It is well known that different names of color can lead to distinct attractions to people. To study the neural mechanism underlying this phenomenon, an implicit association test task was designed for color names, in which participants were required to select the possible meanings of a Greek phrase from two color names (in Chinese). The behavioral results showed that the participants were more likely to select novel names for long Greek phrases and dates names for short Greek phrases. The EEG results showed that the mean amplitude of N1 was greater for selections of novel color names than selections of dates names for Greek phrases. Meanwhile, the mean amplitude of N3 for novel color names was more negative than that of dates color names. Significant interaction effect of N3 was also found for the four kinds of selections between Greek phrases and Chinese color names. Moreover, a frontal-positive and occipital-negative distribution for scalp topography of N1 was found, while the scalp topography of N3 was opposite as frontal-negative and occipital-positive distribution, suggesting the importance of visual cortex for perception of the color names and prefrontal cortex for integration and decision of selection. In summary, the results here indicated that colors with novel names could easily attract people’s attention than colors with dates names, which might shed light on the usage of color names in real life.

众所周知，不同的颜色名称会对人们产生不同的吸引力。为了研究这一现象背后的神经机制，设计了一个针对颜色名称的内隐联想测试任务，要求参与者从两个颜色名称（中文）中选择一个希腊短语的可能含义。行为结果表明，参与者更有可能为长希腊语短语选择新颖的名字，为短希腊语短语选择日期名称。脑电图结果表明，选择新颜色名称的 N1 平均振幅大于选择希腊短语的日期名称。同时，新色名的N3平均振幅比日期色名的负值更大。希腊短语和中文颜色名称之间的四种选择也发现了 N3 的显着交互作用。此外，发现 N1 的头皮地形呈额叶阳性和枕叶阴性分布，而 N3 的头皮地形与额叶阴性和枕叶阳性分布相反，表明视觉皮层对颜色名称和颜色名称感知的重要性前额叶皮层用于整合和选择决策。总之，此处的结果表明，具有新颖名称的颜色比具有日期名称的颜色更容易引起人们的注意，这可能会揭示颜色名称在现实生活中的用法。而 N3 的头皮地形与额叶阴性和枕叶阳性分布相反，表明视觉皮层对颜色名称的感知和前额叶皮层对整合和选择决策的重要性。总之，此处的结果表明，具有新颖名称的颜色比具有日期名称的颜色更容易引起人们的注意，这可能会揭示颜色名称在现实生活中的用法。而 N3 的头皮地形与额叶阴性和枕叶阳性分布相反，表明视觉皮层对颜色名称的感知和前额叶皮层对整合和选择决策的重要性。总之，此处的结果表明，具有新颖名称的颜色比具有日期名称的颜色更容易引起人们的注意，这可能会揭示颜色名称在现实生活中的用法。