Resolution of reality

Russian blues reveal effects of language on color discrimination

Abstract

English and Russian color terms divide the color spectrum differently. Unlike English, Russian makes an obligatory distinction between lighter blues (“goluboy”) and darker blues (“siniy”). We investigated whether this linguistic difference leads to differences in color discrimination. We tested English and Russian speakers in a speeded color discrimination task using blue stimuli that spanned the siniy/goluboy border. We found that Russian speakers were faster to discriminate two colors when they fell into different linguistic categories in Russian (one siniy and the other goluboy) than when they were from the same linguistic category (both siniy or both goluboy). Moreover, this category advantage was eliminated by a verbal, but not a spatial, dual task. These effects were stronger for difficult discriminations (i.e., when the colors were perceptually close) than for easy discriminations (i.e., when the colors were further apart). English speakers tested on the identical stimuli did not show a category advantage in any of the conditions. These results demonstrate that (i) categories in language affect performance on simple perceptual color tasks and (ii) the effect of language is online (and can be disrupted by verbal interference).

(DeepL) English and Russian color terms differ in the way they divide the color spectrum. Unlike English, Russian makes an obligatory distinction between light blue ("goluboi") and dark blue ("shiny"). We investigated whether this linguistic difference leads to differences in color discrimination. English and Russian speakers performed a speeded color discrimination task with blue stimuli spanning the siniy and goluboy boundaries. The results showed that Russian speakers could discriminate faster when the two colors belonged to different linguistic categories in Russian (one is siniy and the other is goluboy) than when they belonged to the same linguistic category (both are siniy and both are goluboy). Furthermore, this category advantage was eliminated in the linguistic task, but not in the spatial task. These effects were stronger for difficult discrimination (i.e., when colors were perceptually close) than for easy discrimination (i.e., when colors were far apart). English speakers tested with the same stimuli showed no categorical advantage in any condition. These results indicate that (i) language categories affect performance on simple color perception tasks and (ii) the effect of language is online (i.e., can be interrupted by language interference).

An experiment in which Russian speakers, who have two different words for the color blue, and English speakers, who have only one, measured their speed of discrimination for the blue gradient, and the Russian speakers were significantly faster.

https://gyazo.com/c0ee26bc55b4fb04a30855a680d3cdf6

Category advantage is plotted for Russian speakers (Left) and English speakers (Right) as a function of comparison distance (near color vs. far color) and interference condition (none, spatial, and verbal). Category advantage is calculated as the difference between the average reaction time for within-category trials and that for cross-category trials (msec). Error bars represent one SE of the estimate of the three-way interaction among category, interference condition, and color distance.

(DeepL) Category dominance for Russian speakers (left) and English speakers (right) plotted as a function of comparison distance (near vs. far color) and interference condition (none, spatial, linguistic). Category dominance is calculated as the difference (in milliseconds) between mean reaction time on within-category trials and mean reaction time on cross-category trials. Error bars represent 1 SE of the estimated three-way interaction of category, interference condition, and color distance.

Winawer, J., Witthoft, N., Frank, M.C., Wu, L., Wade, A.R. and Boroditsky, L., 2007. Russian blues reveal effects of language on color discrimination. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(19), pp.7780-7785.

It is more appropriate to say [resolving power

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