title: Categorical Perception Beyond the Basic Level: The Case of Warm and Cool Colors.
abstract: Categories can affect our perception of the world, rendering between-category differences more salient than within-category ones. Across many studies, such categorical perception (CP) has been observed for the basic-level categories of one's native language. Other research points to categorical distinctions beyond the basic level, but it does not demonstrate CP for such distinctions. Here we provide such a demonstration. Specifically, we show CP in English speakers for the non-basic distinction between "warm" and "cool" colors, claimed to represent the earliest stage of color lexicon evolution. Notably, the advantage for discriminating colors that straddle the warm-cool boundary was restricted to the right visual field-the same behavioral signature previously observed for basic-level categories. This pattern held in a replication experiment with increased power. Our findings show that categorical distinctions beyond the basic-level repertoire of one's native language are psychologically salient and may be spontaneously accessed during normal perceptual processing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Colorado College.
authors.forename: Kevin J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Holmes
authors.affiliation: Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Science Program, University of California, Berkeley.
authors.forename: Terry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Regier
mesh_terms: D003116:Color; D003118:Color Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D003210:Concept Formation / Q000502:physiology*; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Basic level; Categorical perception; Color; Language and thought; Lateralization