Color naming and categorization depend on distinct functional brain networks

Abstract

Naming a color can be understood as an act of categorization, i.e. identifying it as a member of category of colors that are referred to by the same name. But are naming and categorization equivalent cognitive processes, and consequently rely on same neural substrates? Here, we used task and resting-state fMRI, as well as behavioral measures to identify functional brain networks that modulated naming and categorization of colors. Color naming and categorization response times were modulated by different resting state connectivity networks spanning from the color-sensitive regions in the ventro-occipital cortex. Color naming correlated with the connectivity between the left posterior color region, the left medial temporal gyrus, and the left angular gyrus;whereas color categorization involved the connectivity between the bilateral posterior color regions, the left frontal, right temporal and bilateral parietal areas. The networks supporting naming and categorization did not overlap, suggesting that the two processes rely on different neural mechanisms.Significance: When we name a color, we also identify it as a member of a color category, e.g. blue or yellow. Are neural processes underlying color categorization equivalent to those of color naming?Here, we address this question by measuring how individual differences in color categorization and naming response times relate to the strength of functional connections in the brain. Color naming speed correlated with left-hemispheric connectivity between the color-sensitive visual regions and the anterior temporal lobe. Color categorization speed was modulated by a different brain network, encompassing bilateral color-sensitive visual areas, and high-level executive and semantic regions.Thus, color categorization and naming performance involved distinct, non-overlapping brain networks, suggesting that the two processes depend on different neural mechanisms.

Color Space Geometry Uncovered with Magnetoencephalography

“…19 Thus it seems that color-diagnostic shapes, but not color words, can elicit neural representations similar to those elicited by real colors. The results presented here are consistent with the idea that the brain processes information in a directional way, 57 with perceptual representations capable of driving semantic or cognitive representations, but not the reverse-semantic representations seem incapable of instantiating perceptual representations. 58 The plots of cross-temporal generalization of spiral color (Figure 5) show a pattern of bands parallel to the identity diagonal, which provides a rare example (the first, to our knowledge) of a theoretical possibility-the reactivation pattern of King and Dehaene.…”

Color Space Geometry Uncovered with Magnetoencephalography

“…19 Thus it seems that color-diagnostic shapes, but not color words, can elicit neural representations similar to those elicited by real colors. The results presented here are consistent with the idea that the brain processes information in a directional way, 57 with perceptual representations capable of driving semantic or cognitive representations, but not the reverse-semantic representations seem incapable of instantiating perceptual representations. 58 The plots cross-temporal generalization of spiral color (Figure 5) show a pattern of bands parallel to the identity diagonal, which provides a rare example (the first, to our knowledge) of a theoretical possibility-the reactivation pattern of King and Dehaene.…”

Basic color categories in Mandarin Chinese revealed by cluster analysis

“…Research on the phenomenon of language-dependent color perception began decades ago (e.g., Whorf, 1956;Brown & Lenneberg, 1954). Theories and methodologies around color naming and color categorization are still evolving (e.g., Lindsey & Brown, 2019;Mylonas & Griffin, 2020;Siuda-Krzywicka, Witzel, Bartolomeo, & Cohen, 2020). One of the essential issues that received much attention is crosscultural regularity in the categories that correspond to basic color terms, namely basic color categories (e.g., Berlin & Kay, 1969;Lindsey & Brown, 2009;Kay, Witzel, Bartolomeo, & Cohen, 2011), because the empirical findings are influential to the classical debate between universalistic and relativistic relationships between color term and color category (for overview, see Jraissati, 2014;Heider, 1972;Lindsey & Brown, 2019;Witzel, 2019).…”