Age and gender effects on perceptual color scaling using triadic comparisons.

We examined age and gender as possible determinants of individual differences in triadic judgments of color dissimilarity. Seventy triads were constructed from 21 equal-lightness Munsell samples, at equal hue steps, forming a rough ellipse in the CIE-LAB plane, and presented to 51 males and 53 females (half young, half elderly adults) who indicated each triad's "odd one out." Principal component analysis followed by multidimensional scaling (MDS) revealed group differences in judgment reliability, with better performance for female and younger groups. Gender differences in color similarity were more pronounced with age, and specific to sectors of the color circle, arguably involving the use of conventional knowledge of color relationships. Maximum-likelihood MDS and inspection of specific triads allowed a more detailed description of these differences.