Language influences color vision

Indigenous Russian speakers differentiate dark blue and pale blue differently from English speakers. A recent study of color perception has shown that the language you speak can affect how you see the world.

In Russian there is no separate word for " blue ", but always separate between the light blue, read " goluboy ", with dark blue, read " siniy ". Researcher Jonathan Winawer in the US has investigated whether this language distinction affects color perception.

The team recruited 50 people from Boston in Massachusetts, USA, of which nearly half are native Russian speakers. Participants are shown 3 blue squares on one screen and must show which square above matches the color with one of the two images below. There are 20 different blue colors in total.

Participants will take 2 tests. The first lesson, all 3 squares have the same color. The second lesson has a different colored square, for example, dark blue compared to lighter blue.

Participants must choose 1 of the 2 bottom squares to coincide with the square above.(Photo: Newscientist)

English speakers who distinguish dark blue and light blue are no better than when they realize that the two blue colors are the same. And the Russian speaker is 10% faster when distinguishing light blue (goluboy) with dark blue (siniy), compared to distinguishing 2 blue in the same category.

" This is the first time evidence shows that language differences relate to color perception in people ," Winawer said.

Moreover, when Russian speakers were forced to memorize an 8-digit number while taking a color test, they distinguished dark blue and light blue from nothing more than comparing the two colors. together. Winawer believes that it is because of the focus on remembering numbers that affects the language capacity in the brain and eliminating the advantage that Russian brings in distinguishing dark blue and light green.

MT