Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 19, 2026

Qualitative Identification of Carboxylic Acids, Boronic Acids, and Amines Using Cruciform Fluorophores
Published on: August 19, 2013
Universality of color names
Delwin T Lindsey1, Angela M Brown
1Department of Psychology, Ohio State University, Mansfield, OH 44906, USA. lindsey.43@osu.edu
Abstract:
We analyzed the World Color Survey (WCS) color-naming data set by using k-means cluster and concordance analyses. Cluster analysis relied on a similarity metric based on pairwise Pearson correlation of the complete chromatic color-naming patterns obtained from individual WCS informants. When K, the number of k-means clusters, varied from 2 to 10, we found that (i) the average color-naming patterns of the clusters all glossed easily to single or composite English patterns, and (ii) the structures of the k-means clusters unfolded in a hierarchical way that was reminiscent of the Berlin and Kay sequence of color category evolution. Gap statistical analysis showed that 8 was the optimal number of WCS chromatic categories: RED, GREEN, YELLOW-OR-ORANGE, BLUE, PURPLE, BROWN, PINK, and GRUE (GREEN-OR-BLUE). Analysis of concordance in color naming within WCS languages revealed small regions in color space that exhibited statistically significantly high concordance across languages. These regions agreed well with five of six primary focal colors of English. Concordance analysis also revealed boundary regions of statistically significantly low concordance. These boundary regions coincided with the boundaries associated with English WARM and COOL. Our results provide compelling evidence for similarities in the mechanisms that guide the lexical partitioning of color space among WCS languages and English.
Related Concept Videos
Color Vision
Photoreceptors and Visual Pathways
Perceptual Constancy
Size constancy is the recognition that an object remains the same size, even when its image on the retina changes. For instance, a bus is perceived to be large enough to carry people, even if it looks tiny from...
UV–Vis Spectroscopy of Conjugated Systems
One of the factors influencing λmax is the extent of conjugation in the...
Genetic Lingo
Colors and Magnetism
When atoms or molecules absorb light at the proper frequency, their electrons are excited to higher-energy orbitals. For many main group atoms and molecules, the absorbed photons are in the ultraviolet range of the electromagnetic spectrum, which cannot be detected by the human eye. For coordination compounds, the energy difference between the d orbitals often allows photons in the visible range to be absorbed and emitted, which is seen as colors by the human eye.

