Personality and Individual Differences 32 (2002) 27±35

www.elsevier.com/locate/paid

Are colours special? An examination of the female

advantage for speeded colour naming
Deborah M. Saucier *, Lorin J. Elias, Kirk Nylen
Department of Psychology, 9 Campus Dr., University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada S7N 5A5

Received 18 August 2000; received in revised form 22 November 2000; accepted 30 November 2000

Abstract
When presented with a matrix of patches of colour, women name the colours faster than men do. This
e€ect could be due to female superiority at perceiving colours, naming, scanning a visual array, or rapidly
articulating the correct name. These possibilities were investigated by administering tests of colour naming,
colour discrimination, shape naming, and articulatory speed to a sample of 44 students. E€ects of visual
scanning were controlled by administering one stimulus at a time. Females named both colours and shapes
signi®cantly faster than males, and this advantage did not appear to be due to a superiority in articulatory
speed. Because the scores on the colour and shape naming tests were highly correlated, it appears as
though the female advantage on colour naming is simply a manifestation of a more general superiority at
speeded naming tasks, not a `special factor of colour naming'. # 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights
reserved.
Keywords: Colour-naming; Colour discrimination; Shape-naming; Human sex di€erences; Vocal onset latency

1. Introduction

Females name colours faster than males do. Almost a century has passed since this ®nding was
®rst reported, but there is still no consensus regarding why the e€ect exists. The process of naming
colours involves a number of components, and the female advantage could be operating during
any or all of the components. Are females faster at naming colours because they are better at
identifying colour? Is it because females have larger colour lexicons? Is it because females can
generate names faster than males do? Is it because females possess superior articulatory speed?
The present study is an investigation of some of these possibilities.

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-306-966-6689; fax: +1-306-966-6630.

E-mail address: saucier@duke.usask.ca (D.M. Saucier).

0191-8869/01/$ - see front matter # 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S0191-8869(00)00234-8
28 D.M. Saucier et al. / Personality and Individual Di€erences 32 (2002) 27±35

The female advantage at speeded colour naming has been replicated using a number of meth-
ods in a number of di€erent settings. The e€ect was ®rst reported by Woodworth and Wells
(1911). Nine males and ®ve females were presented with a 1010 array of coloured squares
(either red, yellow, blue, green, or brown) and asked to name the colours as quickly as possible in
sequence. The females completed the task more quickly than the males. Ligon (1932) expanded
on this result by administering the same test to a much larger sample (638) of students aged 6±16
years and adding another experimental task. In addition to the speeded colour naming task, a
colour name reading task employing a list of the 100 colour names corresponding to those used
by Woodworth and Wells (1911) was administered. Ligon found a consistent female advantage
on the speeded colour naming task across the ages of the participants, but no sex di€erence for
the colour name reading task. Based on these results, Ligon concluded that ``girls excel boys in
the special factor of colour naming'' (Ligon, 1932, p. 103). Dubois (1939) performed a similar
study employing a sample of 282 college students and found very similar results. More recently,
Kimura, Saucier and Matuk (1996) also replicated the e€ect employing a sample of college students.
There are a number of possible explanations for the sex e€ect. The most common explanation
is that females are superior at speeded colour naming because they have larger colour lexicons
than males. Although a number of studies have found that females use more elaborate colour
names than males do (Nowaczyk, 1982; Rich, 1977; Simpson & Tarrant, 1991; Thomas, Curtis &
Bolton, 1978), the relation between the size of colour lexicon and the female advantage on naming
speed for relatively simple colour tasks (such as the repeated naming of one of ®ve colours) is
unclear. It is also possible that having a large colour lexicon would decrease colour naming speed
because of the need to select from a greater number of exemplars. However, Kimura et al. (1996)
found that there was no relationship between the size of an individual's colour lexicon and naming
speed, despite females having both a larger lexicon and faster colour naming speed.
Another possibility is that females are simply faster at generating names, and that speeded
colour naming is simply one example of this phenomenon. In the original report of the colour
naming e€ect, Woodworth and Wells (1911) also administered a speeded shape naming test that
was similar in format to their speeded colour naming test. Participants were presented with a
1010 array of ®ve shapes (a circle, cross, square, or triangle). Similar to the results of the speeded
colour naming test, females also outperformed males on the speeded shape naming task. How-
ever, the small sample size employed (six males, four females) makes it dicult to generalize from
their results. A more recent study (Kimura et al., 1996) replicated these e€ects with a sample of 49
undergraduate students. However, Kimura et al. (1996) reported that the female advantage for
shape naming was not reliable using this type of paradigm.
A third possibility is that the female advantage in speeded array-naming is driven by superior
motor sequencing ability and articulatory speed. Males are relatively better than females on
simple motor tests that require rapid repetition (such as single ®nger tapping or repeating CV
pairs such as `ba'), although females outperform males when a number of these simple behaviours
must be sequenced correctly (Nicholson & Kimura, 1996). As such, it is possible that in a naming
task requiring the repeated sequencing of one of ®ve motor responses, females might exhibit a
speed advantage in alternating among names in an array due to their superior ability in sequencing
articulatory responses.
A fourth possibility is that the female advantage in naming objects in arrays is due to their
superiority at object recognition during visual scanning tasks (Harshman, Hampson & Berenbaum,
 D.M. Saucier et al. / Personality and Individual Di€erences 32 (2002) 27±35 29

1983). Females usually outperform males on tasks requiring a target item to be rapidly matched
to an alternative located within an array of similar items (Ekstrom, French, Harman & Dermen,
1976). This rapid scanning ability may contribute to the female advantage when all of the colours
are presented in an array, allowing the participant to rapidly scan ahead to the next colour while
completing the current colour.
The present experiment was a replication of the speeded colour naming advantage exhibited by
females and an attempt at further clari®cation of the possible mechanisms for the e€ect. To
control for e€ects of visual scanning, the stimuli were presented centrally, one at a time. To
control for e€ects of articulatory speed, vocal onset latencies (VOLs) were recorded rather than
the total time elapsed while the participant names 100 objects. To further explore the possibility
that the female advantage was the product of superior oral motor sequencing ability, a tongue
twister (oral motor sequencing) task was administered. To test the possibility that the females'
advantage on speeded colour naming was due to an enhanced ability to discriminate among colours,
a colour discrimination task was administered.
We hypothesized that the female advantage in speeded colour naming was simply a manifes-
tation of a more general superiority at speeded naming. Therefore, consistent with past research,
females should outperform males on the revised colour naming and shape naming tasks, but there
should be no such sex di€erence in the colour discrimination task or tongue twister task.

2. Method

2.1. Participants

The participants were 44 introductory psychology students at the University of Saskatchewan

(23 males, 22 females). The data from one male participant was not included in the analysis
because he chose to withdraw from the study before the end of the testing session. Participants
received course credit in exchange for their participation. They had a mean age of 19.75 years
(2.02 S.D.). All participants spoke English as their ®rst language. All participants had normal
hearing and normal or corrected-to-normal vision at the time of the experiment. All participants
had normal colour vision.

2.2. Materials and procedure

At the initiation of the testing session, participants completed a demographic questionnaire that
also assessed lateral preferences for hand, eye and foot (Elias, Bryden & Bulman-Fleming, 1998).

2.2.1. Colour naming task

After completion of the questionnaire, participants completed the colour naming task. The
task was administered via a Pentium III-class IBM compatible computer interfaced with a 1900
Sceptre SVGA monitor. Before starting the task, participants viewed examples of all ®ve colour
stimuli (square patches of colour subtending approximately 2 of visual angle) on the screen at
the same time with the names of the colours underneath each square. Participants were told to
name the colour stimuli red, blue, green, brown, and yellow.
30 D.M. Saucier et al. / Personality and Individual Di€erences 32 (2002) 27±35

Participants were instructed that a colour patch would be presented on the computer screen
(against a black background) and that as quickly as they could, they should name the colour out loud
into a microphone (Labtec model AM-22 interfaced with a serial response box from Psychology
Software Tools). The computer recorded the delay between the presentation of the stimulus and
the vocal onset time for each response, after which the experimenter indicated which colour name
the participant vocalized by pressing one of ®ve buttons on the response box, or indicated that
the trial was spoiled. A spoiled trial included trials in which the participant did not initially speak
a colour name (e.g. `umm' or `umm-green') or some other type of vocalization (e.g. coughing).
Before starting the test trials, participants completed 10 practice trials (two with each of the ®ve
colours) to familiarize themselves with the apparatus and providing vocal responses. The proce-
dure for the practice trials was the same as that for the test trials. First, a warning (get ready. . .)
was presented on the screen in white print against a black background for one second. Then, the
colour stimulus was presented centrally and remained on the screen until the participant pro-
duced an audible vocal response. Using a button-press, the experimenter then indicated which of
the ®ve colour names the participant said, and the next trial began. After completing the practice
trials, participants were advised that the test trials were about to begin. There were 100 test trials,
20 with each colour stimulus, presented in a randomized order. Each cycle of ®ve colours was
randomized independently. As such, there could be no more than two sequential presentations of
a single colour.

2.2.2. Shape naming task

Following the colour naming task, participants completed a shape naming task closely modelled
after the colour naming task. Using the same equipment described above, participants viewed
examples of ®ve shapes and their names presented on the screen at the same time. The shapes
employed were a circle, square, triangle, diamond, and star. These stimuli subtended approxi-
mately 2 of visual angle, and were presented as solid black shapes on a white background.
Participants were instructed that one of the ®ve shapes would appear on the screen and that
they were to vocalize the appropriate name of the shape as quickly as possible. The procedure
was the same as that for the colour naming task. After 10 practice trials (two for each of the ®ve
shapes), participants completed 100 test trials. As in the colour naming task, there was a total of
20 trials of each of the ®ve shapes, that were randomly assorted throughout the 100 trials. Each
cycle of ®ve shapes was randomized independently. As such, there could be no more than two
sequential presentations of a single shape.

2.2.3. Colour discrimination task

Following the shape naming task, the participant's ability to discriminate between colours was
tested. For this task, two patches of colour (each subtending approximately 2 of visual angle)
were presented simultaneously on the computer screen and the participant was instructed to
vocalize whether the two patches of colour were the ``same'' or ``di€erent'' in colour. Within the
task, there were four possible conditions. For 60 trials (50%) the two colour patches were the
same and for 60 trials the two colour patches were di€erent (50%). However, for the trials in which
`di€erent' was the correct response, there were three diculty levels. For 20 of the 60 di€erent trials
the discrimination was relatively easy, as two colours with entirely di€erent colour names were
presented (e.g. blue and red). For another 20 of the 60 di€erent trials the discrimination was of
 D.M. Saucier et al. / Personality and Individual Di€erences 32 (2002) 27±35 31

intermediate diculty, as two colour patches that belonged to the same colour category but were
clearly di€erent colours were presented (e.g. turquoise blue and navy blue). For another 20 of the
60 di€erent trials the discrimination was relatively dicult, as two colour patches that were very
similar in hue were presented (e.g. navy and indigo). Before starting the task, participants were
shown examples of the three trial types and informed that some discriminations would be rela-
tively easy whereas others would be more dicult. Participants were also informed that 50% of
the time, the correct answer would be `di€erent'.
The trial procedure was similar to the colour naming and shape naming task. After a warning
(get ready. . .) was presented on the screen, two colour patches were presented on the screen (one
on the left side of the screen and one on the right, separated by approximately 8 of visual angle).
After the participant indicated whether the two patches were the `same' or `di€erent' in colour,
the stimuli were removed from the screen and a new trial began. There were 10 practice trials
followed by 120 test trials. The pairs were presented randomly among the 120 trials.

2.2.4. Tongue twister task

To test articulatory speed and motor sequencing ability, participants were instructed to repeat
a tongue twister three times in succession as quickly as possible without making an error (criterion).
If they made an error, they were required to begin the task again until they could complete the
task to the criterion. The (presumably) unfamiliar phrase ``A box of mixed biscuits and a biscuit
mixer'' was employed as the tongue-twister. If a participant committed any errors while articu-
lating the words (e.g. said `misked' instead of `mixed'), they were asked to start again. The time to
complete three successful consecutive repetitions of the phrase was recorded with a stopwatch.

3. Results

3.1. Shape and colour naming tasks

3.1.1. Accuracy
A mean accuracy score was computed for all of the trials of shape naming and a separate mean
was computed for the colour naming trials. A two factor repeated measures analysis of variance
(ANOVA) was performed using sex (male, female) as the between-subjects variable and the type
of naming task (naming colours or shapes) as a within-subjects variable failed to reveal signi®cant
sex di€erences in overall accuracy for either colours or shapes, F(1,42)=1.34, n.s. (overall accuracy
for colours: <x=98.70.04 S.D., ,x=99.70.01; overall accuracy for shapes: <x=99.60.01
S.D., ,x=99.80.01). There were no other signi®cant results observed.

3.1.2. VOLs
A mean VOL was computed across all of the trials of shape naming and a separate mean was
computed across the colour naming trials. Using these mean VOL scores, a two factor repeated
measures ANOVA was performed using sex (male, female) as the between-subjects variable and
the type of naming task (naming colours or shapes) as a within-subjects variable. The ANOVA
revealed a signi®cant main e€ect of sex, F(1,42)=6.26, P<0.05, 2=0.13, and a signi®cant main
e€ect of the type of naming task, F(1,42)=59.92, P<0.05, 2=0.59, but no signi®cant interaction
32 D.M. Saucier et al. / Personality and Individual Di€erences 32 (2002) 27±35

between the two, F(1,42)=0.01, n.s. (Fig. 1). As we predicted, females were faster than males on
both tasks (Bonferroni t-tests, all t values >2.4, all P values <0.05). As well, in all instances
colours were named more quickly than shapes (Bonferroni t-tests, all t values > 3.1).

Fig. 1. The female advantage for naming both shapes and colours. The symbols represent the mean ( S.E.M.) vocal
onset latencies.

3.2. Colour discrimination task

3.2.1. Accuracy
A mean accuracy score was computed for the trials that presented the same colours, and for the
three levels of diculty for the trials that presented two di€erent patches of colours. A two factor
repeated measures ANOVA was performed using sex (male, female) as the between-subjects variable
and the type of colour discrimination to be made (same, di€erent±easy, di€erent±intermediate, dif-
ferent±dicult) as a within-subjects variable failed to reveal signi®cant sex di€erences in overall
accuracy, F(1,42)=0.10, n.s., although there was a signi®cant e€ect of the type of colour dis-
crimination to be made, F(3,126)=174.319, P<0.05, (overall accuracy for: same colours,
x=96.710.04 S.D.; di€erent±easy, x=98.860.01 S.D.; di€erent±intermediate, x=89.660.07
S.D.; di€erent±dicult, x=73.520.08 S.D.). There were no other signi®cant results observed.
Posthoc analyses (Tukey's) indicated that our diculty manipulation was e€ective, as trials
that required the di€erent±dicult discrimination were performed the least accurately (P<0.05),
followed by the trials that required the di€erent±intermediate discrimination (P<0.05), followed
by the trials that required the di€erent±easy discrimination and the trials that presented the same
 D.M. Saucier et al. / Personality and Individual Di€erences 32 (2002) 27±35 33

patches of colour (P<0.05). There was no signi®cant di€erence between the trials that presented
the same patches of colour and the di€erent±easy discrimination (P>0.05).

3.2.2. VOL
A mean VOL score was computed for the trials that presented the same colours, and for the
three levels of diculty for the trials that presented two di€erent patches of colours. A two factor
repeated measures ANOVA was performed using sex (male, female) as the between-subjects variable
and the type of colour discrimination to be made (same, di€erent±easy, di€erent±intermediate, dif-
ferent±dicult) as a within-subjects variable suggested a trend for a signi®cant sex di€erence in
VOL, F(1,42)=2.97, P=0.09, 2=0.07, and as observed with the accuracy data, there was a sig-
ni®cant e€ect of the type of colour discrimination to be made, F(3,126)=190.30, P<0.05, (Fig. 2).
There were no other signi®cant results observed. Exactly as in the accuracy data, posthoc analyses
(Tukey's) indicated that the diculty manipulation worked, with signi®cant di€erences observed
between the di€erent±dicult, di€erent±intermediate, di€erent±easy and same discriminations
(all P values <0.05). Although only a trend was observed in the ANOVA data, t-tests (one-tailed)
indicated that for all comparisons within the same discrimination condition, females signi®cantly
outperformed the males (all P values <0.05).

Fig. 2. The trend for a signi®cant interaction between sex and type of discrimination to be made for colour dis-
crimination task. The symbols represent the mean ( S.E.M.) vocal onset latencies. Easy, two completely di€erent
colours; intermediate, two easily discriminable shades of the same colour Ð e.g. aqua and navy, dicult, two very
similar shades of the same colour Ð e.g. navy and indigo, same, two patches of the same colour.
34 D.M. Saucier et al. / Personality and Individual Di€erences 32 (2002) 27±35

3.3. Tongue twisters

Using the time to reach the criterion, a one factor ANOVA using sex (male, female) as the
between-subjects factor failed to reveal a signi®cant e€ect of sex, F(1,41)=0.36, n.s. However, it was
possible that despite the failure to observe a sex di€erence, articulatory ability contributed to the overall
e€ect of sex on the VOL for naming colours and shapes. As such, an analysis of covariance
(ANCOVA) using articulatory speed (the time to reach criterion for tongue twisters) as a covariate was
performed on the average VOL for colour and shape naming, with the item to be named (colours or
shapes) as a within-subjects, repeated measure and sex (male, female) as the between-subjects measure.
Despite using articulatory speed as a covariate, the ANCOVA still revealed signi®cant main e€ects
of sex, shapes: F(1,42)=3.07, P<0.05, 2=0.07; colours: F(1,42)=4.10, P<0.05, 2=0.10. There
were no other signi®cant di€erences observed (all remaining F values < 1.7, all P values > 0.20).

4. Discussion

As we predicted, we found a female advantage in VOL for colour naming and shape naming.
Interestingly, we observed a trend for a signi®cant di€erence in the VOL for the colour dis-
crimination task. Furthermore, overall articulatory ability (as measured by the tongue twister
task) did not appear to a€ect this sex di€erence. As well, it does not appear that these e€ects can
be attributed to any di€erence in naming accuracy between the two sexes. Thus, we replicated the
previously reported e€ects (Dubois, 1939; Kimura et al., 1996; Ligon, 1932; Woodworth & Wells,
1911). However, unlike Dubois (1939), and Ligon (1932), we cannot conclude that there is anything
special about colour naming. Rather we would suggest that there is an overall female advantage
for speeded naming tasks of any sort.
We controlled for a number of factors that might have been confounded in the original reports.
The present results cannot be accounted for by sex di€erences in visual scanning, articulatory
speed, or the ability to discriminate between colours. Speci®cally, as the colours and shapes were
presented individually at a central location, participants were not able to scan an array of items to
be named. This then removes the possibility that the female advantage in speeded colour and
shape naming was due to some advantage in scanning ability. As well, the ability to accurately
discriminate between colours, independent of naming, did not di€er between sexes. Therefore, it
does not seem likely that an enhanced female ability to identify the colour was responsible for the
speed with which the colour was named in the naming task.
Importantly, this task measured only VOL for each trial. This removes the possibility that
females may have engaged in a speed-accuracy tradeo€, or that females may have simply been
able to speak the entire word more quickly, thus reaching the end of the array in less time.
Moreover, the sex di€erence in the present report was still present even when articulatory speed
as measured by the tongue twister task was covaried out. Although not signi®cant, this e€ect was
also observed in the VOLs for the colour discrimination task, suggesting that when participants
must choose between a limited set of responses (e.g. same, di€erent or red, green, blue. . .),
females are able to perform this type of task more quickly than males.
There are two possible explanations for the sex di€erence in naming ability in the present
study. One possibility is that the female advantage is due to a superiority in accessing and
 D.M. Saucier et al. / Personality and Individual Di€erences 32 (2002) 27±35 35

retrieving the correct names for colours or shapes. Therefore, the superiority could be a `naming
factor' (possible access to verbal labels) that is not speci®c to colour naming. Another possibility
is that the female advantage is due to a superiority in producing and executing the motor
sequences (c.f. Nicholson & Kimura, 1996) required to articulate the names during a naming task.
Further investigations should explore these two possibilities.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Professor D. Kimura for her helpful comments. This research was
made possible by a grant from NSERC to D.M.S.

References

Dubois, P. H. (1939). The sex di€erence on the color-naming test. American Journal of Psychology, 52, 380±382.
Ekstrom, R. B., French, J. W., Harman, H., & Dermen, D. (1976). Kit of factor-referenced cognitive tests. Princeton,
NJ: Educational Testing Service.
Elias, L. J., Bryden, M. P., & Bulman-Fleming, M. B. (1998). Footedness is a better predictor than is handedness of
emotional lateralization. Neuropsychologia, 36(1), 37±43.
Harshman, R. A., Hampson, E., & Berenbaum, S. A. (1983). Individual di€erences in cognitive abilities and brain
organization: I. Sex and handedness di€erences in ability. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 37(1), 144±192.
Kimura, D., Saucier, D. M., & Matuk, R. (1996). Women name both colors and forms faster than men. Society for
Neuroscience Abstracts, 22(3), 1861.
Ligon, E. M. (1932). A genetic study of color naming and word reading. American Journal of Psychology, 44, 103±122.
Nicholson, K. G., & Kimura, D. (1996). Sex di€erences for speech and manual skill. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 82(1),
3±13.
Nowaczyk, R. H. (1982). Sex-related di€erences in the color lexicon. Language and Speech, 25(3), 257±265.
Rich, E. (1977). Sex-related di€erences in colour vocabulary. Language and Speech, 20(4), 404±409.
Simpson, J., & Tarrant, A. W. (1991). Sex- and age-related di€erences in colour vocabulary. Language and Speech,
34(1), 57±62.
Thomas, L. L., Curtis, A. T., & Bolton, R. (1978). Sex di€erences in elicited color lexicon size. Perceptual and Motor
Skills, 47(1), 77±78.
Woodworth, R. S., & Wells, F. L. (1911). Association tests. Psychological Monographs, 13(5), 1±85.