ERIC Number: EJ942962
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2004-Dec
Pages: 29
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0261-510X
EISSN: N/A
New Evidence for Infant Colour Categories
Franklin, Anna; Davies, Ian R. L.
British Journal of Developmental Psychology, v22 n3 p349-377 Sep 2004
Bornstein, Kessen, and Weiskopf (1976) reported that pre-linguistic infants perceive colour categorically for primary boundaries: Following habituation, dishabituation only occurred if the test stimulus was from a different adult category to the original. Here, we replicated this important study and extended it to include secondary boundaries, with a crucial modification: The separations between habituated and novel stimuli were equated in a perceptually uniform metric (Munsell), rather than in wavelength. Experiment 1 found Categorical Perception and no within-category novelty preference for primary boundary blue-green and secondary boundary blue-purple. Experiment 2 replicated the categorical effect for blue-purple and found no within-category novelty preference with increased stimulus separation. Experiment 3 showed category effects for a lightness/saturation boundary, pink-red. Novelty preference requires a categorical difference between the habituated and novel stimulus. The implications for the origin of linguistic colour categories are discussed.
Descriptors: Visual Perception, Visual Stimuli, Infants, Novelty (Stimulus Dimension), Color, Habituation, Linguistics, Child Development
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A