This study analyzed qualitative aspects in perception, particularly the relationship between morphological aspects of biological shapes and colour. The experiment reported by the study assessed the functional relation between shape and colour and, in particular, the relations among the patterns of shapes appearing in perceptual configurations, as well as certain characteristics of colour. Participants were shown 32 natural images and were asked to match them with a colour. The results indicated that some figures were more frequently associated (positively or negatively) with some colours instead of others. Type of shape, texture, and three-dimensionality were important elements in the participants' choices. Rounded figures and non-holed figures had positive matches with red; elongated figures were associated with colours between blue and green; and holed figures showed positive matches with colours between green and yellow. Type of shape and texture also exhibited a relationship with the warmth of the colour.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AlbertazziL.van TonderG.VishwanathD. (2010) Information in perception. In AlbertazziL.van TonderG.VishwanathD. (Eds.), Perception beyond inference: The information content of perceptual processes. Boston, MA: MIT Press.
2.
ArnheimR. (1954) Art and visual perception: The psychology of the creative eye. Berkeley, CA: The Regents of the Univer. of California.
3.
BiedermanI. (1987) Recognition-by-components: A theory of human image understanding. Psychological Review, 94, 115–147.
4.
BreidbachO. (2004) Brief instructions to viewing Haeckel's pictures. In HaeckelE. H., Art forms in nature. Munich-Berlin-London-New York: Prestel. Pp. 9–18.
5.
Da PosO.Green-ArmytageP. (2007) Facial expressions, colours, and basic emotions. Colour: Design & Creativity, 1, 2, 1–20.
6.
DonnerT. H.KettermannA.DieschE.OstendorfF.VillringerA.BrandtS. A. (2002) Visual feature and conjunction searches of equal difficulty engage only partially overlapping frontoparietal networks. NeuroImage, 15, 16–25.
7.
EkmanP. (2003) Emotions revealed: Recognizing faces and feelings to improve communication and emotional life. New York: Holt.
8.
GibsonJ. J. (1979) The ecological approach to visual perception. Boston, MA: Houton Mifflin.
9.
HaeckelE. H. (1866) Generelle morphologie der organismen. [General morphology of organisms]Berlin, Germany: Reimer Verlag.
10.
HaeckelE. H. (1904/2004) Kunstformen der natur [Art forms in nature]. Munich-Berlin-London-New York: Prestel.
11.
HubbardE. M.ArmanA. C.RamachandranV. S.BoyntonG. M. (2005) Individual differences among grapheme-colour synaesthetes: Brain-behaviour correlations. Neuron, 45, 975–985.
12.
HumphreyN. (2006) Seeing red: A study in consciousness (mind/brain/behavior initiative). Cambridge-London, UK: The Belknap Press of Harvard Univer. Press.
13.
JacobsenT. (2002) Kandinsky's questionnaire revisited: Fundamental correspondence of basic colors and forms. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 95, 903–913.
14.
KandinskyW. (1926/1947) Punkt Linie zur Fläche [Point and line to plane]. (DearstyneH.RibayH. Transl.) New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.
15.
KempM. (1997) Towards a new history of the visual. Visual literacy: Issues and debates. London, UK: Arts Council of England and School of Education, Middlesex Univer.
16.
KoenderinkJ. J. (2010) Vision and information. In AlbertazziL.van TonderG.VishwanathD. (Eds.), Perception beyond inference: The information content of perceptual processes. Boston, MA: MIT Press. Pp. 27–57.
KöhlerW. (1947) Gestalt psychology: An introduction to new concepts in modern psychology. New York: Liveright.
19.
LeeuwenbergE.van der HelmP. (1991) Unity and variety in visual forms. Perception, 20, 595–622.
20.
LeytonM. (1992) Symmetry, causality, mind. Boston, MA: MIT Press.
21.
LindauerM. S. (1973) Form imagery to colors. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 36, 165–166.
22.
LindauerM. S. (1986) Perceiving, imaging, and preferring physiognomic stimuli. The American Journal of Psychology, 99, 233–255.
23.
MacCurdyE. (1939) The notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. New York: Reynal & Hitchcock.
24.
MetzgerW. (1941) Psychologie: Die Entwicklung ihrer Grundannahmen seit der Einführung des Experiments [Psychology: The development of its basic assumptions since the introduction of the experiments]. Dresden-Leipzig, Germany: Steinkopff.
25.
MichotteA. E. (1950) The emotions regarded as functional connections. In ReymertM. L. (Ed.), Feelings and emotions: The Mooseheart Symposium. New York: McGraw-Hill. Pp. 114–125.
26.
NavonD. (1977) Forest before trees: Precedence of global features in visual-perception. Cognitive Psychology, 9, 353–383.
27.
RuskinJ. (1857) The laws of Fésole: The elements of drawing. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
28.
SivikL. (1974) Measuring the meaning of colors: Problems of semantic bipolarity. Göteborg Psychological Reports, 13.
29.
SivikL. (1997) Color systems for cognitive research. In HardinC. L.MaffiL. (Eds.), Color categories in thought and language. New York: Cambridge Univer. Press. Pp. 163–194.
30.
SpectorF.MaurerD. (2008) The colour of Os: Naturally biased associations between shape and colour. Perception, 37, 841–847.
31.
SpectorF.MaurerD. (2011) The colors of the alphabet: Naturally-biased associations between shape and colour. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 37, 484–495.
32.
ThompsonD. W. (1961) On growth and form. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univer. Press.
33.
WardJ.HuckstepB.TsakanikosE. (2006) Sound-colour synaesthesia: To what extent does it use cross-modal mechanisms common to us all?Cortex, 42, 264–280.
