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Effect of Color Terms on Color Perception

Synonyms

Categorical perception; Linguistic influences on color perception; Sapir-Whorf hypothesis

Definition

The possibility that naming colors, either in a single instance or habitually over a lifetime, alters color perception.

Color Perception and Color Communication

When we communicate about the colors of scenes and objects comprising our visual experience, what we see informs our choice of words. A question that has interested many cognitive psychologists is whether the color words we use affect how we see. One view is that naming is for communication and has no effect on how we see or experience the world. In this view, color appearance, and therefore performance on tasks which strictly depend on color appearance, is determined entirely by the visual system and not at all by the language that one speaks. Color vision is informationally encapsulated, its output is automatically produced, and while its output is available for cognitive processes like decision making and speaking,...

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Correspondence to Jonathan Winawer .

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Winawer, J., Witthoft, N. (2013). Effect of Color Terms on Color Perception. In: Luo, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Color Science and Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_77-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_77-4

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27851-8

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Effects of Color Terms on Color Perception and Cognition
    Published:
    12 May 2020

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_77-5

  2. Original

    Effect of Color Terms on Color Perception
    Published:
    29 September 2014

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27851-8_77-4