DOI: 10.5061/dryad.s4mw6m9bs
title: The color communication game: how categorical understanding of colors can be shown without considering color naming data

description: There is clear diversity among speakers of a typical language in how
 colors are named. What is the impact of this diversity on people’s ability
 to communicate about color? Is there a gap between a person’s general
 understanding of color terms in their native language and how they use a
 particular term to denote a particular color sample? Seventy
 English-speaking dyads and 63 Somali-speaking dyads played the Color
 Communication Game, where the “sender” in each dyad named 30 color samples
 as they would in any color-naming study, then the “receiver” chose the
 sample they thought the sender intended to communicate. English speakers
 played again, under instructions to intentionally communicate color sample
 identity. Interpersonal Mutual Information (MI) calculated from color
 naming data was variable and below optimal, and English-speaking dyads’ MI
 did not improve with experience. Although Somali-speaking senders provided
 fewer color terms, both groups revealed a superior understanding of color
 terms because they showed better exactly correct selection performance as
 receivers than was predicted by simulation from their dyads’ color-naming
 data. Direct comparison of senders’ samples and receivers’ choices
 revealed a categorical understanding of colors without considering color
 naming data. This study highlights limitations on information-theoretic
 analyses of color naming data.
description: In the color communication game, one player is the
 "sender" and another player is the "receiver". The
 sender selects a sample from his source set of samples and sends a message
 (a color term), which is heard by the receiver. The receiver then selects
 from her destination set of color samples the one she thinks the sender
 intended to communicate. Neither player can see the other’s samples. The
 message improves the receiver’s likelihood of selecting the correct
 sample, but it does not guarantee success. English-speaking and
 Somali-speaking participants played the game. The 30 colored stimuli were
 presented on calibrated iPads and the data were recorded on the iPad. The
 data were tabulated in Excel files (here, CSV files). They were analyzed
 using Mathematica software. The routine for calculating Mutual Information
 from the color terms provided by the sender and the receiver is attached
 here.
description: # The color communication game: how categorical understanding of colors
 can be shown without considering color naming data Angela M Brown*, The
 Ohio State University, [brown.112@osu.edu](mailto:brown.112@osu.edu)
 *corresponding author Delwin T. Lindsey, The Ohio State University at
 Mansfield, [lindsey.43@osu.edu](mailto:lindsey.43@osu.edu) ## Description
 of the data and file structure This data folder contains three groups of
 data: #### Experienced
 Brown-20230718-ColorCommunicationGame-EnglishData-Experienced-DyadPairings.csv Brown-20230718-ColorCommunicationGame-EnglishData-Experienced-ReceiverChoices.csv Brown-20230718-ColorCommunicationGame-EnglishData-Experienced-ReceiverTerms.csv Brown-20230718-ColorCommunicationGame-EnglishData-Experienced-SenderChoices.csv Brown-20230718-ColorCommunicationGame-EnglishData-Experienced-SenderTerms.csv #### Naive Brown-20230718-ColorCommunicationGame-EnglishData-Naive-DyadPairings.csv Brown-20230718-ColorCommunicationGame-EnglishData-Naive -ReceiverChoices.csv Brown-20230718-ColorCommunicationGame-EnglishData-Naive -ReceiverTerms.csv Brown-20230718-ColorCommunicationGame-EnglishData-Naive -SenderChoices.csv Brown-20230718-ColorCommunicationGame-EnglishData-Naive -SenderTerms.csv #### Somali Data Brown-20230718-ColorCommunicationGame-SomaliData-DyadPairings.csv Brown-20230718-ColorCommunicationGame-SomaliData-ReceiverChoices.csv Brown-20230718-ColorCommunicationGame-SomaliData-ReceiverTerms.csv Brown-20230718-ColorCommunicationGame-SomaliData-SenderChoices.csv Brown-20230718-ColorCommunicationGame-SomaliData-SenderTerms.csv These files contain: * The dyad pairings. These pairs of numbers are the sender and receiver record numbers for each dyad. * The sender color terms. * The receiver color terms. * The sender sample choices. * The receiver sample choices. * The rows of terms or choices are the data for each sample. Each page begins with a (bold type) column for the nominal designations of the 30 samples. Further guidance for the data sets: Somali data: * The Somali data set includes data from 97 participants, with each receiver being associated with exactly one sender * The columns are IDs for the participants * All analyses were performed on the full set of 97 {sender, receiver} dyads. Then, data from the first 34 dyads were eliminated for the final analyses * Responses of Somali-speaking participants consist of names of the colors in the Somali language, e.g., Madow=Black; Cagaar=Green; Huruud=Yellow, etc. * See Methods: Procedures: Somali-speaking players for details. English native and experienced data: * The English data set includes data from 31 participants, with each receiver being associated with each of the other members of their group. * Thus, there are 31 self-data sets (self-terms and self-choices), one for each participant. The data from other terms and other choices are from other people in the self-payer group. These data define 70 dyads. * The dyad pairings tell you, for a given other dyad, which self-individual was the sender. ## Sharing/Access information N/A ## Code/Software The data are CSV files. They can be opened using any spreadsheet program (e.g., Excel) and they can be read by any computer software package. The Mathematica routine is an NB file and requires Mathematica to open and run it. We are also supplying it in RTF format. The Mathematica Code files (.nb and .rtf) contain the Mathematica routine used to calculate Mutual Information from the color naming data. That routine takes as input the senderColorTerms and the corresponding receiverColorTerms from one of the data sets (e.g., SomaliSenderTerms and SomaliReceiverTerms) and returns the mutual information for those participants. The sender terms may be provided as both senderColorTerms and receiverColorTerms to obtain self-communication mutual information results.