Color Categorization Independent of Color Naming

Katarzyna Siuda-Krzywicka,Christoph Witzel,Emma Chabani,Myriam Taga,Cécile Coste,Noëlla Cools,Sophie Ferrieux,Laurent Cohen,Tal Seidel Malkinson,Paolo Bartolomeo

doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2019.08.003

Abstract

Color is continuous, yet we group colors into discrete categories associated with color names (e.g., yellow, blue). Color categorization is a case in point in the debate on how language shapes human cognition. Evidence suggests that color categorization depends on top-down input from the language system to the visual cortex. We directly tested this hypothesis by assessing color categorization in a stroke patient, RDS, with a rare, selective deficit in naming visually presented chromatic colors, and relatively preserved achromatic color naming. Multimodal MRI revealed a left occipito-temporal lesion that directly damaged left color-biased regions, and functionally disconnected their right-hemisphere homologs from the language system. The lesion had a greater effect on RDS's chromatic color naming than on color categorization, which was relatively preserved on a nonverbal task. Color categorization and naming can thus be independent in the human brain, challenging the mandatory involvement of language in adult human cognition.

Highlights

Does language shape human cognition? Color categories and their relationship to language are a case in point of this theory, sometimes referred to as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (Deutscher, 2010)
Our study demonstrates the segregation of color categorization and color naming in patient RDS, with acquired brain damage and a selective naming deficit for visually presented chromatic colors
RDS performed significantly better in a color categorization task than in a task requiring the matching of visual colors to their names

Summary

Introduction

Does language shape human cognition? Color categories and their relationship to language are a case in point of this theory, sometimes referred to as the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (Deutscher, 2010). The origin of color categories is intensely debated, and some suggest that color categories derive from language and depend on culture-specific sets of color names (Regier and Kay, 2009; Gibson et al, 2017; Witzel, 2018; Witzel and Gegenfurtner, 2018; Siuda-Krzywicka et al, 2019). Language acquisition may reorganize the cognitive and neural representation of infant preverbal color categories and make it language dependent (Franklin et al, 2008; Regier and Kay, 2009; Skelton et al, 2017). Given the correlational nature of neuroimaging results, it remains unclear whether or not language abilities are causally related to color categorization

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