No abstract

No abstract

Except in the case of the pre-school child, experimental results have shown consistently that naming colors requires more time than reading the names of colors. Several conflicting theories have been offered in explanation of this difference. The hypothesis which the present paper proposes to test was developed by the late Dr. Joseph Peterson (6, p. 281), who interpreted the difference " as due to the fact that to the written words ' red,' ' green,' etc., the subjects have as a rule given in the past but the one response of pronouncing (vocally or subvocally) the names of these colors; whereas on seeing the colors red, blue, green, etc., they have responded in many different ways, as grasping and eating, handling, perceiving and admiring, etc. In the case of the words, then, but one specific response-habit has become associated with each word, while in the case of the colors themselves a variety of response tendencies has developed."During a conversation with the writer, Dr. Peterson, shortly before his death, voiced the wish that some one would test out liis explanation. He suggested that it might be done satisfactorily by having one group of subjects repeat many times the same response to a stimulus symbol and another group make the same number of varied responses to the same stimulus. Since the writer had carried out some experimental work on the question in Dr. Peterson's laboratory, he felt that it would be appropriate to comply with this wish in preparing a paper for this memorial publication.Psychological literature contains several other explanations of the speed difference in question. Cattell (2) and Lund (5) attribute the difference to ' practice ' in reading; while Brown (1) 38

No abstract

No abstract