The Perceived Relations between Color, Direction, and Speed of Motion

Abstract

This study investigated the perceived relations between color, direction of motion, and speed of motion. According to formal definitions of integrality and separability (Garner & Fefoldy, 1970), direction and speed of motion are integral while color is separable. Ten individuals classified two levels of each dimension in a speeded classification task. Performance with redundant and orthogonal manipulations of all possible pair and triplet combinations was investigated. Results for classifying speed and direction showed that they are asymmetrically integral. That is, variations in direction affected the classification of speed far more than the converse. In addition, redundant color facilitated classification of speed and direction but orthogonal color did not interfere. Classification of color, however, is far from resistant to variations in direction. Both redundant and orthogonal manipulations of direction interfered with color classification. A second experiment demonstrated that the locus of interference for direction on color is at the perceptual level rather than the reponse stage of processing. Quite simply, it is more difficult to classify the color of a moving Stimulus than a stationary one. Taken together, the findings of this study have important implications for the use of color in dynamic flight displays.