Is color "categorical perception" really perceptual?

Full Abstract

Roberson and Davidoff (2000) found that color categorical perception (CP; better cross-category than within-category discrimination) was eliminated by verbal, but not by visual, interference presented during the interstimulus interval (ISI) of a discrimination task. On the basis of this finding, Roberson and Davidoff concluded that CP was mediated by verbal labels, and not by perceptual mechanisms, as is generally assumed. Experiment 1 replicated their results. However, it was found that if the interference type was uncertain on each trial (Experiment 2), CP then survived verbal interference. Moreover, it was found that the target color name could be retained across the ISI even with verbal interference (Experiment 3). We therefore conclude that color CP may indeed involve verbal labeling but that verbal interference does not necessarily prevent it.

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Author information

Author/s: Pilling, Michael (M); Wiggett, Alison (A); Ozgen, Emre (E); Davies, Ian R L (IR);

Affiliation: University of Surrey, Guildford, England.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comment; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Memory & cognition (Mem Cognit), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2003-Jun; vol 31 (issue 4) : pp 538-51

Dates: Created 2003/07/22; Completed 2003/08/27; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 12872870, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

Comments and Corrections

CommentOn: Mem Cognit. 2000 Sep;28(6):977-86. (PMID: 11105523)

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