Color vision and hue categorization in young human infants.

Abstract

Two studies examined the organization of color perception in 4-month-old human infants. In Study 1, infants looked at selected spectral stimuli repeatedly until their visual attention waned. The stimuli represented instances of basic adult hue categories - blue, green, yellow, and red. Following habituation, infants were shown a series of wavelengths which were the same as or different from the stimuli first seen. Analyses of infant attention during this dishabituation phase of the study indicated that infants categorize wavelengths by perceptual similarity; that is, they see hues in the spectrum much as adults do. In Study 2, a group of infants who looked at the alteration of two wavelengths from the same hue category habituated as did the group of infants who looked at the repitition of a single wavelength from that category, but a group of infants who looked at two wavelengths from different categories habituated at a slower rate. Data from the two studies suggest a high degree of organization of the color world prior to language acquisition.

Multisensory exploration and object individuation in infancy.

“…The finding that infants fail to use color differences to individuate objects until the end of the 1st year is intriguing because by 4.5 months infants have relatively good color vision: They detect, categorize, and demonstrate memory for color information (Banks & Salapatek, 1981, 1983Banks & Shannon, 1993;Bornstein, 1975;Bornstein, Kessen, & Weiskopf, 1976;Brown, 1990;Catherwood, Crassini, & Freiberg, 1989;Hayne, Rovee-Collier, & Perris, 1987;Moskowitz-Cook, 1979;Powers, Schneck, & Teller, 1981;Teller & Palmer, 1996). Why, then, do young infants fail to draw on color differences to individuate objects?…”

Color–function categories that prime infants to use color information in an object individuation task

“…Infants first demonstrate sensitivity to color differences in an individuation task at 11.5 months (Wilcox, 1999;Wilcox et al, 2007, Experiment 1). This finding is intriguing because by 4 months infants have relatively good color vision: they detect, categorize, and demonstrate memory for color information (Banks & Salapatek, 1981;Banks & Shannon, 1993;Bornstein, 1975;Bornstein, Kessen, & Weiskopf, 1976;Brown, 1990;Catherwood, Crassini, & Freiberg, 1989;Franklin & Davies, 2004;Hayne, Rovee-Collier, & Perris, 1987;Moscowitz-Cook, 1979;Powers, Schneck, & Teller, 1981;Teller & Palmer, 1996). Yet, they fail to use those differences as the basis for individuating objects until the end of the first year.…”

“…It is well documented that infants organize knowledge about the world and interpret incoming information on the basis of classification systems. For example, from an early age, infants possess perceptual categories that they use to help make sense of a wide range of perceptual stimuli, from speech sounds to color arrays (e.g., Aslin, Jusczyk, & Pisoni, 1998;Bornstein et al, 1976;Franklin & Davies, 2004). Infants also possess more meaningful or conceptual categories (Mandler, 1992), such as the distinction between kinds of objects (animate vs. inanimate or natural kinds vs. artifacts) or kinds of mechanical interactions (containment vs. support or inert vs. self-propelled), that allow them to interpret and make predictions about the outcome of physical and social events (e.g., Baillargeon, 1998Baillargeon, , 2004Leslie, 1994;Meltzoff & Moore, 1995;Premack, 1990;Spelke & Woodward, 1995).…”

The Development of Color Categories in Two Languages: A Longitudinal Study.

“…Thus, given the evidence that primary categories appear to be in place at 4 months of age (Bornstein, Kessen & Weiskopf, 1976), the relatively late acquisition of color terms has puzzled many researchers. Bornstein (1985) found that three-year-old children were slow to learn paired associates to colors relative to abstract shapes, and Sandhoffer and Smith (1999) found that young children were both slower to comprehend color terms than size terms and to match items on the basis of color (but see Pitchford & Mullen, 2001).…”