Language and perceptual categorisation.
In a pioneering set of experiments, Rosch investigated the colour processing of a remote traditional culture. It was concluded that colours form universally natural and salient categories. However, our own cross-cultural research, backed up by neuropsychological data and interference studies, indicates that perceptual categories are derived from the words in the speaker's language. The new data support a rather strong version of the Whorfian view that perceptual categories are organized by the linguistic systems of our mind.
Davidoff
J
J
Dept of Psychology, Goldsmiths College, University of London, Lewisham Way, SE14 6NW, London, UK