Abstract
Most fruits and other highly color-diagnostic objects have color as a central aspect of their identity, which can facilitate their detection and visual recognition. It has been theorized that there may be a large amount of overlap between the neural representations of these objects and areas involved in color perception. In accordance with this theory we sought to determine if the recognition of highly color diagnostic fruit objects could be facilitated by the visual presentation of their known color associates. In two experiments we show that color associate priming is possible, but contingent upon multiple factors. Color priming was found to be maximally effective for the most highly color diagnostic fruits, when shape information was made ambiguous through the removal of high spatial-frequencies, and when determination of the object’s specific identity, not merely its category, was required. These data illustrate the importance of color for determining the identity of certain objects, and support the theory that object knowledge involves sensory specific systems.
Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2013