Inappropriate colors impair word-picture and picture-word matching

In three experiments, the influence of color on word-picture and picture-word matching tasks was investigated. Subjects were exposed to pairs of pictures of real objects and their names. They were then required to judge whether or not the picture corresponded to the word. In Experiment 1, the picture was presented first; in Experiment 2 and 3 the word was presented first. The objects were depicted either in prototypical colors or in inappropriate colors. In the first two experiments, slides of real objects were used, and for incongruent trials, the colors of the depicted objects were artificially changed before the slide was reproduced. In Experiment 3, computer graphics were used and the change of color was achieved by changing the hue of the object, while maintaining its saturation and brightness. In all experiments, inappropriate colors delayed the decision times if pictures and words corresponded, i.e., if the word correctly named the picture. If the name was incorrect, consistent effects of incongruent colors were only observed in the picture-word paradigm. These results show that during the identification of objects not only is edge-based information used but color as a surface feature is also evaluated.