<title>How to identify up to 30 colors without training: color concept retrieval by free color naming</title>

Abstract

Used as a redundant code, color is shown to be advantageous in visual search tasks. It enhances attention, detection, and recall of information. Neuropsychological and neurophysiological findings have shown color and spatial perception to be interrelated functions. Studies on eye movements show that colored symbols are easier to detect and that eye fixations are more correctly directed to color-coded symbols. Usually between 5 and 15 colors have been found useful in classification tasks, but this umber can be increased to between 20 to 30 by careful selection of colors, and by a subject's practice with the identification task and familiarity with the particular colors. Recent neurophysiological findings concerning the language-concept connection in color suggest that color concept retrieval would be enhanced by free color naming or by the use of natural associations between color concepts and color words. To test this hypothesis, we had subjects give their own free associations to a set of 35 colors presented on a display. They were able to identify as many as 30 colors without training.