Are there nontrivial constraints on colour categorization?

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.

Colour categories in a stone-age tribe

“…According to the linguistic relativity hypothesis 4,5 , which is still influential, we construct our understanding of the world through language. Whorf 4 famously argued that, to an Eskimo, it would be unthinkable to use the same word for all types of snow because of its wide range of types and different uses.…”

The Categorisation of Non-Categorical Colours: A Novel Paradigm in Colour Perception

“…It is one of the most fascinating areas of human research whether one examines this from a perspective of neurophysiology, psychology, philosophy, or the arts. The significance and generality of the work in colour vision is illustrated both by its longevity and by the regular occurrence of reviews, analysis and commentary related to different aspects of the issue from the neurosciences [5]–[7], through the cognitive sciences [8]–[14] to theoretical pattern recognition [15] and philosophy [16]. Each perspective contributes its own particular novel viewpoint, and each brings its own set of underlying assumptions to the area.…”

Time, Models and Narratives: Towards Understanding the Dynamics of Life

“…For instance, the color circle is clearly a continuous (and cyclical) phenomenon. Yet the way human beings perceive and speak of colors is discrete, but it is discrete in a special way (Franklin, Pilling, & Davies, 2005;Goldstone, 1995;Saunders & van Brakel, 1997; see Rudolph's reply to the commentators, Rudolph, 2006b). What human beings do is to divide the continuous dimension into overlapping ranges of discrete colors.…”