| Saunders, B., van Brakel, J. Are there non-trivial constraints on colour categorization Behavioral and Brain Sciences 1997 (20)2 [html] |
| In this target article the following hypotheses are discussed: (1) colour is autonomous: a perceptuo-linguistic 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, 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. |
| |
|
|