Theories of object recognition differ to the extent that they consider object representations as being mediated only by the shape of the object, or shape and surface details, if surface details are part of the representation. In particular, it has been suggested that color information may be helpful at recognizing objects only in very special cases, but not during basic-level object recognition in good viewing conditions. In this study, we collected normative data (naming agreement, familiarity, complexity, and imagery judgments) for Snodgrass and Vanderwart's object database of 260 black-and-white line drawings, and then compared the data to exactly the same shapes but with added gray-level texture and surface details (set 2), and color (set 3). Naming latencies were also recorded. Whereas the addition of texture and shading without color only slightly improved naming agreement scores for the objects, the addition of color information unambiguously improved naming accuracy and speeded correct response times. As shown in previous studies, the advantage provided by color was larger for objects with a diagnostic color, and structurally similar shapes, such as fruits and vegetables, but was also observed for man-made objects with and without a single diagnostic color. These observations show that basic-level ‘everyday’ object recognition in normal conditions is facilitated by the presence of color information, and support a ‘shape + surface’ model of object recognition, for which color is an integral part of the object representation. In addition, the new stimuli (sets 2 and 3) and the corresponding normative data provide valuable materials for a wide range of experimental and clinical studies of object recognition.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AlarioF XFerrandL, 1999“A set of 400 pictures standardized for French: Norms for name agreement, image agreement, familiarity, visual complexity, image variability, and age of acquisition”Behavior Research Methods, Instruments & Computers31531–552
2.
ArdilaAOstrosky-SolisFRosselliMGomezC, 2000“Age-related cognitive decline during normal aging: The complex effect of education”Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology15495–513
3.
BarryCMorrisonC MEllisA W, 1997“Naming the Snodgrass and Vanderwart pictures: Effects of age of acquisition, frequency and name agreement”Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology A50560–585
4.
BerndtR SBurtonM WHaendigesA NMitchumC C, 2002“Production of nouns and verbs in aphasia: Effects of elicitation context”Aphasiology1683–106
5.
BiedermanI, 1987“Recognition-by-components: A theory of human image understanding”Psychological Review94115–147
6.
BiedermanIJuG, 1988“Surface versus edge-based determinants of visual recognition”Cognitive Psychology2038–64
7.
BrodieE EWallaceA MSharratB, 1991“Effect of surface characteristics and style of production on naming and verification of pictorial stimuli”American Journal of Psychology104517–545
8.
BrooksP JMacWhinneyB, 2000“Phonological priming in children's picture naming”Journal of Child Language27335–366
9.
BrunerJ, 1957Contemporary Approaches to Cognition (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press)
10.
CavanaghP, 1987“Reconstructing the third dimension: interaction between color, texture, motion, binocular disparity and shape”Computer Vision Graphics and Image Processing37171–195
11.
ChainayHHumphreysG W, 2001“The real-object advantage in agnosia: Evidence for a role of surface and depth information in object recognition”Cognitive Neuropsychology18175–191
12.
ChainayHRosenthalV, 1996“Naming and picture recognition in probable Alzheimer's disease: Effects of color, generic category, familiarity, visual complexity and shape familiarity”Brain and Cognition30403–405
13.
ChainayHRosenthalVGoldblumM C, 1998“A standardized set of 315 color and black-and-white pictures for use in semantic memory and naming experiments”Revue de Neuropsychologie8179–239
14.
CuetosFEllisA WAlvarezB, 1999“Naming times for the Snodgrass and Vanderwart pictures in Spanish”Behavior Research Methods, Instruments & Computers31650–658
15.
DamianM F, 2000“Semantic negative priming in picture categorization and naming”Cognition76B45–B55
16.
DavidoffJ, 1991Cognition through Color (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press)
17.
DavidoffJ BOstergaardA L, 1988“The role of colour in categorical judgement”Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology A40533–544
18.
De CaroS AReevesA, 2000“Rotating objects to determine orientation, not identity: Evidence from a backward-masking/dual-task procedure”Perception & Psychophysics621356–1366
19.
Dell'AcquaRJobRGraingerJ, 2001“Is global shape sufficient for automatic object identification?”Visual Cognition8801–821
20.
Dell'AcquaRLottoLJobR, 2000“Naming times and standardized norms for the Italian PD/DPSS set of 266 pictures: direct comparisons with American, English, French, and Spanish published databases”Behavior Research Methods, Instruments & Computers32588–615
21.
EllisA WMorrisonC M, 1998“Real age of acquisition effects in lexical and episodic memory tasks”Memory and Cognition7214–223
22.
FarahM J, 1990Visual Agnosia: Disorders of Object Recognition and What They Tell Us about Normal Vision (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press)
23.
GibsonE, 1969Principles of Perceptual Learning and Development (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts)
24.
GrahamK SPattersonKPrattK HHodgesJ R, 2001“Can repeated exposure to ‘forgotten’ vocabulary help alleviate word-finding difficulties in semantic dementia? An illustrative case study”Neuropsychological Rehabilitation11429–454
25.
GrossbergSMingollaE, 1985“Neural dynamics and perceptual grouping: textures, boundaries and emergent segmentations”Perception & Psychophysics38137–144
26.
HarmonyTFernandezTFernandez-BouzasASilva-PereyraJBoschJDiaz-ComasLGalanL, 2001“EEG changes during word and figure categorization”Clinical Neurophysiology1121486–1498
27.
HaywardW GWilliamsP, 2000“Viewpoint dependence and object discriminability”Psychological Science117–12
28.
KohlerSMoscovitchMMeloB, 2001“Episodic memory for object location versus episodic memory for object identity: Do they rely on distinct encoding processes?”Memory & Cognition29948–959
29.
LuzzattiCDavidoffJ, 1994“Impaired retrieval of object-color knowledge with preserved color naming”Neuropsychologia32933–950
30.
MapelliDBehrmannM, 1997“The role of color in object recognition: Evidence from visual agnosia”Neurocase3237–247
31.
MarrD, 1982Vision (New York: W H Freeman)
32.
MarrDNishiharaH K, 1978“Representation and recognition of the spatial organization of three-dimensional shapes”Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B200269–294
33.
MontanesPGoldblumM CBollerF, 1995“Naming color and black-and-white pictures from living and nonliving things in Alzheimer's disease”Journal of the Experimental Neuropsychological Society139–48
34.
NicholsonK GHumphreyG K, 2001“Surface cues reduce the latency to name rotated images of objects”Perception301057–1081
35.
OlivaASchynsP G, 2000“Diagnostic colors mediate scene recognition”Cognitive Psychology41176–210
36.
Op de BeeckHBéatseEWagemansJSunaertSVan HeckeP, 2000“The representation of shape in the context of visual object categorization tasks”Neuroimage1228–40
37.
OstergaardA LDavidoffJ, 1985“Some effects of color on naming and recognition of objects”Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition11579–587
38.
OussetP JViallardGPuelMCelsisPDémonetJ FCardebatD, 2002“Lexical therapy and episodic word learning in dementia of the Alzheimer type”Brain and Language8014–20
39.
PashlerHHarrisC R, 2001“Spontaneous allocation of visual attention: Dominant role of uniqueness”Psychonomic Bulletin & Review B8747–752
40.
PechmannTZerbstD, 2002“The activation of word class information during speech production”Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition28233–243
41.
PindJJónsdóttirHGissurardóttirHJónssonF, 2000“Icelandic norms for the Snodgrass and Vanderwart (1980) pictures: Name and image agreement, familiarity, and age of acquisition”Scandinavian Journal of Psychology4141–48
42.
PriceC JHumphreysG W, 1989“The effects of surface detail on object categorization and naming”Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology A41797–828
43.
ReganD, 2000Human Perception of Objects: Early Visual Processing of Spatial Form Defined by Luminance, Color, Texture, Motion and Binocular Disparity (Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates)
44.
RossionBPourtoisG, 2001“Revisiting Snodgrass and Vanderwart's object database: Color and texture improve object recognition”Journal of Vision1413a (abstract)
45.
SanfeliuM CFernandezA, 1996“A set of 254 Snodgrass–Vanderwart pictures standardized for Spanish: Norms for name agreement, image agreement, familiarity, and visual complexity”Behavior Research Methods, Instruments & Computers28537–555
46.
SanockiTBowyerK WHeathM DSarkarS, 1998“Are edges sufficient for object recognition?”Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance24340–349
47.
SnodgrassJ GVanderwartM, 1980“A standardized set of 260 pictures: norms for name agreement, image agreement, familiarity, and visual complexity”Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition6174–215
48.
SnodgrassJ GYuditskyT, 1996“Naming times for the Snodgrass and Vanderwart pictures”Behavior Research Methods, Instruments & Computers28516–536
49.
StarkC E LSquireL R, 2000“Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activity in the hippocampal region during recognition memory”Journal of Neuroscience207776–7781
50.
TanakaJ WPresnellL M, 1999“Color diagnosticity in object recognition”Perception & Psychophysics611140–1153
51.
TanakaJ WWeiskopfDWilliamsP, 2001“The role of color in high level vision”Trends in Cognitive Sciences5211–215
52.
TarrM JBülthoffH H, 1998“Image based recognition in man, monkey and machine”Cognition671–20
53.
TarrM JWilliamsPHaywardW GGauthierI, 1998“Three-dimensional object recognition is viewpoint dependent”Nature Neuroscience1275–277
54.
ThomasG VNyeRRowleyMRobinsonE J, 2001“What is a picture? Children's conceptions of pictures”British Journal of Developmental Psychology19475–491
55.
TrosciankoTHarrisJ, 1988“Phase discrimination in compound chromatic gratings”Vision Research281041–1049
56.
Van PettenCSenkforA JNewbergW M, 2000“Memory for drawings in locations: Spatial source memory and event-related potentials”Psychophysiology37551–564
57.
WardJParkinA J, 2000“Pathological false recognition and source memory deficits following frontal lobe damage”Neurocase6333–344
58.
WilliamsPTanakaJ W, 2000“Color effects on the recognition of distinctively shaped objects”, unpublished manuscript, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH 44074, USA
59.
WurmLLeggeG EIsenbergL MLuebkerA, 1993“Color improves object recognition in normal and low vision”Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance19899–911
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
