Cite as:
Rappaport S, Riddoch J, Humphreys G W, 2011, "Disruptive effects of diagnostic colour at different levels of processing: Evidence for intertwined colour-shape object representations" Perception 40 ECVP Abstract Supplement, page 78

Disruptive effects of diagnostic colour at different levels of processing: Evidence for intertwined colour-shape object representations

S Rappaport, J Riddoch, G W Humphreys

The role of colour in object representations is fundamental in the distinction between ‘edge-based’ from ‘surface-plus-edge’ accounts of object processing. Previous attempts to clarify the influence of surface colour have been unable to discount the possibility that participants are using colour strategically to facilitate performance. To address this confound we carried a series of experiments to investigate whether colour-shape associations can interfere with processing and well as facilitate it. We used colour-diagnostic objects rendered in typical or atypical colours, which depicted either the items surface or surround. Participants were asked to name items as efficiently as possible. On a minority of trials when the target colour (red) was displayed participants were asked to name the hue rather than the object. With brief stimulus presentations, the high efficiency with which object labels were accessed when colour and shape were consistent resulted in a correspondingly high interference when they must be inhibited (name red), with effects confined to coloured surfaces. Consistent colour and shape could not be processed separately but were co-activated automatically when processing objects, consistent with activation of an integrated representation where colour is bound as an intrinsic part of the object.

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