Friday, August 12, 2011  Color Terms and Perception  A BBC
program called “Do You See What I See?” presents some
interesting facts about color perception and how it is
influenced by language, mood, and gender. Addendum: The video
has unfortunately been removed.  A segment filmed with members
of a tribe in northern Namibia shows how growing up with a
different set of color terms affects the ability to recognize
slight differences of certain colors.  These findings are
presented as if they’re new, but they’re based on the pioneering
work of Paul Kay and Brent Berlin in 1969.  One of the
challenges for me in getting used to the Yurmby color wheel is
learning to recognize cyan and magenta as basic color terms,
distinct from blue, green, and red.  Because I didn’t grow up
with the terms “cyan” and “magenta,” it has taken me a few years
to remap my brain, but now I routinely recognize cyan and
magenta colors around me according to their own terms.  It would
have been much easier if I had learned those color terms i