Differences in color naming and color salience in Vietnamese and English

The accepted model of color naming postulates that 11 “basic” color terms representing 11 common perceptual experiences show increased processing salience due to a theorized linkage between perception, visual neurophysiology, and cognition. We tested this theory, originally proposed by Berlin and Kay in 1969. Experiment 1 tested salience by comparing unconstrained color naming across two languages, English and Vietnamese. Results were compared with previous research by Berlin and Kay, Boynton and Olson, and colleagues. Experiment 2 validated our stimuli by comparing OSA, Munsell, and newly rendered “basic” exemplars using colorimetry and behavioral measures. Our results show that the relationship between the visual and verbal domains is more complex than current theory acknowledges. An interpoint distance model of color‐naming behavior is proposed as an alternative perspective on color‐naming universality and color‐category structure. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 28, 113–138, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/col.10131     

Color naming for the Persian language

According to Berlin and Kay, there is a set of 11 universal basic color terms: White, Black, Red, Green, Yellow, Blue, Brown, Purple, Pink, Orange, and Gray. To approve this, a world survey (WCS) was begun to gather data on color categorization through the world, although, despite many languages, Persian language has not been studied so far. We report a study of color naming in Iran. A study was carried out in six major cities including: Tehran, Isfahan, Mashhad, Yazd, Rasht, and Shiraz to investigate the color naming for Persian language and also the effect of local culture. The main purpose of this study was to describe the basic color terms of Persian language and to verify Berlin and Kay's theory. In total, 200 subjects were studied from all the six cities. Our results showed that there were the same basic color terms (as Berlin and Kay's theory) in Persian language overall including:“ (White) ”,“ (Black) ”, “ (Red) ”, “ (Green) ”, “ (Yellow) ”, “ (Blue) ”, “ (Brown) ”, “ (Purple) ”, “ (Pink) ”, “ (Orange), ” and “ (Gray) ”. However, this was not valid for all the cities when they were investigated individually. There were 10 basic terms in Mashhad and Shiraz while the other cities had 11 basic terms. Also, the set of the used terms would differ by the city. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 40, 352–360, 2015     

An attempt to reconstruct the meaning of al‐Tusi's color words

In a text dating between 1259 and 1277, the Persian scholar al‐Tusi presented a systematic arrangement of 26 color terms. We propose a reconstruction of all color terms from al‐Tusi's scheme, in terms of preferred translation, mean CIEL*a^*b^* coordinates and digital representation. This reconstruction is based on a visual experiment with 30 subjects, who identified the Munsell chip best representing each color term. Persian words for which the meaning changed since the time of al‐Tusi were substituted by direct translations. The results show considerable interobserver variability in the colors selected when identifying color terms. This relatively large variation was shown to be a characteristic for memory matching experiments in general. Several specific color terms for which the resulting color variation was particularly large are discussed in more detail, and possible explanations for these variations are proposed. The proposed reconstruction suggests that al‐Tusi's list is largely consistent in modern colorimetric terms, although some large hue shifts are observed for color terms corresponding to green. We found no evidence for blue‐green (“grue”) confusion. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 41, 206–216, 2016     

An exploration of malayalam basic and nonbasic color terms during a color naming task and in naturalistic narratives

Languages show variations in their basic color terms [Basic Color Terms: Their Universality and Evolution. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press; 1969]. Evidence for languages that have or lack basic color terms mainly comes from standardized naming tasks [The World Color Survey. Stanford, CA: CSLI; 2010]. In this article, we take a somewhat different perspective on the issue of color naming in languages. Starting from a language, Malayalam, with a limited number of basic color terms, and thus with a mixed color naming system, we ask how language users behave when they are asked to produce spontaneous narratives in a communicative setting in which color is manipulated systematically. Do narrators behave as predicted by naming task results and grammars, or do they behave (systematically) differently? In this article, we explore how two different color naming settings affect the expression of colors that have basic color terms in contrast with nonbasic terms. For this purpose, a color naming task was administered to validate basic and nonbasic color terms in Malayalam. The result showed that Malayalam has six colors considered simple color terms (e.g., chuvappu ‘red’) and five complex color terms (e.g., tavittu‐niram brown “color of rice bran”). This result was used to develop eight short stories in two color term conditions. The color terms extracted out from “naturalistic narratives” were more varied than those that were predicted by the color naming task. In the Malayalam primary color condition, respondents often used complex constructions rather than simple color terms only [e.g., chuvappu niram(ulla)]. In the secondary color condition, respondents, as expected, used more complex constructions, but they also avoided complex constructions in interesting ways. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 42, 193–202, 2017     

Strong effect of the simultaneous color contrast in an afterimage

The color appearance of the afterimage of the simultaneous color contrast pattern was investigated by the elementary color naming method. The color appearances of the surrounding, an afterimage of the surrounding, and the test patch were measured, and the results were shown on the polar diagram of the opponent colors theory. The colors of both the surrounding and the afterimage of the test patch were the same. The relationship between the afterimage color of the test patch and the afterimage of the surrounding was found to be the same as the relationship between the illumination color and the test patch color in the two‐rooms technique, implying that the same visual mechanism works for both situations, that is, eyes chromatically adapt to the afterimage color of the surroundings, and the afterimage color of the test patch is determined with the eyes so adapted.     

Exact location of consensus and consistency colors in the osa‐ucs for the italian language

In a previous work, the authors reported on the results of a color naming experiment performed on native Italian speakers regarding the location of focal colors and centroids in the Uniform Color Scales of the Optical Society of America color system. That work was aiming at comparing such data with those previously obtained by Boynton and Olson (B&O) accounting for the differences in the paradigm and the language. The number of consistency and consensus colors in the different lightness plans was also reported but no information was provided on their placement. Though, such information is very important for any subsequent modeling stage. The objective of this article is to fill such a gap and share such data with the scientific community to provide a reference database for future investigation. Three different datasets were considered: the extended OSA (E‐OSA), the reduced OSA (R‐OSA), and the B&O's (B&O) sets of reference colors. Results show a good overlap among the locations of the consensus colors in the {L, j, g} color model between B&O and the subset of E‐OSA colors overlapping with the B&O 424 colors (R‐OSA), as well as a strong agreement on consistency. Furthermore, a close proximity among the centroids of homologue regions for the majority of the classes was found. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 38, 437–447, 2013     

Color names,stimulus color,and their subjective links

The aim of the research reported by this study was on the one hand to identify what colors were associated with particular words in relation to a specific language (Italian), by portraying them in color stimuli on the screen of a monitor; and on the other hand to verify whether some words of that language denoted colors that were either particularly well defined or confused with others. In an experiment using special software, the subjects were asked to produce colors directly, instead of choosing among a number of colors presented on the screen. The results showed that (i) it is possible to identify the color‐stimuli to which the terms of a language refer; that (ii) the “best” colors Giallo (Yellow), Rosso (Red), Blu (Blue), and Verde (Green) which the subjects were requested to produce were very similar to the corresponding unique hues; that (iii) among the mixed hues there were perceptually intermediate colors, that is, ones exactly midway between two consecutive unique colors: Arancione (Orange) and Viola (bluish Purple); that (iv) Turquoise and Lime were clearly positioned in the mental space of color of the participants; and that (v) for Italian speakers some hues coincide: Azzurro (Azure) and Celeste (Cerulean); Arancione (Orange), RossoGiallo (RedYellow) and Carota (Carrot); Lime and GialloVerde (YellowGreen), so that their color terms can be considered synonyms. Our most interesting finding, however, is that for Italian speakers these four mixed colors with their specific names (Lime, Turchese (Turquoise), Viola (bluish Purple) and Arancione (Orange) fall perceptually in the middle of each of the four quadrants formed in the hue circle by the four unique hues. The resulting circle is therefore characterized by eight colors of which four are unique and four are intermediate mixed. It would be advisable to repeat the study cross‐culturally to test for possible similarities and differences in color meanings with speakers of different languages. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 42, 89–101, 2017     

民俗文化视域下当代环境陶艺设计创新路径研究

本文主要内容为探讨当代环境陶艺中民俗文化语言的特征表现,设计原则以及文化价值。基于对传统民俗文化的保护期望下,思考运用民俗文化特征塑造环境陶艺的民族性设计语言。建立满足当代都市人实用功能与情感需求的景观,表现城市陶艺景观体系的民族审美特征,推动现代环境陶艺的文化自觉,树立当代中国陶瓷艺术文化自信。     

An online color naming experiment in Russian using Munsell color samples

Russian color naming was explored in a web‐based experiment. The purpose was 3‐fold: to examine (1) CIELAB coordinates of centroids for 12 Russian basic color terms (BCTs), including 2 Russian terms for “blue”, sinij “dark blue”, and goluboj “light blue”, and compare these with coordinates for the 11 English BCTs obtained in earlier studies; (2) frequent nonBCTs; and (3) gender differences in color naming. Native Russian speakers participated in the experiment using an unconstrained color‐naming method. Each participant named 20 colors, selected from 600 colors densely sampling the Munsell Color Solid. Color names and response times of typing onset were registered. Several deviations between centroids of the Russian and English BCTs were found. The 2 “Russian blues”, as expected, divided the BLUE area along the lightness dimension; their centroids deviated from a centroid of English blue. Further minor departures were found between centroids of Russian and English counterparts of “brown” and “red”. The Russian color inventory confirmed the linguistic refinement of the PURPLE area, with high frequencies of nonBCTs. In addition, Russian speakers revealed elaborated naming strategies and use of a rich inventory of nonBCTs. Elicitation frequencies of the 12 BCTs were comparable for both genders; however, linguistic segmentation of color space, employing a synthetic observer, revealed gender differences in naming colors, with more refined naming of the “warm” colors from females. We conclude that, along with universal perceptual factors, that govern categorical partition of color space, Russian speakers’ color naming reflects language‐specific factors, supporting the weak relativity hypothesis.     

Chromatic adaptation to illumination investigated with adapting and adapted color

The state of chromatic adaptation was investigated by using the two‐room technique. This technique involves a subject in a room who looks a white board in a separate test room through a window and judges the color of the window using the elementary color naming method. When the subject room is illuminated with a colored light and the test room with a white light, the window appears to be a very vivid color, for which the apparent hue depends on the color of the subject room. The color is referred to as the adapted color. The subject also evaluated the appearance of the illumination color of the subject room, which is called the adapting color. Two types of illuminating light in the subject room, fluorescent lamps with 7 colors and LED lamps with 19 colors, were employed. The adapting and the adapted colors were plotted on a polar diagram that was used in the opponent color theory, from which the hue angles were obtained. The hue angle difference between the two colors did not appear to be 180° except for one pair of adapting and the adapted colors, which implies that chromatic adaptation does not follow the opponent color concept. An improvement was achieved to explain the results by introducing complementary colors relation between the adapting and adapted color.     

An evaluation of the Hunt94 color appearance model under different light sources at low photopic to low mesopic light levels

Color appearance models allow for the quantification of color appearance under a variety of viewing conditions. Such models may ultimately provide a measure for accurate assessments of the color‐rendering properties of light sources. This article evaluates the Hunt94 color appearance model using a new set of color‐naming and magnitude‐rating data. At one photopic level (10 cd/m²), the evaluations showed that for a xenon lamp and an enhanced metal halide lamp that have chromaticities and spectra close to an equal energy spectrum, the Hunt94 model provided good predictions of the primary and secondary color names and hue magnitudes for a wide range of color chips under the two illuminants. However, for other light sources the Hunt94 model predictions deviated considerably from the evaluations. Three modifications were applied to the Hunt94 color appearance model to predict color‐naming and magnitude‐rating data better for all light sources. The modified Hunt94 model gave good predictions (correlation coefficients r ～ 0.95) of the secondary hue magnitude of the color chips used in the experiment at photopic light levels (10 cd/m² and 1 cd/m² background luminances) under “white” light sources. However, the modified model was still unable to predict color appearances at low mesopic light levels (0.1 cd/m² and 0.01 cd/m²). © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 30, 107–117, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/col.20088     

Color naming in Italian language

The present study investigated Italian basic color terms (BCTs). It is an extension of our previous work that explored Italian basic color categories (BCCs) using a constrained color‐naming method, with 11 Italian BCTs allowed, including blu for naming the BLUE area. Since a latter outcome indicated a categorization bias, here monolexemic color‐naming method was employed, enabling also use of azzurro, deeply entrenched Italian term that designates light blue. In Experiment 1, colors (N = 367), sampling the Munsell Mercator projection, were presented on a CRT; color names and reaction times of vocalization onset were recorded. Naming consistency and consensus were estimated. Consistency was obtained for 12 CTs, including the two blue terms; consensus was found for 11 CTs, excluding rosso “red.” For each consensus category, color with the shortest response time was considered focal. In Experiment 2, consensus stimuli (N = 72) were presented; on each trial, observers indicated the focal color (“best example”) in an array of colors comprising a consensus category. For each of the 12 Italian CCs, centroid was calculated and focal color (two measures) estimated. Compared to English color terms, two outcomes are specific to Italian color naming: (i) naming of the RED‐PURPLE area is highly refined, with consistent use of emergent non‐BCTs; (ii) azzurro and blu both perform as BCTs dividing the BLUE area along the lightness dimension. The findings are considered in the framework of the weak relativity hypothesis. Historico‐linguistic, environmental, and pragmatic communication factors are discussed that conceivably have driven the extension of the BCT inventory in Italian. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 41, 402–415, 2016     

Influence of basic color categories on color memory discrimination

Two color-memory experiments were performed to investigate whether observers tended to confuse colors with a smaller color difference in memory or colors in a same color-category region. We made color stimuli on a color CRT. Color difference was determined by a simultaneous color discrimination experiment. Color-category regions were obtained by a categorical color-naming experiment using the 11 basic color names: white, black, red, green, yellow, blue, brown, orange, purple, pink, and gray. The results show that two colors with a certain color difference can be confused more easily when they are in a same color category than in different color categories, and that colors identified with memory tend to distribute within their own color-category regions or their neighbor color-category regions, depending on their positions in a color space. These findings indicate that color memory is characterized by the color categories, suggesting a color-category mechanism in a higher level of color vision. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Influence of a holistic color interval on color harmony

This study investigates how a holistic color interval, i.e., the nondirectional color difference between a pair of colors in a CIELAB uniform color space, influences perceived color harmony. A set of 1035 test color pairs displayed on a CRT was evaluated for the degree of harmony. These test color pairs consist of pairs combined from among the selected 46 test colors evenly distributed in color space. The subjects were asked to select their three preferred colors from these 46 test colors and then to evaluate the degree of harmony of the test color combinations. The color intervals (ΔE) of each test color combination were calculated and treated as values of an independent variable. In addition, the evaluated degrees of color harmony were considered as values of a dependent variable, in which statistical analysis confirmed the relationship: the degree of harmony is a cubic function of the color interval. Moreover, the plot of this relationship allowed us to identify four color intervals: roughly corresponding to the regions of first ambiguity, similarity, second ambiguity, and contrast in Moon and Spencer's model. However, our results indicated that Moon and Spencer's principles for classifying harmonious/disharmonious regions in terms of the color interval for three color attributes—lightness, chroma and hue—may be inappropriate in predicting perceived color harmony. As for the color intervals between a pair of colors considered as a function of the three attributes, the interval for lightness may have a predominant effect on color harmony, expressed in terms of a cubic relationship. Results of the study further demonstrated that the subject's choice of colors significantly influences perceived color harmony. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Col Res Appl, 26, 29–39, 2001     

Analysis of cross‐cultural color emotion

This study investigates the relationship between color perceptual attributes and color emotions, as well as the influence of different cultural backgrounds. Totally 214 color samples were evaluated on 12 emotion variables by subjects from seven different region groups in the psychophysical experiment. By factor analysis, it was found that three factors were sufficient to represent 80 “region‐emotion” variables. For each variable, there is no distinct difference among different region groups. The 12 emotion variables could be divided into four categories, namely, activity index, potency index, definition index, and temperature index. Factor scores were further calculated to study the determinants on each factor. The analysis showed that the three factors were mainly related to chroma, lightness, and hue, respectively. It was concluded that chroma and lightness were the most important factors on color emotion, whereas the influences of hue and cultural background were very limited. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 32, 223–229, 2007     

Complementary colors theory of color vision: Physiology,color mixture,color constancy and color perception

I describe complementary colors' physiology and functional roles in color vision, in a three‐stage theory (receptor, opponent color, and complementary color stages). 40 specific roles include the complementary structuring of: S and L cones, opponent single cells, cardinal directions, hue cycle structure, hue constancy, trichromatic color mixture, additive/subtractive primaries, two unique hues, color mixture space, uniform hue difference, lightness‐, saturation‐, and wavelength/hue‐discrimination, spectral sensitivity, chromatic adaptation, metamerism, chromatic induction, Helson‐Judd effect, colored shadows, color rendering, warm‐cool colors, brilliance, color harmony, Aristotle's flight of colors, white‐black responsivity, Helmholtz‐Kohlrausch effect, rainbows/halos/glories, dichromatism, spectral‐sharpening, and trimodality of functions (RGB peaks, CMY troughs whose complementarism adapts functions to illuminant). The 40 specific roles fall into 3 general roles: color mixture, color constancy, and color perception. Complementarism evidently structures much of the visual process. Its physiology is evident in complementarism of cones, and opponent single cells in retina, LGN, and cortex. Genetics show our first cones were S and L, which are complementary in daylight D65, giving a standard white to aid chromatic adaptation. M cone later split from L to oppose the nonspectral (red and purple) hues mixed from S+L. Response curves and wavelength peaks of cones L, S, and (S+L), M, closely resemble, and lead to, those of opponent‐color chromatic responses y, b, and r, g, a bimodal system whose summation gives spectral‐sharpened trimodal complementarism (RGB peaks, CMY troughs). Spectral sharpening demands a post‐receptoral, post‐opponent‐colors location, hence a third stage. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 2011     

The impact of signboard-building color combinations on color harmony and legibility

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of signboard-building color combinations on color harmony and legibility. Two hundred and three participants rated 54 signboard-building color combinations against two scales of color harmony and legibility. In this article, the terms “brick,” “stone,” and “glass” refer to three types of building exteriors used in the experiment (ie, brick masonry, greystone, and curtain walls, respectively). Major findings are as follows: (a) there was a positive linear correlation between color harmony and legibility in all three types of building exteriors, (b) the type of building exterior affected the color harmony and legibility of signboard colors, (c) no hue-related patterns were observed, (d) the effects of chroma differences on color harmony were weak and the effects of chroma differences on legibility were moderate, (e) the effects of lightness differences on color harmony and legibility were strong in brick, but the effects of lightness differences were weak in stone and glass, (f) white color combinations (ie, color pairs including white signboards) turned out to be the most harmonious and legible, and (g) color combinations of light signboards and dark buildings (negative polarity) were rated most harmonious and legible, with the exception of vivid red (positive polarity). The findings of this study provide insight into the characteristics of harmonious and legible colors in the context of signboard design.     

Comparison of color vision models based on spectral color representation

Recent break‐throughs in retinal imaging have raised new questions for color vision research, and the existing color vision models should be re‐evaluated. Many color vision models are based on an assumption that there are no differences in the detection phase, neither in the spatial configuration nor in the spectral sensitivities of cells. In this article, we have run experiments with four different color vision models. This evaluation gives us more knowledge about the essential properties of the models. We show how the tested color vision models are able to replicate the behaviour of human color vision by evaluating their performance in Farnsworth‐Munsell 100‐Hue color vision test. Also, the wavelength discrimination power of each model is presented and the properties of color spaces spanned by models are examined using samples from Munsell Book of Color. Our experiments show that there are large differences in the properties of different models. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 34, 341–350, 2009     

Dependence between apparent color and extractable color in paprika

The color properties of 96 paprika samples were evaluated by tristimulus reflectance measurements. The extractable color (ASTA units) of all these samples was also determined. The linear correlation between individual CIELAB parameters and extractable color was very poor. Several color indices used with other foods were shown to be of insufficient accuracy for predicting the extractable color in paprika. A new color index for paprika (PACI) is proposed based on the CIELAB coordinates L* (lightness), a* (red‐blue), and h (hue angle), and it is calculated as “1000a*/(L*+h)”. This new index showed a high correlation with the logarithm of extractable color (r = 0.9662) and was able to distinguish between sample groups of different ASTA units. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Col Res Appl, 24, 93–97, 1999     

Experimental determination of the laws of color harmony. Part 4: Color preference and the color harmony content

In 1956, we decided at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics to start a large‐scale experiment on color harmony. The experiments and the processing of the experimental results have been completed in 2006. These experiments, described in this article, form a study of how much are people, participating in the experiment, influenced by their own personal color preference in judging the harmony content of a composition. These experiments have utilized the results of former (1958–1969) color preference experiments and the system of color preference indexes, which were developed by the generalization of those results. Within the framework of these experiments, conducted between 1998 and 2006 there were 24 compositions, shown to the participants, at first one by one, then in pairs and at last in groups of six. They had to assess the harmony content of the compositions and award a score on a scale between 0 and 10. Each composition possessed a specific amount of harmony content according to the rules of color space, based on the Coloroid harmony threshold and verified by former experiments. In these experiments the number of elementary observations were 135 568. The people participating in the experiment were approximately equal number of men and women, from the age group between 10 and 70 years. During processing, by using the color preference numerical indexing system, we compared the results of those experiments with the color preference of a similar age group, by using color compositions, identical to the ones used in the present experiment. We have found that the sensation of the color harmony and its intensity have a strong relation to how the observers relate to colors and also their color preferences. The sensation of color harmony is also influenced by the gender and the age of the observer. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 34, 210–224, 2009