Further evidence that Whorfian effects are stronger in the right visual field than the left

Abstract

The Whorf hypothesis holds that differences between languages induce differences in perception and/or cognition in their speakers. Much of the experimental work pursuing this idea has focused on the domain of color and has centered on the issue of whether linguistically coded color categories influence color discrimination. A new perspective has been cast on the debate by recent results that suggest that language influences color discrimination strongly in the right visual field but not in the left visual field (LVF). This asymmetry is likely related to the contralateral projection of visual fields to cerebral hemispheres and the specialization of the left hemisphere for language. The current study presents three independent experiments that replicate and extend these earlier results by using different tasks and testing across different color category boundaries. Our results differ in one respect: although we find that Whorfian effects on color are stronger for stimuli in the right visual field than in the LVF, we find that there are significant category effects in the LVF as well. The origin of the significant category effect in the LVF is considered, and two factors that might account for the pattern of results are proposed.color categories ͉ hemispheric lateralization ͉ linguistic relativity ͉ visual search T he Whorf hypothesis holds that semantic differences between languages induce differences in perception and/or cognition in their speakers (1). Much of the experimental work pursuing this idea has focused on the domain of color and has centered on the issue of whether linguistically coded color categories influence color discrimination (2-13). A new perspective has been cast on the debate by recent results of Gilbert et al. (14), which suggest that language influences color discrimination strongly in the right visual field (RVF) and less so or not at all in the left visual field (LVF). This asymmetry likely is related to the contralateral projection of visual fields to cerebral hemispheres and the specialization of the left hemisphere (LH) for language. It suggests that, within an individual, the Whorf hypothesis may be relevant for processing within one hemisphere and not the other. In consequence, under normal conditions, perceivers may view the world at once filtered through the lens of their language and not so filtered.In the Gilbert et al. study (14), subjects were given a visual search task that required detection of a single target color among 11 identical distractors. The target differed from the distractors in hue, and it was either of a different named category from the distractors (e.g., a blue among greens) or it was from the same category as the distractors (one blue among examples of another blue). The target-distractor perceptual differences for betweencategory (also known as across-category) discriminations were no greater on average than for within-category discriminations, yet between-category discriminations were significantly faster, but only when the target occurred in the RVF. Beca...

Electrophysiological evidence for the left-lateralized effect of language on preattentive categorical perception of color

“…In contrast, there was no such difference in the LVF, although both within-category and between-category deviants provoked reliable vMMN effects compared with the standard stimuli. This result converges with previous behavioral and functional MRI data of the lateralized Whorfian effect (14,15,17,24). Color patches of an unexpected hue exposed briefly in the RVF only, and hence received initially in the left, language-dominant cerebral hemisphere, elicit less of a surprise response in the brain when they belong to the same lexical category as an expected color than do colors perceptually equidistant from the expected color but belonging to a different lexical category.…”

“…Previous research on early ERP evidence of categorical color perception has shown that it varies predictably according to language-specific terminology (25,26) and that it very probably is automatic and preattentive (28). The present study has shown that the categorical modulation of the vMMN by color difference is lateralized to the RVF and so presumably is controlled by the left cerebral hemisphere, where most language functions are housed and where this finding confirms much behavioral (2,(14)(15)(16)(17)19) and neurophysiological (23)(24)(25)(26)28) evidence. Lateralized Whorfian effects on early color processing strongly appear to be automatic and preattentive.…”

“…More recently, this "Whorfian" effect in color processing has been demonstrated to be stronger for stimuli exposed in the right visual field (RVF) than in the left visual field (LVF) and to disappear in the presence of a concurrent demand on verbal memory. This finding suggests that the use of lexical information in the left hemisphere is the origin of differential visual hemifield responses to color stimuli (14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23). There has been some suggestion that the left cerebral hemispheric areas implicated in important language functions may serve as a top-down control source that modulates the activity level of the visual cortex (24)(25)(26)(27)(28), but little is known about whether this lateralized effect occurs at early, preattentive perceptual processing stages or at postperceptual decision/response phases.…”

Categorical perception of color is lateralized to the right hemisphere in infants, but to the left hemisphere in adults

“…The target detection task is appropriate as the task has been used to demonstrate CP in both infants and adults (10) and investigate hemispheric asymmetries in adult color CP with a reaction time measure (16). The original version of the target detection task explored color CP in infants and adults by using an eyemovement measure.…”

“…The conventional method is to present stimuli for Ϸ150-250 ms and measure reaction time to these lateralized stimulus presentations (14,16). Rapid stimulus presentation to one visual field ensures that direct projections of the stimulus are confined to the contralateral hemisphere.…”