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Infants' spontaneous color preferences are not due to adult-like brightness variations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 April 2005

DAVIDA Y. TELLER ,
ANDREA CIVAN  and
KEVIN BRONSON-CASTAIN
DAVIDA Y. TELLER
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychology and Physiology/Biophysics, University of Washington, Seattle
ANDREA CIVAN
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle
KEVIN BRONSON-CASTAIN
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle
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Abstract

In the present work, we explore the perceptual bases of infants' spontaneous looking preferences among isoluminant chromatic stimuli (Bornstein, 1975). Three experiments were conducted. In Experiment 1, adult subjects made brightness matches between a white standard and each of six isoluminant chromatic stimuli. The classic variations of brightness with chromaticity were found. In Experiment 2, 12-week-old infants' spontaneous looking preferences were measured for white lights of different luminances. Preference increased with increasing luminance, suggesting that brightness differences are sufficient to create looking preferences among isochromatic stimuli. In Experiment 3, infants' preferences were tested for each of the six chromatic stimuli paired against white, at both isoluminance and (adult) isobrightness. All chromatic stimuli were preferred to white, and the pattern of preferences was similar for both isoluminance and isobrightness conditions. It is concluded that hue and/or saturation, rather than brightness, control infants' spontaneous looking preferences among chromatic stimuli.

Keywords

Infant color visionInfant color preferencesInfant brightness perception
Type
Research Article
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 21 , Issue 3 , May 2004 , pp. 397 - 401
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

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