Memory Colors of Familiar Objects*

The memory colors of ten familiar, naturally occurring objects have been determined and each memory color tended to be more characteristic of the dominant chromatic attribute of the object in question; grass was more green, bricks more red, etc.

Abstract

The memory colors of ten familiar, naturally occurring objects have been determined. Fifty observers chose their memory colors from an array of 931 Munsell color chips. The variability of the judgments is shown and their means are compared with the average chromaticities of the corresponding natural objects. The ten mean memory colors were all significantly different from the natural colors. Each memory color tended to be more characteristic of the dominant chromatic attribute of the object in question; grass was more green, bricks more red, etc. In most cases, saturation and lightness increased in memory.