Wuyin Belongs To The Cognitive Neuropsychological Study Of Five Colors

ObjectiveCategory refers to a collection of objects that have similarities or relations.The classification of category is an essential part of human perception,language,thinking,and action.Category is the product of categorization,which indicates the psychological process of classification,and is ubiquitous in language.The study of categorization is the key to reveal the laws of the universe and life.The five-element theory is centered by five members and assigned to members in different fields,and eventually forms five categories,which are the results of categorization.Among them,five-tone and five-color,as members of the five-element theory,are important physical phenomena.The assignment of the two belongs to the cross-modal classification.The five-tone and five-color effect on the brain through the auditory and visual channels respectively,causing different cognitions on different fields.Cognitions in different fields have correlations and similarities,which is the root of the categorization of members in the two groups.Therefore,in this study,we intended to explore the thinking mode and cognitive neural mechanism of the assignment relationship between five-tone and five-color using empirical method,to confirm the assignment relationship between five-tone and five-color or discover a new relationship between them.MethodsIn the context of cognitive science,we explored the original implications of five-tone and five-color from the perspectives of cognitive linguistics,philology and traditional literature research,and conducted empirical trials on the five-tone assigning to five-color from the perspectives of cognitive neuroscience and cognitive psychology.The specific empirical research methods include:In the behavioral experiment,the five-tone and five-color were used as the experimental materials and mixed variables,and the highest matching rate of the five-tone assigning to five-color on testees’ first response was selected as observational index.After test,five-tone and five-color preference scales,and open questionnaires on the reason of choosing five-tone matching to five-color were filled out.Finally,we analyzed the tone-color assignment rules,and results of preference scales and questionnaire.On the basis of behavioral experiment,a experiment was designed using event-related potential technique(ERP),following the S1→S2 paradigm.The experiment was divided into two arms according to the Gong tone being played in harmonics or open strings.For each arm,S1 was the playing of the Gong tone,followed by S2,where subjects,based on their first reaction,were required to make a yes/no judgement to whether the tone matches to a randomly-picked color out of the five colors.During this process,the ERPs were recorded.After the experiment,the Gong tone and five-color preference scales,and the open questionnaire on the selection reason of Gong tone matching to different colors were filled out.Finally,we analyzed the highest matching between the Gong tone and five-color,the P300 amplitude,the preference scales and questionnaires.In this experiment,the 2(Gong tone/Yu tone)×2(yellow/black)repeated design within subjects was used to explore the thinking mode and cognitive neural mechanism of the tone-color assignment across audio-visual modality.A paradigm of learning-testing task was used to design the entire experiment.In the learning phase,the subjects were asked to learn the theoretical category knowledge of Gong tone matching to yellow and Yu tone matching to black,and the related knowledge of the Gong tone/Yu tone entities and color pictures.In the testing phase,based on the acquired knowledge in the learning phase,the testees were required to classify the tone-color entities.The S1→S2 paradigm was also used in the specific experimental process.The experiment was divided into two arms according to the tones being played in harmonics or open strings.For each arm,random playing of the Gong tone or Yu tone as S1 was followed by S2(presenting yellow or black randomly),where subjects,based on their first reaction,were required to make a yes/no judgment to a randomly-played tone assigning to a randomly-presented color.During this process,the ERPs were recorded.Finally,the reaction time,accuracy,P300 amplitude and the latency of the tone-color assignment are analyzed.ResultsThe original meanings of Gong,Jue,Zhi and Yu refer to house,horn,summoning,and feather respectively;while for the original meaning of shang is still controversial.The original meanings of cyan,red and black are pigment,brulmortigi/exuberant fire,and stain;while for the original meanings of yellow and white are still debatable.The specific reasons for the development of the five-tone(Gong,shang,Jue,Zhi and Yu)and five-color(yellow,white,cyan,red,black)from the original meanings to the basic members of the acoustic and color systems,and eventually to independent sound and color systems are unknown.Any of the five tones could be assigned to the five colors.The highest frequency matching to Jue tone,Zhi tone,Gong tone,Shang tone,and Yu tone was yellow,yellow,black,white and red,respectively.Among them,the highest color frequency matching to Gong tone was black.Shang tone assigning to white was in accordance with the category knowledge in the five-element theory.Gong tone played in harmonics,most participants matched it with black and cyan;while in the open strings arm,most matched it with black.The average amplitudes of P300 at PZ,FZ,and CZ points were compared.For the Gong tone played in harmonics,there was astatistical difference between those who matched it with black and those who did otherwise(P<0.01).There was also astatistical difference between those who matched it with cyan and those who did otherwise(P<0.01).For the open strings arm,there was a statistical difference between those who matched it with black and those who did otherwise(P<0.01).All classification results in the category learning experiment activated the P300 amplitude and latency.The P300 latency evoked by the same category(Gong-yellow,Yu-black)is earlier than that evoked by different categories(Gong-black,Yu-yellow),indicating the task of judging the same category requires less cognitive resources mobilized by the brain,the cognitive processing of the brain is faster,and the task is less difficult compared with that judging different categories.ConclusionsIn terms of the development law of human cognition from easy to difficult,shallow to deep,and familiar to unfamiliar,the five tones are originated from the sounds of nature,which were discovered,imitated and summarized by the ancestors.And the five colors are derived from the ancient people’s observation on nature and their own bodies and experience of living practice.At first,colors are initially based on physical objects.After general rules being ed by cognition,they develop an independent color system.Five-tone matching to five-color is affected by multiple factors.Some of the subjects apply the category knowledge in the five-element theory.The process of five-tone matching to five-color is subjective,with individual differences.The P300 amplitude was larger compared with that of Gone tone matching to other four colors,suggesting a commonality in the neural mechanism of categorization.The Gong tone can be matched with any of the five colors,which accords with the thought of central Earth in the five-element theory.Through category learning,all traditional Chinese medicine students can acquire rule-based category knowledge.The increase of P300 amplitude is related to categorization,repetition of experimental materials,participation of working memory and memory,and explicit knowledge.The commonalities of P300 amplitude and latency of the tone and color category learning based on the two playing styles using ERPs indicate a commonality in the neural mechanism of categorization.