We accept Regier and Kay's argument that linguistic terms affect color categorization in the right but not the left visual field (LVF) [1]. We also agree that left and right hemispheres might contain qualitatively different color processing systems. We disagree, however, with the suggestion that the right hemisphere contains a set of prelinguistic color categories that influence perception when stimuli are presented in the LVP. Their argument rests on studies [2,3] that seem to show categorical perception of color by prelinguistic infants. The key finding was that infants showed faster eye-movements from a borderline green background to a blue target than to a more central green. Unfortunately, infants in these studies were tested on only two pairs of stimuli. Consequently, the results might have reflected simple color preference [4] by the infants for the blue rather than the green target. Such a conclusion is supported by results from recent studies [5,6] in which infants showed a significant negative bias for looking times to a green hue compared to the average time spent looking at other hues. (Earlier studies of infant categorical perception (CP) either had major methodological flaws or have not been replicated, as discussed in [7], so we do not consider them here.) No explanation in terms of color categories in the right hemisphere is required if infants shift their gaze faster towards blue than to central green on the basis of simple color preference. More varied investigations of infant behavior using a variety of different color categories with participants from different linguistic communities are required before we can conclude that prelinguistic infants demonstrate CP for color that mirrors the effects found in language users.
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