Inappropriate colors impair word-picture and picture-word matching

In three experiments, the influence of color on word-picture and picture-wo rd matching tasks was investigated. Subjects were exposed to pairs of pictu res of real objects and their names. They were then required to judge wheth er or not the picture corresponded to the word. In Experiment 1, the pictur e 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, an d for incongruent trials, the colors of the depicted objects were artificia lly changed before the slide was reproduced. In Experiment 3, computer grap hics were used and the change of color was achieved by changing the hue of the object, while maintaining its saturation and brightness. In all experim ents, inappropriate colors delayed the decision times if pictures and words corresponded, i.e., if the word correctly named the picture. If the name w as incorrect, consistent effects of incongruent colors were only observed i n the picture-word paradigm. These results show that during the identificat ion of objects not only is edge-based information used but color as a surfa ce feature is also evaluated.