Cultural beliefs as nontrivial constraints on categorization: Evidence from colors and odors

Abstract

The following provides further arguments for the nonuniversality of color as an autonomous dimension. Research on odors suggests that there are cultural constraints on the abstraction of dimensions for objects. Color vision analysis leads to an overemphasis on the role of perceptual processes in categorization. The study of odors points to human activities as a more important principle of categorization that drives the perceptual processing and suggests a reconsideration of vision itself.