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Are there nontrivial constraints on colour categorization?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 August 2019

B. A. C. Saunders  and
J. van Brakel
B. A. C. Saunders
Affiliation:
Centre for Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Leuven, 3000 Leuven, [email protected]
J. van Brakel
Affiliation:
Institute of Philosophy, University of Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
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Abstract

In this target article the following hypotheses are discussed: (1) Colour is autonomous: a perceptuolinguistic and behavioural universal. (2) It is completely described by three independent attributes: hue, brightness, and saturation: (3) Phenomenologically and psychophysically there are four unique hues: red, green, blue, and yellow; (4) The unique hues are underpinned by two opponent psychophysical and/or neuronal channels: red/green, blue/yellow. The relevant literature is reviewed. We conclude: (i) Psychophysics and neurophysiology fail to set nontrivial constraints on colour categorization. (ii) Linguistic evidence provides no grounds for the universality of basic colour categories. (iii) Neither the opponent hues red/green, blue/yellow nor hue, brightness, and saturation are intrinsic to a universal concept of colour. (iv) Colour is not autonomous.

Keywords

categorizationcolouropponent processesperceptionuniversals
Type
Research Article
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , June 1997 , pp. 167 - 179
Copyright
1997 Cambridge University Press

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