Kimberly A. Jameson

Finding an appropriate order for a hierarchy based on probabilistic dominance

Methods of ranking individuals in a dominance hierarchy that use transitivity of relationships may obscure irregularities. Furthermore, these methods use only a small proportion of the information available from dominance encounters. This paper presents an intuitively appealing and easily implemented alternative to existing methods for ordering dominance data, developed from the work of Batchelder et al. (1992 Journal of Mathematical Psychology36, 185-212). The procedure presented here is based on a mathematical model of paired comparisons and it involves only simple estimation procedures. We illustrate its use with data on dominance among red deer Cervus elaphus, stags. The results indicate that dominance relationships are well characterized by the scale values that the model provides, and, because the method provides predictions for all pairings of animals, dominance predictions also exist for pairs of animals that have yet to be observed. Moreover, the dominance outcomes predicted by the model using the order scale are highly correlated with actual dominance observations at all levels. Overall, the procedure described provides a solution to the problem of identifying an appropriate order for a near-linear dominance hierarchy. Copyright 1999 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

Richer color experience in observers with multiple photopigment opsin genes.

Traditional color vision theory posits that three types of retinal photopigments transduce light into a trivariate neural color code, thereby explaining color-matching behaviors. Thisprinciple of trichromacy is in need of reexamination in view of molecular genetics results suggesting that a substantial percentage of women possess more than three classes of retinal photopigments. At issue is the question of whether four-photopigment retinas necessarily yield trichromatic color perception. In the present paper, we review results and theory underlying the accepted photoreceptor-based model of trichromacy. A review of the psychological literature shows that gender-linked differences in color perception warrant further investigation of retinal photopigment classes and color perception relations. We use genetic analyses to examine an important position in the gene sequence, and we empirically assess and compare the color perception of individuals possessing more than three retinal photopigment genes with those possessing fewer retinal photopigment genes. Women with four-photopigment genotypes are found to perceive significantly more chromatic appearances in comparison with either male or female trichromat controls. We provide a rationale for this previously undetected finding and discuss implications for theories of color perception and gender differences in color behavior.

Culture and Cognition: What is Universal about the Representation of Color Experience?

A satellite navigation receiver system for determining an accurate three dimensional position estimate of a movable object and initiating correction of the location of the movable object in response to the three dimensional estimate, utilizing a receiver for receiving range measurement signals from a satellite navigation system, a clock having a constant frequency drift rate for at least a predetermined period of time, and a processing scheme capable of computing clock bias estimates over a predetermined period of time including an instantaneous time, using the clock bias estimates in a quadratic function to adaptively derive a smoothed clock bias estimates over the predetermined period of time including the instantaneous time, computing a three dimensional position estimate of the movable objects position using the smoothed clock bias estimate at the instantaneous time, and determining if the three dimensional position estimates are of sufficient quality for a users intended purpose, whereby depending on the computed three dimensional position estimates, alone or in conjunction with the determination as to whether such estimates are of sufficient quality, the movable object is moved in response thereto.

The Use of Modifying Terms in the Naming and Categorization of Color Appearances in Vietnamese and English

Cross-cultural studies of color naming show that basic terms are universally the most frequently used to name colors. However, such basic color terms are always used in the context of larger linguistic systems when specific properties of color experience are described. To investigate naturalistic naming behaviors, we examined the use of modifiers in English and Vietnamese color naming using an unconstrained naming task (Jameson & Alvarado, in press). Monolingual and bilingual subjects named a representative set of 110 color stimuli sampled from a commonly used color-order stimulus space. Results revealed greater reliance upon polylexemic naming among monolingual Vietnamese speakers and greater use of monolexemic basic hue terms and secondary terms (object glosses) among monolingual English speakers. Systematic differences across these language groups imply that widely used monolexemic naming methods may differentially impact color-naming findings in cross-cultural investigations of color cognition.

Varieties of Anger: The Relation Between Emotion Terms and Components of Anger Expressions

Component theory (C. Smith & H. Scott, 1997) predicts that presence of component movements (action units) alters the decoded meaning of a basic emotional expression. We tested whether the meaning of the basic expression of anger varied when different components were present in the expression. Participants were asked to label variants of anger from Ekman and Friesens Pictures of Facial Affect using 15 anger terms, and invariance of labeling was tested by manipulating the judgment task. Data were analyzed using consensus analysis, multidimensional scaling, and numerical scaling. Components did not result in consensus about fine distinctions in the meanings of the anger expressions. Varying the type of task strongly affected results. We believe this occurred because language elicits different categorization processes than evaluation of facial expressions nonverbally.

The relational correspondence between category exemplars and names

While recognizing the theoretical importance of context, current research has treated naming as though semantic meaning were invariant and the same mapping of category exemplars and names should exist across experimental contexts. An assumed symmetry or bidirectionality in naming behavior has been implicit in the interchangeable use of tasks that ask subjects to match names to stimuli and tasks that ask subjects to match stimuli to names. Examples from the literature are discussed together with several studies of color naming and basic emotion naming in which no such symmetry was found. A more complete model of naming is proposed to account for flexible mapping of names to items. Principles of naming are suggested to describe effects of stimulus sampling, differing access to terms, task demands, and other impacts on naming behavior.

Semantic and Perceptual Representations of Color: Evidence of a Shared Color-Naming Function

Much research on color representation and categorization has assumed that relations among color terms can be proxies for relations among color percepts. We test this assumption by comparing the mapping of color words with color appearances among different observer groups performing cognitive tasks: (1) an invariance of naming task; and (2) triad similarity judgments of color term and color appearance stimuli within and across color categories. Observer subgroups were defined by perceptual phenotype and photopigment opsin genotype analyses. Results suggest that individuals rely on at least two different representational models of color experience: one lexical, conforming to the cultures normative linguistic representation, and another individual perceptual representation organizing each observers color sensation experiences. Additional observer subgroup analyses suggest that perceptual phenotype variation within a language group may play a greater role in the shared color naming system than previously thought. A reexamination of color naming data in view of these findings may reveal influences on color naming important to current theories.

On the Role of Culture in Color Naming: Remarks on the Articles of Paramei, Kay, Roberson, and Hardin on the Topic of Cognition, Culture, and Color Experience

Comment on the preceding articles is now provided to highlight some open questions and controversies raised in this issue. The primary goal is to provide a context for examining the longaccepted views from the cross-cultural color categorization and naming literature that are presented in the articles. For this reason alone, the articles by Hardin and Kay—which present new analyses compatible with the established theory in the area— receive more comment than do those of Roberson and Paramei— which, comparatively speaking, are less concordant with the established theory and reflect more culturally specific views of color naming phenomena. In my opinion, each of the four articles in this issue contributes important perspectives on cross-cultural color naming research. Although the order of articles in this volume is Paramei, Kay, Roberson, and Hardin, the comments presented here are organized to emphasize the authors’ common view-

A Quantitative Theory of Human Color Choices

The system for colorimetry adopted by the Commission Internationale de l’Eclairage (CIE) in 1931, along with its subsequent improvements, represents a family of light mixture models that has served well for many decades for stimulus specification and reproduction when highly controlled color standards are important. Still, with regard to color appearance many perceptual and cognitive factors are known to contribute to color similarity, and, in general, to all cognitive judgments of color. Using experimentally obtained odd-one-out triad similarity judgments from 52 observers, we demonstrate that CIE-based models can explain a good portion (but not all) of the color similarity data. Color difference quantified by CIELAB ΔE explained behavior at levels of 81% (across all colors), 79% (across red colors), and 66% (across blue colors). We show that the unexplained variation cannot be ascribed to inter- or intra-individual variations among the observers, and points to the presence of additional factors shared by the majority of responders. Based on this, we create a quantitative model of a lexicographic semiorder type, which shows how different perceptual and cognitive influences can trade-off when making color similarity judgments. We show that by incorporating additional influences related to categorical and lightness and saturation factors, the model explains more of the triad similarity behavior, namely, 91% (all colors), 90% (reds), and 87% (blues). We conclude that distance in a CIE model is but the first of several layers in a hierarchy of higher-order cognitive influences that shape color triad choices. We further discuss additional mitigating influences outside the scope of CIE modeling, which can be incorporated in this framework, including well-known influences from language, stimulus set effects, and color preference bias. We also discuss universal and cultural aspects of the model as well as non-uniformity of the color space with respect to different cultural biases.

Shared Knowledge About Emotion Among Vietnamese and English Bilingual and Monolingual Speakers

Recent empirical findings show strong similarity in the structure of emotion space across highly diverse cultures. Previous researchers believe this demonstrates shared conceptual understanding of emotion. However, similarity may emerge from sources such as similar language structure operated upon by pan-human categorization processes. Thus, existence of a superordinate concept of emotion may be prerequisite to similar categorization of emotion terms. Within a broader emotion category, cultural differences may be strongest for subordinate terms that convey contextualized information. To explore this, the authors replicated studies of Chinese and Japanese, comparing emotion term similarity judgments for monolingual and bilingual Vietnamese and English speakers in the United States and Saigon, Vietnam. Participants showed strong consensus about meanings of 15 emotion terms, with differences for two subordinate-level terms, “shame” and “anguish.” Judgments for bilingual participants mirrored those of monolinguals in each language, indicating code switching. The Interpoint Distance Model was applied to interpret the results.