Abstract
Studies and models have suggested that color perception first involves access to semantic representations of color. This result leads to two questions: (1) is knowledge able to influence the perception of color when associated with a color? and (2) can the perception of color really involve only semantic representations? We developed an experiment where participants have to discriminate the color of a patch (yellow vs. green). The target patch is preceded either by a black-and-white line drawing or by a word representing a natural object associated with the same or a different color (banana vs. frog). We expected a priming effect for pictures because, with a 350-ms SOA, they only involve access to semantic representations of color, whereas words seem only elicit an access to lexical representations. As expected, we found a priming effect for pictures, but also for words. Moreover, we found a general slowdown of response times in the word-prime-condition suggesting the need of an additional processing step to produce priming. In a second experiment, we manipulated the SOA in order to preclude a semantic access in the word-prime-condition that could explain the additional step of processing. We also found a priming effect, suggesting that interaction with perception occurs at a lexical level and the additional step occurs at a color perception level. In the discussion, we develop a new model of color perception assuming that color perception involves access to semantic representations and then access to lexical representations.
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Coordinates according to the RGB (Red Green Blue) color model (range from 0 to 255).
Experiment 1 in pictures-prime-condition: congruent condition = 353.50 ms versus incongruent condition = 389.07 ms.
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Heurley, L.P., Brouillet, T., Chesnoy, G. et al. Color perception involves color representations firstly at a semantic level and then at a lexical level. Cogn Process 14, 19–29 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-012-0527-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-012-0527-z