University of Sussex
Browse
Biological Origins Accepted Manuscript.pdf (579.69 kB)

Biological origins of color categorization

Download (579.69 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-19, 08:09 authored by Alice SkeltonAlice Skelton, Gemma Catchpole, Joshua T Abbott, Jenny BostenJenny Bosten, Anna FranklinAnna Franklin
The biological basis of the commonality in color lexicons across languages has been hotly debated for decades. Prior evidence that infants categorize color could provide support for the hypothesis that color categorization systems are not purely constructed by communication and culture. Here, we investigate the relationship between infants’ categorization of color and the commonality across color lexicons, and the potential biological origin of infant color categories. We systematically mapped infants’ categorical recognition memory for hue onto a stimulus array used previously to document the color lexicons of 110 nonindustrialized languages. Following familiarization to a given hue, infants’ response to a novel hue indicated that their recognition memory parses the hue continuum into red, yellow, green, blue, and purple categories. Infants’ categorical distinctions aligned with common distinctions in color lexicons and are organized around hues that are commonly central to lexical categories across languages. The boundaries between infants’ categorical distinctions also aligned, relative to the adaptation point, with the cardinal axes that describe the early stages of color representation in retinogeniculate pathways, indicating that infant color categorization may be partly organized by biological mechanisms of color vision. The findings suggest that color categorization in language and thought is partially biologically constrained and have implications for broader debate on how biology, culture, and communication interact in human cognition.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

ISSN

1091-6490

Publisher

National Academy of Sciences

Issue

21

Volume

114

Page range

5545-5550

Department affiliated with

  • Psychology Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2017-05-31

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2017-11-09

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2017-05-31

Usage metrics

    University of Sussex (Publications)

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC