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Colour Preferences (colour + preference)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Life Sciences75%

Selected Abstracts

Fruit Colour Preferences of Redwings (Turdus iliacus): Experiments with Hand-Raised Juveniles and Wild-Caught Adults

ETHOLOGY, Issue 6 2004
Johanna Honkavaara
Certain fruit colours and their contrast with the background coloration are suggested to attract frugivorous birds. To test the attractiveness of different colours, we performed three experiments in laboratory with controlled light conditions. In the first two experiments, we studied the fruit colour preferences of naive juvenile redwings. In the third experiment, we continued to investigate whether the contrast of the fruit colour with the background coloration affects the preference of both naive juveniles and experienced adult redwings. In the first experiment, juvenile birds preferred black, UV-blue and red berries, to white ones. In pairwise trials, a new set of juveniles still preferred red berries to white ones. When testing the effect of contrasts on their choice, juveniles preferred UV-blue berries to red ones on a UV-blue background. However, no preference was found, when the background was either red or green. Adult redwings preferred UV-blue berries to red ones on all backgrounds. According to these results, juveniles seem to have an innate avoidance of white berries. Furthermore, the foraging decisions of fruit-eating birds are affected more by fruit colour than its contrast with background coloration, at least when contrasting displays are encountered from relatively short distances. Differences in preferences of adult and juvenile birds also indicate that learning seems to play a role in fruit choices. [source]

Preferences for colours and colour--emotion combinations in early childhood

DEVELOPMENTAL SCIENCE, Issue 4 2001
Marcel R. Zentner
Previous research has shown that, by the age of 3 to 4 years, children rely not only on perceptual similarity but also on shared category or other underlying structures to draw analogies. The present study extends this work by showing that children as young as 3 years old detect consistent relationships between colours and facial expressions of emotions , two phenomena that share no physical characteristics, violate conventional categories and have no obvious environmental contiguity. Two explanatory hypotheses are put forward: (a) learning by convention, which is explored against the standard of adults' and older children's matching patterns, and (b) reliance upon a common underlying but perceptually unavailable dimension , operationalized in terms of emotion and colour preferences in the context of the present study. Both explanatory approaches are discussed and avenues for future work are suggested. [source]

Fruit Colour Preferences of Redwings (Turdus iliacus): Experiments with Hand-Raised Juveniles and Wild-Caught Adults

ETHOLOGY, Issue 6 2004
Johanna Honkavaara
Certain fruit colours and their contrast with the background coloration are suggested to attract frugivorous birds. To test the attractiveness of different colours, we performed three experiments in laboratory with controlled light conditions. In the first two experiments, we studied the fruit colour preferences of naive juvenile redwings. In the third experiment, we continued to investigate whether the contrast of the fruit colour with the background coloration affects the preference of both naive juveniles and experienced adult redwings. In the first experiment, juvenile birds preferred black, UV-blue and red berries, to white ones. In pairwise trials, a new set of juveniles still preferred red berries to white ones. When testing the effect of contrasts on their choice, juveniles preferred UV-blue berries to red ones on a UV-blue background. However, no preference was found, when the background was either red or green. Adult redwings preferred UV-blue berries to red ones on all backgrounds. According to these results, juveniles seem to have an innate avoidance of white berries. Furthermore, the foraging decisions of fruit-eating birds are affected more by fruit colour than its contrast with background coloration, at least when contrasting displays are encountered from relatively short distances. Differences in preferences of adult and juvenile birds also indicate that learning seems to play a role in fruit choices. [source]

Pollination by deceit in Paphiopedilum barbigerum (Orchidaceae): a staminode exploits the innate colour preferences of hoverflies (Syrphidae)

PLANT BIOLOGY, Issue 1 2009
J. Shi
Abstract Paphiopedilum barbigerum T. Tang et F. T. Wang, a slipper orchid native to southwest China and northern Vietnam, produces deceptive flowers that are self-compatible but incapable of mechanical self-pollination (autogamy). The flowers are visited by females of Allograpta javana and Episyrphus balteatus (Syrphidae) that disperse the orchid's massulate pollen onto the receptive stigmas. Measurements of insect bodies and floral architecture show that the physical dimensions of these two fly species correlate with the relative positions of the receptive stigma and dehiscent anthers of P. barbigerum. These hoverflies land on the slippery centralised wart located on the shiny yellow staminode and then fall backwards through the labellum entrance. They are temporarily trapped in the inflated chamber composed of the interconnected labellum and column. The attractive staminode of P. barbigerum strongly reflects the colour yellow (500,560 nm), a colour preferred innately by most pollen-eating members of the Syrphidae. No scent molecules were detected using GC mass spectrometry analysis, showing that the primary attractant in this system is visual, not olfactory. Pollination-by-deceit in P. barbigerum is contrasted with its congener, P. dianthum, a brood site mimic that is pollinated by ovipositing females of E. balteatus. As the natural rate of fruit set in P. barbigerum (mean 26.3% pooled over three seasons) is lower than that of P. dianthum (mean 58.5% over two seasons), the evolution of false brood sites in some Paphiopedilum spp. should be selectively advantageous as they may provide an increase in the attention and return rates of dependable pollinators to flowers that always lack a reward. [source]