154 COLOUR VISION 



and grey, the grey being decidedly brighter than the colours. Pairs 

 were dangled before the child. The results between the eighth and tenth 

 months were : 



R— B R— G B— G R— W Y— W Y— R Y— B 



14—13 6—9 0—2 4-0 6—2 6—2 5—3 



R— Gy B— Gy G— Gy Y— Gy 

 22—12 27—11 6—3 19—5 



The most favourable time for experimenting by this method occurs 

 about the sixth month and lasts two months ; at later periods both 

 objects are often grasped simultaneously with the two hands. Probably 

 good results might be obtained in precocious children in the fifth month. 



The experiments indicate that the power of appreciating red is fully 

 developed at the end of the fifth month ; that red, green, and blue are 

 appreciated during the sixth month, since they are decidedly preferred 

 to white, and still more decidedly to grey -of equal brightness with the 

 colours. They also indicate that in the sixth month no one of these 

 three colours is markedly preferred to the others ; but there was a 

 faint indication that during the fifth month blue is less appreciated than 

 red. 



Myers used wooden cubes (" bricks "), each measuring 33 x 20 x 15 

 mm., painted uniformly in a different shade of grey or colour. A pair 

 of these bricks were placed before the child on a table covered with 

 black velvet. Each time the child picked up a particular colour, e.g., 

 red, she was rewarded by being given a taste of honey, syrup, or sugar. 

 Experiments between the twenty-fourth and twenty-sixth weeks of life 

 failed to show the development of any association between colour and 

 reward. In later experiments the reward was given if either brick was 

 grasped, and from January (thirth-seventh week) to May a pair of grey 

 bricks, one lighter than the other was used. Light grey was selected 

 101 times, dark grey 75. A vivid yellow and an intensely white brick 

 were then used, yellow being selected 27 times, white 8. In May a 

 saturated blue brick was chosen 8 times w^hen presented with white ; 

 but later white was often chosen, so that in 78 times blue was selected 

 35 times, white 43. These results show the influence of novelty of colour. 

 Yellow, however, was chosen with increased instead of diminished 

 frequency at successive sittings. 



Myers concludes that at a very early age, probably long before the 

 sixth month, infants are susceptible to relatively small differences of 

 brightness ; that at this age reds and yellows are distinctly preferred 

 to other colours and to colourless objects of far greater brightness ; 



