Relativity versus Universals an obsolete dichotomy Paul Kay

Relativity versus Universals: an obsolete dichotomy Paul Kay Terry Regier International Computer Science Institute, U. C. , Berkeley paulkay@berkeley. edu Irvine March 2008 U. of Chicago regier@uchicago. edu

Major point of this talk: The opposition of so-called relativism to so-called universalism impedes our understanding of the complex ways in which language both influences perception and is influenced by perception… or Half a Whorf is better than no Whorf at all.

Plan of the talk • Influence of language on color perception/discrimination (Kay) Moral: Hedged “relativism” • Color naming similarities and differences across languages (Regier) Moral: Hedged “universalism”

Previous work, going back as far as 1984, has demonstrated: • (1) “Categorical Perception” (CP) for color, • (2) that CP occurs at boundaries of linguistically encoded basic color terms, and • (3) that when basic color term boundaries differ between languages, color CP occurs at the linguistic boundaries. • (e. g. , Kay & Kempton 1984, Levinson, 1996; Lucy, 1996; Roberson et al. , 2000; Winawer et al. , 2003. For full references: paulkay@berkeley. edu. ).

This part of the talk is about recent work, showing that: • Color CP is lateralized to the right Visual Field (RVF) and therefore to the Left Cerebral Hemisphere (LH).

• BACKGROUND: (A) Visual fields project to brain contralaterally; (B) LH is dominant for language. Front

Lexical categories influence perception in the RVF. (a) Print-rendered versions of the four colors used. (b) Sample display for the visual search task. Participants were required to press one of two response keys, indicating the side containing the target color. (c) In the no-interference condition, RTs were faster for the between-category pair and slower for the withincategory pairs when targets appeared in the RVF compared with when they appeared in the LVF. (d) Effects were reversed with verbal interference. *, P < 0. 05, two-tailed t test, df = 10; ns, nonsignificant. Values are mean SEM BERKELEY EXP. 1 Fig. 1. Lexical categories influence perception in the RVF. (a) Print-rendered versions of the four colors used. (b) Sample display for the visual search task. Participants were required to press one of two response keys, indicating the side containing the target color. (c) In the no-interference condition, RTs were faster for the between-category pair and slower for the within-category pairs when targets appeared in the RVF compared with when they appeared in the LVF. (d) Effects were reversed with verbal interference. *, P < 0. 05, two-tailed t test, df = 10; ns, nonsignificant. Values are mean ± SEM. (� Gilbert, A. , Regier, T. , Kay, P. , & Ivry, R. (2006) PNAS)

BERKELEY EXP. 2 Fig. 2. Modulation of color-category effects in the RVF is specific to linguistic demands of the interference task. (a) Trial events. Within a block of trials, the visual search task was interleaved with blank displays, displays containing a color word, or displays containing a spatial grid. (b and c) Nointerference and verbal-interference results replicate those obtained in the first experiment. (d) For the nonverbal-interference condition, performance followed a pattern similar to that observed in the nointerference condition. *, P < 0. 05, two-tailed t test, df = 10; ns, nonsignificant. (� Gilbert, A. , Regier, T. , Kay, P. , & Ivry, R. (2006) PNAS)

Elimination of lateralized Whorf effect with verbal interference argues that linguistic categories are activated online in this task (as against the learning of linguistic categories having warped the perceptual space itself). Whether the effect is strictly speaking perceptual or involves immediate post-perceptual processing can’t be answered from these data.

OK, but: That’s just one study, in one lab, on one color boundary. Replicated, at University of Surrey, at blue/green, blue/purple, purple/pink boundaries. (Also: weaker Whorf in LFV, probably due to trans-callosal transfer. ) (Drivonikou, Kay, Regier, Ivry, Gilbert, Franklin & Davies (2007). PNAS. )

SURREY EXP. 1 Fig. 1. The category effect is larger in the RVF than in the LVF in a reanalysis of the data from a color identification task used by Daoutis et al. (16). (a) Stimuli in CIE coordinates. The within-category set contains three hues of green: G 1, G 2, G 3; the across-category set contains a blue (B), a purple ( Pu), and a pink (Pi). Perceptual distance is the same for all adjacent pairs across both sets (G 1 -G 2, G 2 -G 3, B-Pu, and Pu-Pi). When a peripheral stimulus (e. g. , G 1) is the target, it is linearly separable from the distractors (G 2 G 3). (b) Illustration of a target-present trial with 15 distractors. The target is indicated here by the arrow that, however, was not present in the display itself. (c and d) Target detection times for within- and across-category targets by LVF and RVF: collapsed across linear separability (c) and linearly separable targets alone (d). Error bars show 95% confidence limits. (G. V. Drivonikou, P. Kay, T. Regier, R. B. Ivry, A. L. Gilbert, A. Franklin, and I. R. L. Davies. PNAS 2007; 104; 1097 -1102)

SURREY EXP. 2 Fig. 2. A larger category effect is observed in the RVF on a color detection task. (a) Munsell codes of the stimuli; stimuli varied in hue at constant value and chroma. Hue separations were either five steps (far set) or 2. 5 steps (near set). The target was either in the same color category as the background (e. g. , 10 BG on 5 B, both blue) or in the adjacent category (e. g. , 10 BG on 5 BG, blue on green). (b) Illustration of a test frame: white circles show possible target locations around the fixation cross, and the black circle representing the target. (c and d) Blue-green set: The difference in RT between within- and across-category is larger in the RVF (c). Target-background perceptual separation only affects the RVF (d). (e) Blue-purple set: Again, the difference in RT between within- and across-category is larger in the RVF. Error bars are 95% confidence limits. (G. V. Drivonikou, P. Kay, T. Regier, R. B. Ivry, A. L. Gilbert, A. Franklin, and I. R. L. Davies. PNAS 2007; 104; 1097 -1102)

What about split-brain patients? They should also show CP stronger in RVF.

Fig. 3. Lexical categories influence perception in the RVF of a callostomy patient. *, P < 0. 05, two-tailed t-test, df = 1; ns, nonsignificant. (Gilbert, A. , Regier, T. Kay, P. , & Ivry, R. PNAS. 2003; 100, 489 -494)

Fig. 6. Visual search task results from callosotomy patient testing. Error bars show 95% confidence limits. (Gilbert, A. , Regier, T. , Kay, P. , & Ivry, R. Brain and Language, in press)

Is (near) restriction of CP to RVF limited to color? Answer: No.

Dog and cat stimuli for extension of COLOR CP outside of color domain. (Gilbert, A. , Regier, T. , Kay, P. , & Ivry, R. Brain and Language, in press)

Fig. 2. Sample display for the visual search task [as in BERKELEY EXP. 1] with a betweencategories stimulus pair. Participants were required to press one of two response keys, indicating the side containing the target. (Gilbert, A. , Regier, T. , Kay, P. , & Ivry, R. Brain and Language, in press)

Standard search task with dog and cat stimuli RVF CP observed, except with verbal interference (Gilbert, A. , Regier, T. , Kay, P. , & Ivry, R. Brain and Language (2007), doi: 10. 1016/j. bandl. 2007. 06. 001)

What about other languages? Two early reports. Debi Roberson (U. of Essex) has reported that CP for a color category boundary occurring in Korean but not English is present in the RVF and not the LVF (for fastest-responding participants only).

(Source: Roberson, D. et al. , Categorical perception of colour in the left visual field is verbally mediated. Cognition (2007), doi: 10. 1016/j. cognition. 2007. 09. 001. )

Also, Drivonikou, Davies, Franklin & Taylor, (2007, Lateralisation of colour categorical perception: A cross-cultural study" Perception 36 ECVP Abstract Supplement) report, “Greek has two basic blue terms (ble and galazio), and many African languages have one term that includes blue and green. CP was shown by faster detection of targets on differentthan same-category backgrounds. However, lateralisation of CP was only found when category boundaries were marked by the language. ” These two studies provide evidence that what’s at work is linguistically encoded categories. Color CP was, as we’ve seen, previously established to vary with linguistic boundaries; Roberson’s and Drivonikou et al. ’s recent studies indicate that this holds for lateralized color CP as well.

Moreover… VF to Brain Hemisphere inference has been confirmed in an Event. Related Potential (ERP) study using the same stimuli as in BERKELEY EXPS. 1 & 2.

EEG experiment protocol. Aubrey Gilbert’s Dissertation (Berkeley, 2007).

(Tan, L-H, Chang, A H D, Kay P, Khong, P-L, Yip, L K C, & Luke, K-K. PNAS, 105, 4004 -4009 (2008)).

Figure 14: Prelinguistic infants show color CP lateralized to LVF. Source: (A. Franklin, G. V. Drivonikou, L. Bevis, I. R. L. Davies, P. Kay, & T. Regier. PNAS 105, 3221– 3225. (2008). )

Assuming: 1. LVF CP in normals is illusory, reflecting trans-callosal transfer and/or scanning, 2. LVF CP in aphasics with LH lesions reflects transfer of function, Then the apparent conflict between RVF CP in normal adults and LVF CP in infants can be explained as language acquisition in the LH taking over the categorization function from the RH as the child matures.

Take home lesson: Normal adults, under normal viewing conditions, get two pictures of the word simultaneously: one filtered through linguistic categories and one not so filtered. “Me worry? ”