Locating colors in the Munsell space: an unconstrained color naming experiment

A previous study [Paggetti et al., 2011, Attention, Perception and Psychophysics, 73(2), 491-503] based on a constrained color naming experiment on Italian subjects suggested the needof a twelfth basic color term (BCT) within the blue category. Though, it is still controversialwhether constraining the subject’s answers would introduce a bias on the subject'sperformance and thus lead to erroneous conclusions. For this reason, a second color namingexperiment was performed following the unconstrained method. In order to overcome somelimitations of the OSA-UCS system used previously, the Munsell system was adopted. The twomain objectives of this work were to identify color classes and color names during anunconstrained color naming task and to compare the outcomes with those obtained followingthe constrained method. Two sets of measures were extracted for characterizing each colorterm (consistency and consensus) and color category (centroid and focal colors). Resultssupport the conclusions driven from the previous study suggesting that the Italian languagefeatures twelve BCTs. This study contributed to identify color classes as defined by Italianspeakers during unconstrained color naming, as well as to the definition of the positions offocals, centroids, consistency and consensus colors in the Munsell system.