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Seeing red primes tomato: evidence for comparable priming from colour and colour name primes to semantically related word targets

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Abstract

There is ample evidence that an independent processing stream exists that subserves the perception and appreciation of colour. Neurophysiological research has identified separate brain mechanisms for the processing of wavelength and colour, and neuropsychological studies have revealed selective colour disorders, such as achromatopsia, colour agnosia, and colour anomia. The aim of the present study is to investigate whether the perception of colour may, despite its independent processing, influence other cognitive functions. Specifically, we investigate the possibility that the perception of a colour influences higher order processes such as the activation of semantically related concepts. We designed an associative priming task involving a colour prime (e.g. a red patch or the word RED) and a lexical decision response to a semantically related (‘tomato’ vs. ‘timato’) or unrelated (‘grass’ vs. ‘griss’) word target. The results of this experiment indicate that there is comparable facilitation of accessing colour-related semantics through the perception of a colour or the reading of a colour name. This suggests that colour has a direct effect on higher order level, cognitive processing. These results are discussed in terms of current models of colour processing.

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Acknowledgments

Tanja Nijboer was supported by Grant 051.02.080 of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 2, 3584, CS Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Tanja C. W. Nijboer, Martine J. E. van Zandvoort & Edward H. F. de Haan

Authors
  1. Tanja C. W. Nijboer
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  2. Martine J. E. van Zandvoort
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  3. Edward H. F. de Haan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tanja C. W. Nijboer.

Appendix 1: list of stimuli used in the experiment

Appendix 1: list of stimuli used in the experiment

Red: bloed (blood), brandweerwagen (fire engine), tomaat (tomato), vuur (fire), roos (rose), kers (cherry), klaproos (poppy), aardbei (strawberry)

Blue: spijkerbroek (jeans), jongen (boy), lucht (sky), zee (sea), inkt (ink), druif (grape), smurf (smurf), water (water)

Green: appel (apple), bos (forest), gras (grass), kikker (frog), sla (lettuce), erwt (pea), augurk (gherkin), komkommer (cucumber)

Yellow: banaan (banana), citroen (lemon), kanarie (canary), strand (beach), zon (sun), zand (sand), kaas (cheese), graan (corn)

Pink: baby (baby), barbie (Barbie), big (pig), meisje (girl), garnaal (shrimp), zuurstok (cane), huid (skin), zalm (salmon)

Orange: reddingsvest (life-jacket), abrikoos (apricot), wortel (carrot), sinaasappel (orange), mandarijn (tangerine), goudvis (goldfish), wimpel (streamer), prins (prince)

Brown: brood (bread), hout (wood), beer (bear), modder (mud), aardappel (potato), sigaar (cigar), walnoot (walnut), kastanje (chestnut)

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Nijboer, T.C.W., van Zandvoort, M.J.E. & de Haan, E.H.F. Seeing red primes tomato: evidence for comparable priming from colour and colour name primes to semantically related word targets. Cogn Process 7, 269–274 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-006-0153-8

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