Unique Hue Judgment in Different Languages: A Comparison of Korean and English

Abstract

Three experiments investigated unique hues (Hering, 1878) in native Korean and English speakers. Many recent studies have shown that color categories differ across languages and cultures, challenging the proposal that a particular set of color categories is universal and potentially innate. Unique hue judgments, and selection of the best examples of those categories have also been found to vary within an English-speaking population. Here we investigated unique hue judgments and possible discrepancies between unique hue and best example judgments in two languages. Experiment 1 found that the loci of unique hues were similar for English and Korean speakers. Experiment 2 replicated and extended this result, using both single and double hue scaling. Experiment 3 showed that, in both cultures, unique hue choices depended on the range, and organization of the array from which participants chose. The results of this study suggest that unique hue judgments vary according to the experimental task, in both languages.