DEVELOPMENT OF COLOUR VISION IN THE CHILD 157 



red. Valentine regards the grasping method as more open to objection 

 than has been thought, owing to the eagerness to grasp anything and to 

 the change which occurs in the favourite hand for grasping. 



When the child was eight and a half months old the " grasp and 

 reward " method, suggested by Myers, was tried, the reward being 

 given only when a particular colour was chosen. There was some 

 indication that an association of reward with blue was set up when it 

 had to be discriminated from green, but less when it had to be discrimi- 

 nated from red, probably owing to the antagonistic effect of the greater 

 attractiveness of red. 



Valentine's results are summarised thus : 



1. There is good evidence that at the age of three months an infant 

 may experience the sensations of red, yellow, brown, green and blue. 



2. In the case of the child investigated the order of preference of 

 the colours used was as follows : 



,, (white) , (brown) (blue) . , 



vellow i . 1 ^ red i , , , M r violet 



( pmk J ( black J (green ) 



3. The order of preference seems to be partly determined by bright- 

 ness, but cannot be explained entirely by reference to brightness or to 

 novelty. 



4. The order of preference is partly determined by the relative 

 powers of the various colours as stimuli to the organism. 



5. At seven months the same infant still liked yellow best of all 

 the colours used, and then red, and pink. By this time the comparative 

 attractiveness of white had decreased, being no greater than that of 

 violet or even grey. 



6. There was perhaps a trace of association between the grasping 

 of the blue wool and the idea of a reward, when blue and green wools 

 were offered to the child. The lack of more definite association can be 

 ascribed to the difficulty of establishing any association of such a nature 

 at this age, and need not be attributed to failure to discriminate blue and 

 green. 



