Healthy participants: knowledge of colour and its associations Recognising the forest but not the trees: the influence of colour on scene perception and memory (original) (raw)
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Recognising the forest, but not the trees: An effect of colour on scene perception and recognition
Consciousness and Cognition, 2008
Colour has been shown to facilitate the recognition of scene images, but only when these images contain natural scenes, for which colour is 'diagnostic'. Here we investigate whether colour can also facilitate memory for scene images, and whether this would hold for natural scenes in particular. In the first experiment participants first studied a set of colour and greyscale natural and man-made scene images. Next, the same images were presented, randomly mixed with a different set. Participants were asked to indicate whether they had seen the images during the study phase. Surprisingly, performance was better for greyscale than for coloured images, and this difference is due to the higher false alarm rate for both natural and man-made coloured scenes. We hypothesized that this increase in false alarm rate was due to a shift from scrutinizing details of the image to recognition of the gist of the (coloured) image. A second experiment, utilizing images without a nameable gist, confirmed this hypothesis as participants now performed equally on greyscale and coloured images. In the final experiment we specifically targeted the more detail-based perception and recognition for greyscale images versus the more gist-based perception and recognition for coloured images with a change detection paradigm. The results show that changes to images are detected faster when image-pairs were presented in greyscale than in colour. This counterintuitive result held for both natural and man-made scenes (but not for scenes without nameable gist) and thus corroborates the shift from more detailed processing of images in greyscale to more gist-based processing of coloured images.
We examined the effects of colour on object identification and memory using a study -test priming procedure with a coloured-object decision task at test (i.e., deciding whether an object is correctly coloured). Objects were selected to have a single associated colour and were either correctly or incorrectly coloured. In addition, object shape and colour were either spatially integrated (i.e., colour fell on the object surface) or spatially separated (i.e., colour formed the background to the object). Transforming the colour of an object from study to test (e.g., from a yellow banana to a purple banana) reduced priming of response times, as compared to when the object was untransformed. This utilization of colour information in object memory was not contingent upon colour falling on the object surface or whether the resulting configuration was of a correctly or incorrectly coloured object. In addition, we observed independent effects of colour on response times, whereby coloured-object decisions were more efficient for correctly than for incorrectly coloured objects but only when colour fell on the object surface. These findings provide evidence for two distinct mechanisms of shape-colour binding in object processing.
PLoS ONE, 2014
Color deficient (dichromat) and normal observers' recognition memory for colored and black-and-white natural scenes was evaluated through several parameters: the rate of recognition, discrimination (A'), response bias (B''D), response confidence, and the proportion of conscious recollections (Remember responses) among hits. At the encoding phase, 36 images of natural scenes were each presented for 1 sec. Half of the images were shown in color and half in black-and-white. At the recognition phase, these 36 pictures were intermixed with 36 new images. The participants' task was to indicate whether an image had been presented or not at the encoding phase, to rate their level of confidence in his her/his response, and in the case of a positive response, to classify the response as a Remember, a Know or a Guess response. Results indicated that accuracy, response discrimination, response bias and confidence ratings were higher for colored than for black-and-white images; this advantage for colored images was similar in both groups of participants. Rates of Remember responses were not higher for colored images than for black-and-white ones, whatever the group. However, interestingly, Remember responses were significantly more often based on color information for colored than for black-and-white images in normal observers only, not in dichromats. Citation: Brédart S, Cornet A, Rakic J-M (2014) Recognition Memory for Colored and Black-and-White Scenes in Normal and Color Deficient Observers (Dichromats). PLoS ONE 9(5): e98757.
Memory color of natural familiar objects: Effects of surface texture and 3-D shape
2013
Natural objects typically possess characteristic contours, chromatic surface textures, and three-dimensional shapes. These diagnostic features aid object recognition, as does memory color, the color most associated in memory with a particular object. Here we aim to determine whether polychromatic surface texture, 3-D shape, and contour diagnosticity improve memory color for familiar objects, separately and in combination. We use solid three-dimensional familiar objects rendered with their natural texture, which participants adjust in real time to match their memory color for the object. We analyze mean, accuracy, and precision of the memory color settings relative to the natural color of the objects under the same conditions. We find that in all conditions, memory colors deviate slightly but significantly in the same direction from the natural color. Surface polychromaticity, shape diagnosticity, and three dimensionality each improve memory color accuracy, relative to uniformly colored, generic, or two-dimensional shapes, respectively. Shape diagnosticity improves the precision of memory color also, and there is a trend for polychromaticity to do so as well. Differently from other studies, we find that the object contour alone also improves memory color. Thus, enhancing the naturalness of the stimulus, in terms of either surface or shape properties, enhances the accuracy and precision of memory color. The results support the hypothesis that memory color representations are polychromatic and are synergistically linked with diagnostic shape representations.
On the Colours of Memory and the Memory of Colours
Mnemosphere: Designing a Neologism between Memories, Emotions and Atmospheres, 2024
This chapter delves into the interplay between colour and memory from a dual perspective. The first perspective explores how colour is a potent conduit for human memory, fostering object recognition, heightening attention, and triggering emotional responses – all pivotal processes for enhancing memory performance. Also, it reflects on the portrayal of memory and flashbacks in the collective imagination, particularly in cinema, where black-and-white depictions have been the norm. However, research indicates that memory recognition is notably more accurate for coloured stimuli than their black-and-white counterparts. The second perspective probes into the fleeting and subjective nature of colour memory. It uncovers humans’ challenges when precisely matching or recalling specific colours, even mere seconds after perceiving them. This exploration elucidates how certain colours are more indelible in memory than others and how properties like hue, lightness, and saturation may impact this phenomenon. Also, the concept of “memory colour” – the quintessential colour associated with canonical objects like the yellow of a banana or the green of grass – is presented along with its complexities and advantages. Lastly, some concepts discussed are illustrated using the chromatic visual atlases derived from Mnemosphere’s Open Call for Images.
Familiar objects and memory color
Color Research & Application, 1998
Memory color for a set of eight different familiar objects has been investigated. Our results obtained with one hundred observers, eighty color samples of NCS and two illuminants indicate that: a) the shifts which are produced in the dominant wavelength with memory depend on the familiar object considered; b) colorimetric purity, as a measure of saturation, of the remembered objects is not the same as that of the familiar objects; c) in the SVF representation space, with illuminant D65 and regardless of experience in color matching of the observer the color which was best remembered was purple aubergine and the worst remembered was brown chestnut, with the illuminant A red tomato was the best remembered color and yellow lemon the worst.
Colour agnosia impairs the recognition of natural but not of non-natural scenes
Cognitive Neuropsychology, 2007
Scene recognition can be enhanced by appropriate colour information, yet the level of visual processing at which colour exerts its effects is still unclear. It has been suggested that colour supports low-level sensory processing, while others have claimed that colour information aids semantic categorization and recognition of objects and scenes. We investigated the effect of colour on scene recognition in a case of colour agnosia, M.A.H. In a scene identification task, participants had to name images of natural or non-natural scenes in six different formats. Irrespective of scene format, M.A.H. was much slower on the natural than on the non-natural scenes. As expected, neither M.A.H. nor control participants showed any difference in performance for the non-natural scenes. However, for the natural scenes, appropriate colour facilitated scene recognition in control participants (i.e., shorter reaction times), whereas M.A.H.'s performance did not differ across formats. Our data thus support the hypothesis that the effect of colour occurs at the level of learned associations.
The influence of colour on memory performance: a review
The Malaysian journal of medical sciences : MJMS, 2013
Human cognition involves many mental processes that are highly interrelated, such as perception, attention, memory, and thinking. An important and core cognitive process is memory, which is commonly associated with the storing and remembering of environmental information. An interesting issue in memory research is on ways to enhance memory performance, and thus, remembering of information. Can colour result in improved memory abilities? The present paper highlights the relationship between colours, attention, and memory performance. The significance of colour in different settings is presented first, followed by a description on the nature of human memory. The role of attention and emotional arousal on memory performance is discussed next. The review of several studies on colours and memory are meant to explain some empirical works done in the area and related issues that arise from such studies.
SPIE Proceedings, 1995
This report surveys cognitive aspects of color in terms of behavioral, neuropsychological, and neurophysiological data. Color is usually defined as psychophysical color or as perceived color. Behavioral data on categorical color perception, absolute judgement of colors, color coding, visual search, and visual awareness refer to the more cognitive aspects of color. These are of major importance in visual synthesis and spatial organization, as already shown by the Gestalt psychologists. Neuropsychological and neurophysiological findings provide evidence for an interrelation between cognitive color and spatial organization. Color also enhances planning strategies, as has been shown by studies on color and eye movements. Memory colors and the colorlanguage connections in the brain also belong among the cognitive aspects of color.
Journal of cognitive neuroscience, 2011
Neuroimaging tests of sensorimotor theories of semantic memory hinge on the extent to which similar activation patterns are observed during perception and retrieval of objects or object properties. The present study was motivated by the hypothesis that some of the seeming discrepancies across studies reflect flexibility in the systems responsible for conceptual and perceptual processing of color. Specifically, we test the hypothesis that retrieval of color knowledge can be influenced by both context (a task variable) and individual differences in cognitive style (a subject variable). In Experiment 1, we provide fMRI evidence for differential activity during color knowledge retrieval by having subjects perform a verbal task, in which context encouraged subjects to retrieve more- or less-detailed information about the colors of named common objects in a blocked experimental design. In the left fusiform, we found more activity during retrieval of more- versus less-detailed color knowle...