Salience of chromatic basic color terms confirmed by three measures.

Using single color terms of their choice, nine subjects named each of 424 colors twice under carefully-controlled conditions. Compared to any other color names, the chromatic basic color terms (red, green, yellow, blue, orange, purple, brown and pink) are all used more consistently within subjects, with greater consensus between subjects, and with shorter mean response times; there is no overlap between the two categories of color names by any of these criteria. The results are interpreted as supporting the conception that basic color terms refer to fundamental sensations for which there is a specific physiological basis.