颜色词的语用关系影响颜色认知

在汉语中, 红、紫、蓝、绿都有各自的语言标签。但在日常语用中, “红”与“紫”比“蓝”与“绿”的语用关系更加密切。“红”与“紫”具有更多的联合表达, 具有更为类似的颜色感应。采用颜色相似性判断、颜色分类和颜色再认任务, 考察汉语母语者对“红–紫”色块和“蓝–绿”色块的认知, 探讨语用关系对颜色认知的影响。结果表明, 语用关系不影响汉语母语者的颜色相似性判断, 却影响颜色分类和颜色再认。与“蓝–绿”色块比, 汉语母语者在包含记忆成分任务中对“红–紫”色块具有认知劣势。整个研究表明, 由语用关系引起的颜色感应在颜色认知中起着重要调节作用, 记忆编码在此过程中起着直接作用。     

语言和文化影响颜色认知：直接语言效应抑或间接语言效应?

语言和文化对颜色认知的影响存在着直接语言效应和间接语言效应的争论。直接语言效应是指在识记颜色时人先将颜色转换成颜色名称, 再认时通过匹配保留在记忆中的颜色词与目标颜色名称来完成任务。颜色类别知觉是语言策略的结果。间接语言效应是指语言和文化塑造颜色知觉表征, 形成了一个曲形颜色知觉空间, 将人们的注意引向语言和文化定义的颜色类别分界。即使没有语言策略的参与, 类别效应也会出现。颜色文化是民族文化的重要组成部分。绿色和红色在维吾尔族和汉族的语言和文化中分别具有重要的意义。采用颜色相似性判断、颜色分类和颜色再认任务, 考察维吾尔族和汉族的大学生对红、绿的认知, 探查语言和文化对颜色认知的影响及其性质。结果表明, 与汉族相比, 维吾尔族对绿色的辨认、分类和再认存在反应优势, 对红色认知存在反应劣势。与颜色辨认反应比, 两个民族的颜色再认反应时显著长。整个研究表明, 语言和文化对颜色认知的影响存在着间接语言效应, 语言与文化塑造个体的颜色知觉空间。     

Color term knowledge does not affect categorical perception of color in toddlers

Categorical perception of color is shown when colors from the same category are discriminated less easily than equivalently spaced colors that cross a category boundary. The current experiments tested various models of categorical perception. Experiment 1 tested for categorical responding in 2- to 4-year-olds, the age range for the onset establishment of color term knowledge. Experiment 2 tested for categorical responding in Himba toddlers, whose language segments the color space differently from the way in which the English language does so. Experiment 3 manipulated the conditions of the task to explore whether the categorical responding in Experiments 1 and 2 was equivalent to categorical perception. Categorical perception was shown irrespective of naming and was not stronger in those children with more developed color term knowledge. Cross-cultural differences in the extent of categorical perception were not found. These findings support universalistic models of color categorization and suggest that color term knowledge does not modify categorical perception, at least during the early stages of childhood.     

Symbolic comparison of color similarity

This study investigated symbolic comparison of color similarity using a triplet paradigm. Results showed that the time to choose which of two color samples is more similar to a color name was a function of several measures of distance between the samples relative to the focal color for the category name. Since colors appear to be represented in memory only as names and images and not as abstract entities such as features or propositions, these results provide support for models of symbolic comparison that assume that items are stored and compared as mental analogs.     

Color naming: A mapping in the IMCS of common color terms

This study can be considered a follow-up of the investigations of basic color terms by Berlin & Kay and others following their paradigm. It is complementary to these inasmuch as a different method was used for identifying focal areas and boundaries of common color categories, namely semantic differential scales and isosemantic mapping. Further, colors from the entire color space were studied. No comparisons were made between languages, this study being only concerned with the Swedish language. The purpose of this study was to provide a more thorough mapping of the "spread gradients" in various areas of the NCS color space of color categories as represented by the most common color terms.     

An Hebrew language version of the Stroop test

We present normative data from a Hebrew language version of the Stroop color-word test. In this sample of college-educated Israeli young adults, 18 women and 28 men with a mean age of 28.4 yr. completed a Hebrew language Stroop test. When compared with 1978 English language norms of Golden, Hebrew speakers were slower on color-word reading and color naming, similar on naming the color of incongruently colored names of colors, and showed less interference. Slowed color-word reading and color-naming may reflect the two-syllable length of the Hebrew names for one-syllable length English language colors; reduced interference may reflect the exclusion of vowels in much Hebrew printing and subjects' ability to provide competing, nonconflicting words while naming the color of words in which the hue and the lexical content do not match.     

Categorical shape and color coding by pigeons

Categorical coding is the tendency to respond similarly to discriminated stimuli. Past research indicates that pigeons can categorize colors according to at least three spectral regions. Two present experiments assessed the categorical coding of shapes and the existence of a higher order color category (all colors). Pigeons were trained on two independent tasks (matching-to-sample, and oddity-from-sample). One task involved red and a plus sign, the other a circle and green. On test trials one of the two comparison stimuli from one task was replaced by one of the stimuli from the other task. Differential performance based on which of the two stimuli from the other task was introduced suggested categorical coding rules. In Experiment 1 evidence for the categorical coding of sample shapes was found. Categorical color coding was also found; however, it was the comparison stimuli rather than the samples that were categorically coded. Experiment 2 replicated the categorical shape sample effect and ruled out the possibility that the particular colors used were responsible for the categorical coding of comparison stimuli. Overall, the results indicate that pigeons can develop categorical rules involving shapes and colors and that the color categories can be hierarchical.     

色觉疲劳、语义饱和对颜色范畴知觉的即时影响

颜色范畴知觉究竟是语言的还是知觉的, 或两者交互引起的认知冲突所致仍在探究与争议之中。本研究采用色觉疲劳和语义饱和操作分别独立地改变知觉或语义加工, 观察二者对颜色范畴知觉效应的即时影响, 以期探究语言和知觉对颜色范畴的作用。结果显示, 色觉疲劳操作导致范畴间颜色辨别反应时减少, 颜色范畴效应增强。语义饱和操作导致被饱和颜色词所属的范畴内颜色辨别反应时增加, 颜色范畴效应增强。说明单独改变知觉或语义加工能力均能影响CCP效应, 支持了语言标签对比模型, 即语言与知觉的交互作用引起颜色范畴知觉的观点。     

The development of color categories in two languages: a longitudinal study

This study unites investigations into the linguistic relativity of color categories with research on children's category acquisition. Naming, comprehension, and memory for colors were tracked in 2 populations over a 3-year period. Children from a seminomadic equatorial African culture, whose language contains 5 color terms, were compared with a group of English children. Despite differences in visual environment, language, and education, they showed similar patterns of term acquisition. Both groups acquired color vocabulary slowly and with great individual variation. Those knowing no color terms made recognition errors based on perceptual distance, and the influence of naming on memory increased with age. An initial perceptually driven color continuum appears to be progressively organized into sets appropriate to each culture and language.     

‘Real Italians and wogs’: The discursive construction of Italian identity among first generation Italian immigrants in Western Australia

We explore the discursive construction of Italian identity among a bilingual sample of Italian‐born Western Australians. Focus groups were held with two groups: Italians who had migrated to Australia as children and a group who had migrated as adults. We found intra‐ and inter‐individual differences in identity construction, with much discourse devoted to demonstrating Italian authenticity and negotiating ethnic category boundaries. Shared markers of authenticity included language, heritage and food. The groups varied in their selection of referent groups to make authenticity claims, with the child migrants drawing upon the shared Australian stereotype of ‘wogs’ to construct and authenticate their Italian‐ness. In contrast, adult migrants constructed Italian identity through comparisons with the dominant Australian ethnic group and in relation to a broader ‘migrant’ identity. The findings highlight the fluid and complex nature of ethnic identity and the need for further exploration of how it is constructed in talk. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Children’s incidental learning of the colors of objects and clothing

Few researchers have examined adults’ and children’s incidental recall of color information. In Experiment 1, we examined how well children recalled the colors of items seen in a first aid demonstration. Color recall of objects was above chance levels after three different time delays. However, recall of clothing color was poor. In Experiment 2, we examined whether colors of items from the same category (e.g., items of clothing) were more difficult to remember than distinct items (i.e., belonging to a range of different categories). Children and adults saw 18 items from three different categories. Color recall was above chance levels. The colors of distinct items were recalled more often than the color of category items. The results suggest that color is encoded automatically to some extent. However, participants had difficulty in recalling the color of clothing worn by the experimenter.     

The role of perception, language, and preference in the developmental acquisition of basic color terms

When learning basic color vocabulary, young children show a selective delay in the acquisition of brown and gray relative to other basic color terms. In this study, we first establish the robustness of this finding and then investigate the extent to which perception, language, and color preference may influence color conceptualization. Experimental tasks were designed to measure different aspects of perceptual color processing (discrimination and saliency), color preference and objective counts of color term frequency in preschool-directed language (books and mothers' speech) were used to compare the acquisition of three groups of colors: primary colors, secondary colors (orange, pink, and purple) that appear at the same time as the primary colors, and secondary colors (brown and gray) that appear late. Although our results suggest that perception does not directly shape young children's color term acquisition, we found that children prefer brown and gray significantly less than basic colors and that these color terms appear significantly less often in child-directed speech, suggesting that color preference, linguistic input, and developing color cognition may be linked.     

Is a Pink Cow Still a Cow? Individual Differences in Toddlers' Vocabulary Knowledge and Lexical Representations

When a toddler knows a word, what does she actually know? Many categories have multiple relevant properties; for example, shape and color are relevant to membership in the category banana . How do toddlers prioritize these properties when recognizing familiar words, and are there systematic differences among children? In this study, toddlers viewed pairs of objects associated with prototypical colors. On some trials, objects were typically colored (e.g., Holstein cow and pink pig); on other trials, colors were switched (e.g., pink cow and Holstein‐patterned pig). On each trial, toddlers were directed to find a target object. Overall, recognition was disrupted when colors were switched, as measured by eye movements. Moreover, individual differences in vocabularies predicted recognition differences: Toddlers who say fewer shape‐based words were more disrupted by color switches. “Knowing” a word may not mean the same thing for all toddlers; different toddlers prioritize different facets of familiar objects in their lexical representations.     

Conditional relations by monkeys: Reflexivity, symmetry, and transitivity

Two cynomolgous macaques categorized six colors into two groups of three after conditional discrimination training (zero-delay symbolic match-to-sample). The procedures resulted in the establishment of relations among the elements of each set-relations that were not specifically trained and that can be characterized by the properties of reflexivity, symmetry, and transitivity. Each set of colors was related to a characteristic pattern of responding: One response pattern involved temporal duration (press and hold the response keys); the second response pattern entailed repeated pressing and releasing of the response keys (fixed ratio 8). Six combinations of two colors were trained, three combinations from each set. After discriminative performance stabilized for each monkey, they were tested with 10 additional color combinations, all of which differed from the training combinations. The conditional relations established between test combinations can be characterized as stimulus equivalence. The training procedures were analogous to the procedure of using category names, and have implications for understanding the function of language in the formation of equivalence classes.     

Chromatic information processing: Rate depends on stimulus location in the category and psychological complexity

Summary Colors are typically categorized, and color sensations can be conceived to lie on a continuum of psychological complexity from simple, sensations provoked by colors that fall near the centers of color categories and that convey predominately a single percept (like blue), to complex, sensations provoked by colors that fall near boundaries between color categories and that convey two percepts (like blue-green). In three experiments we assessed the effect of the location of colors in a category (their psychological complexity) on the rate at which observers identified and classified them. In Experiment 1, observers named category center colors faster than boundary colors. A subsidiary experiment with range-shifted stimuli showed that observers were not merely bisecting a stimulus continuum. In Experiment 2, observers classified a variety of category centers more rapidly than a variety of boundaries. In Experiment 3, observers who first practiced classifying color centers or boundaries as such later classified category centers faster than boundaries. A subsidiary experiment showed that this differential was not selective to particular response category labels. Neither Experiment 2 nor Experiment 3 showed any differential effect of visual field of presentation. The advantage of category center or simple over boundary or complex sensations in chromatic information processing is discussed in terms of the physiological sensitivity of the visual system to color.     

Processing of color words activates color representations

Two experiments were conducted to investigate whether color representations are routinely activated when color words are processed. Congruency effects of colors and color words were observed in both directions. Lexical decisions on color words were faster when preceding colors matched the color named by the word. Color-discrimination responses were slowed down when preceding color words mismatched the test color even if no task had to be performed on these words. These findings are consistent with the experiential view of language comprehension according to which color perception and the comprehension of color words are based on overlapping representational resources.     

Categorical Perception Beyond the Basic Level: The Case of Warm and Cool Colors

Categories can affect our perception of the world, rendering between‐category differences more salient than within‐category ones. Across many studies, such categorical perception (CP) has been observed for the basic‐level categories of one's native language. Other research points to categorical distinctions beyond the basic level, but it does not demonstrate CP for such distinctions. Here we provide such a demonstration. Specifically, we show CP in English speakers for the non‐basic distinction between “warm” and “cool” colors, claimed to represent the earliest stage of color lexicon evolution. Notably, the advantage for discriminating colors that straddle the warm–cool boundary was restricted to the right visual field—the same behavioral signature previously observed for basic‐level categories. This pattern held in a replication experiment with increased power. Our findings show that categorical distinctions beyond the basic‐level repertoire of one's native language are psychologically salient and may be spontaneously accessed during normal perceptual processing.     

Testing the Cross-Cultural Generality of Hering's Theory of Color Appearance

This study examines the cross-cultural generality of Hering's (1878/1964) color-opponent theory of color appearance. English-speaking and Somali-speaking observers performed variants of two paradigms classically used to study color-opponency. First, both groups identified similar red, green, blue, and yellow unique hues. Second, 25 English-speaking and 34 Somali-speaking observers decomposed the colors present in 135 Munsell color samples into their component Hering elemental sensations—red,green,blue, yellow, white, and black—or else responded “no term.” Both groups responded no term for many samples, notably purples. Somali terms for yellow were often used to name colors all around the color circle, including colors that are bluish according to Hering's theory. Four Somali Grue speakers named both green and blue elicitation samples by their term for green. However, that term did not name the union of all samples called blue or green by English speakers. A similar pattern was found among three Somali Achromatic speakers, who called the blue elicitation sample black or white. Thus, color decomposition by these Somali-speaking observers suggests a lexically influenced re-dimensionalization of color appearance space, rather than a simple reduction of the one proposed by Hering. Even some Somali Green-Blue speakers, whose data were otherwise similar to English, showed similar trends in yellow and blue usage. World Color Survey data mirror these results. These within- and cross-cultural violations of Hering's theory do not challenge the long-standing view that universal sensory processes mediate color appearance. However, they do demonstrate an important contribution of language in the human understanding of color.     

A conflict-based model of color categorical perception: evidence from a priming study

Categorical perception (CP) of color manifests as faster or more accurate discrimination of two shades of color that straddle a category boundary (e.g., one blue and one green) than of two shades from within the same category (e.g., two different shades of green), even when the differences between the pairs of colors are equated according to some objective metric. The results of two experiments provide new evidence for a conflict-based account of this effect, in which CP is caused by competition between visual and verbal/categorical codes on within-category trials. According to this view, conflict arises because the verbal code indicates that the two colors are the same, whereas the visual code indicates that they are different. In Experiment 1, two shades from the same color category were discriminated significantly faster when the previous trial also comprised a pair of within-category colors than when the previous trial comprised a pair from two different color categories. Under the former circumstances, the CP effect disappeared. According to the conflict-based model, response conflict between visual and categorical codes during discrimination of within-category pairs produced an adjustment of cognitive control that reduced the weight given to the categorical code relative to the visual code on the subsequent trial. Consequently, responses on within-category trials were facilitated, and CP effects were reduced. The effectiveness of this conflict-based account was evaluated in comparison with an alternative view that CP reflects temporary warping of perceptual space at the boundaries between color categories.     

Encoding of colors in short-term memory

A theory is proposed to explain results from prior experiments on release from proactive inhibition and the recall of colors or color names in short-term memory. It is assumed that colors are encoded in two ways, verbally and perceptually, while color names are encoded only verbally. Assuming that the release occurs when a new and different encoding is performed on changed material, it follows that release from proactive inhibition should occur with shifts from color names to colors but not with shifts in the opposite direction. These results were obtained in prior experiments. In the present experiment ambiguous colors were used to minimize the verbal encoding. As predicted, release from proactive inhibition was found with shifts from ambiguous colors to names as well as with shifts from names to the ambiguous colors.