The study shows a systematic naturally biased association between percepts and concepts. Specifically, it shows that a series of terms pertaining to an abstract semantic field (related to the frame of ethics in social behaviour) has a nonrandom, highly significant, association with colours (hues). This is the first time that consistent associations between abstract terms and colours have been reported in the general population. The main hypothesis, ie that there appear to be ‘hues of concepts’, was borne out by the results: The abstract terms considered were coloured with blue/green (ie cool) colours as well as their synonyms, while their antonyms were coloured with red/yellow (ie warm) colours. The association provides information about the nature of abstract concepts and their relationship with perception. It also sheds light on the interrelations among words in semantic domains that, to date, have been studied from only a computational viewpoint.
AlbertazziLDa PosOCanalLMiccioloRMalfattiMVescoviM, 2013“The hue of shapes”Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance3937–47, doi:10.1037/a0028816.
2.
ArnheimR, 1969Visual Thinking (Berkeley, CA: The Regents of the University of California).
3.
BrangDRouwRRamachandranV SCoulsonS, 2011“Similarly shaped letters evoke similar colors in grapheme-color synesthesia”Neuropsychologia491355–1358.
4.
CanalLMiccioloR, 2013“Measuring the immeasurable: Quantitative analyses of perceptual experiments”, in Handbook of Experimental Phenomenology: Visual Perception of Shape, Space and Appearance Ed. AlbertazziL, (New York: Wiley) pp 477–498.
5.
CruseD A, 1986Lexical Semantics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
6.
CruseD A, 1992“Antonymy revisited: Some thoughts on the relationship between words and concepts”, in Frames, Fields, and Contrasts Eds LehrerAKittayE V, (Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates) pp 289–306.
7.
DadamJAlbertazziLDa PosOCanalLMiccioloR, 2012“Morphological patterns and their colour”Perceptual & Motor Skills114363–377, doi:10.2466/03.22.23.PMS.114.2.363–377.
8.
Da PosOValentiV, 2007“Warm and cold colours”AIC Colour Science for Industry Eds GuanrongYHaisongX, (Hangzhou: Color Association of China) pp 41–44.
9.
GeeraertsDGrondelaersP B, 1994The Structure of Lexical Variation: Meaning, Naming and Context (Berlin: De Gruyter).
10.
JürgensU TMausfeldRNikolicD, 2010“Grapheme-colour synaesthesia: Similar shapes take similar colours”, abstract presented at the UK Synaesthesia Association Conference, University of Sussex, Brighton, 27–28 March; http://www.uksynaesthesia.com/BRIGHT0N2010.pdf (pp 13–14).
11.
KittayE VLehrerA, 1992“Introduction”, in Frames, Fields, and Contrasts Eds LehrerAKittayE V, (Hillsdale NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates) pp 1–18.
12.
LakoffG, 1990“The invariance hypothesis: Is abstract reason based on image schemas?”Cognitive Linguistics139–74.
13.
LakoffGJohnsonM, 1999Philosophy in the Flesh: How the Embodied Mind Challenges the Western Tradition (New York: Basic Books).
14.
LangackerR W, 1991Concept, Image, and Symbol (Berlin: De Gruyter).
15.
LangackerR W, 2000Grammar and Conceptualization (Berlin: De Gruyter).
16.
LauCSchlossK BEaglemanD MPalmerS E, 2011“Color-grapheme associations in non-synesthetes: Evidence of emotional mediation”Journal of Vision11(11) 394 (abstract) doi:10.1167/11.11.394.
17.
LyonsJ, 1977Semanticsvolumes 1 and 2 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
18.
PinnaBAlbertazziL, 2010“From grouping to meaning”, in Perception Beyond Inference: The Information Content of Perceptual Processes Eds AlbertazziLvan TonderGVishwanathD, (Boston, MA: MIT Press) pp 287–344.
19.
R Development Core Team, 2011“R: A language and environment for statistical computing”, R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria, ISBN 3900051070, http://www.r-project org/.
20.
SimnerJWardJLanzMJansariANoonanKGloverLOakleyD A, 2005“Non-random associations of graphemes to colours in synaesthetic and normal populations”Cognitive Neuropsychology221069–1085.
21.
SpectorFMaurerD, 2008“The color of Os: Naturally biased associations between shape and colour”Perception37841–847, doi:10.1068/p5830.
22.
SpectorFMaurerD, 2011“The colors of the alphabet: Naturally biased associations between shape and color”Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance37484–495, doi:10.1037/a0021437.
23.
TalmyL, 2000Toward a Cognitive Semantics (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press).
24.
TrierJ, 1934“Das sprachliche Feld: Eine Auseinandersetzung”Neue Fachbücher für Wissenschaft und Jugendbildung10428–449.
25.
VassilyevL M, 1974“The theory of semantic fields: A survey”Linguistics13779–93.
26.
WierzbickaA, 1980The Case for Surface Case (Ann Arbor, MI: Karoma).
27.
WierzbickaA, 1985Lexicography and Conceptual Analysis (Ann Arbor, MI: Karoma).
