A metaphorical spectrum 140
  18. Exploring the metaphorical use of colour with the Historical Thesaurus of English 153
  19. Colour categorization, naming and preference
  20. Preface to Section III 167
  21. The case for infant colour categories 169
  22. Bornstein’s paradox (redux) 181
  23. Category effects on colour discrimination 200
  24. Colour category effects 212
  25. Gender differences in colour naming 225
  26. Personality and gender-schemata contributions to colour preferences 240
  27. Axiological aspects of Polish colour vocabulary 258
  28. The metaphysical significance of colour categorization 273
  29. Colour and the World
  30. Preface to Section IV 287
  31. Color seeing and speaking 291
  32. Colour terms in the names of coastal and inland features 307
  33. Referential meaning in basic and non-basic color terms 323
  34. Unfolding colour in mind and language 339
  35. Synaesthetic associations 352
  36. Bach to the blues 366
  37. “Miss Gartside’s immediate eye” 380
  38. Lighting up Shakespeare 397
  39. Index 413
https://doi.org/10.1075/z.191.14wri

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface ix
  4. Acknowledgements x
  5. Abbreviations xi
  6. Prehistoric colour semantics
  7. Prehistoric colour semantics 3
  8. Colour and Linguistics
  9. Preface to Section II 29
  10. Towards a historical and cultural atlas of colour terms in the Near East 31
  11. The evolution of GRUE 53
  12. Linguistic categorization of BLUE in Standard Italian 67
  13. From blood to worms 79
  14. The motivational analysis of some Finnic colour terms 93
  15. Her blue eyes are red 109
  16. The spread of RED in the Historical Thesaurus of English 126
  17. A metaphorical spectrum 140
  18. Exploring the metaphorical use of colour with the Historical Thesaurus of English 153
  19. Colour categorization, naming and preference
  20. Preface to Section III 167
  21. The case for infant colour categories 169
  22. Bornstein’s paradox (redux) 181
  23. Category effects on colour discrimination 200
  24. Colour category effects 212
  25. Gender differences in colour naming 225
  26. Personality and gender-schemata contributions to colour preferences 240
  27. Axiological aspects of Polish colour vocabulary 258
  28. The metaphysical significance of colour categorization 273
  29. Colour and the World
  30. Preface to Section IV 287
  31. Color seeing and speaking 291
  32. Colour terms in the names of coastal and inland features 307
  33. Referential meaning in basic and non-basic color terms 323
  34. Unfolding colour in mind and language 339
  35. Synaesthetic associations 352
  36. Bach to the blues 366
  37. “Miss Gartside’s immediate eye” 380
  38. Lighting up Shakespeare 397
  39. Index 413
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