Colour cognition

Question 1

On average, how many colour terms do English speakers think of?

Answer 1

11

Question 2

How do languages differ in terms of the colour spectrum?

Answer 2

Languages vary with how they divide the colour spectrum, though variation tends to be narrow and speakers of most languages think of av. 11 colour names
People are good at distinguishing between colours that fall on boundary their language captures, but not at distinguishing between colours that fall on boundary their language doesn’t capture

Question 3

What do the Himba people tell us about the effect of language on the understanding of colour?

Answer 3

The Himba people (culturally- and linguistically-isolated) divide the colour spectrum very differently but can make basic distinctions between colours (this suggests that language doesn’t affect perception)