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Sharing the findings

Our aim is that our research will have a positive impact on the lives of babies and their families.  We work closely with companies, organisations and charities, applying our findings to real-world challenges.  Specifically, we aim to inform the design of products, books, drama and art for babies so that it is optimised for how they see, think and learn.  We also aim to improve how babies experience and access the arts and heritage. See below for some of our applied collaborations.

Scientific Publications

2025

McAdams, P., Svobodova, S., Newman, T. J., Terry, K., Mather, G., Skelton, A. E., & Franklin, A. (2025). The edge orientation entropy of natural scenes is associated with infant visual preferences and adult aesthetic judgements. PloS one, 20(2), e0316555.

2023

McAdams, P., Chambers, M., Bosten, J. M., Skelton, A. E., & Franklin, A. (2023). Chromatic and spatial image statistics predict infants’ visual preferences and adults’ aesthetic preferences for art. Journal of Vision, 23(8), 2-2.

Skelton, A. E., Franklin, A., & Bosten, J. M. (2023). Colour vision is aligned with natural scene statistics at 4 months of age. Developmental Science, 26(6), e13402.

Maule, J., Skelton, A. E., & Franklin, A. (2023). The development of color perception and cognition. Annual Review of Psychology, 74(1), 87-111.

2022

Tang, T., Álvaro, L., Alvarez, J., Maule, J., Skelton, A., Franklin, A., & Bosten, J. (2022). ColourSpot, a novel gamified tablet-based test for accurate diagnosis of color vision deficiency in young children. Behavior Research Methods, 54(3), 1148-1160.

Bosten, J. M., Coen-Cagli, R., Franklin, A., Solomon, S. G., & Webster, M. A. (2022). Calibrating vision: Concepts and questions. Vision research, 201, 108131.

Skelton, A. E., Maule, J., & Franklin, A. (2022). Infant color perception: Insight into perceptual development. Child development perspectives, 16(2), 90-95.

2021

Witzel, C., Flack, Z., Sanchez-Walker, E., & Franklin, A. (2021). Colour category constancy and the development of colour naming. Vision Research, 187, 41-54.

2020

Rogers, M., Witzel, C., Rhodes, P., Franklin, A. (2020). Color constancy and color term knowledge are positively related during early childhood, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 196, 104825, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2020.104825

Ludlow, A., Giannadou, A., Franklin, A., Allen, P., Simmons, D., Wilkins, A. (2020). The possible use of precision tinted lenses to improve social cognition in children with autism spectrum disorders. Vision Research. 170, 53-59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.visres.2020.03.007

Skelton, A. & Franklin, A. (2020). Infants look longer at colours that adults like when colours are highly saturated, Psychonomic bulletin & review,  27, 78-85. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-019-01688-5 

Rogers, M. R., Witzel, C., Rhodes, P., & Franklin, A. (2020). Color constancy and color term knowledge are positively related during early childhood. Journal of experimental child psychology, 196, 104825.

Skelton, A. E., & Franklin, A. (2020). Infants look longer at colours that adults like when colours are highly saturated. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 27(1), 78-85.

Ludlow, A. K., Giannadou, A., Franklin, A., Allen, P. M., Simmons, D. R., & Wilkins, A. J. (2020). The possible use of precision tinted lenses to improve social cognition in children with autism spectrum disorders. Vision Research, 170, 53-59.

2019

 Maule, J. & Franklin, A. (2019). Color categorization in infants. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 30, 163-168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2019.08.005

 Bosten, J., Alvaro, L., Alvarez, J., Meyer, B., Tang, T., Maule, J. & Franklin, A. (2019). Tablet-based app for screening CVD in young children. Journal of Vision, 19(8), 71. https://doi.org/10.1167/19.8.71

2018

Cong, Y. Q., Junge, C., Aktar, E., Raijmakers, M., Franklin, A. & Sauter, D. (2018). Pre-verbal infants perceive emotional facial expressions categorically. Cognition and Emotion, 1-13. doi:10.1080/02699931.2018.1455640

Maule, J., Stanworth, K., Pellicano, E. & Franklin, A. (2018). Color afterimages in autistic adults. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 48(4), 1409-1421. doi:10.1007/s10803-016-2786-5

2017

Rothen, N., Bartl, G., Franklin, A., & Ward, J. (2017). Electrophysiological correlates and psychoacoustic characteristics of hearing-motion synaesthesia. Neuropsychologia, 106, 280-288. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.08.031

Forder, L., Xun, H. & Franklin, A. (2017). Colour categories are reflected in sensory stages of colour perception when stimulus issues are resolved. PLoS ONE, 12(5). e0178097. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0178097

Skelton, A.E., Catchpole, G., Abbott, J.T., Bosten, J.M. & Franklin, A. (2017). Biological origins of color categorization. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 114(21), 5545-5550. doi:10.1073/pnas.1612881114

Maule, J., Stanworth, K., Pellicano, E. & Franklin, A. (2017). Ensemble perception of colour in autistic adults. Autism Research, 10(5), 839-851. doi:10.1002/aur.1725

Forder, L., Bosten, J., He, X. & Franklin, A. (2017). A neural signature of the unique hues. Scientific Reports, 7. a42364. doi:10.1038/srep42364

2016

Forder, L., Taylor, O., Mankin, H., Scott, R.B. & Franklin, A. (2016). Colour terms affect detection of colour and colour-associated objects suppressed from visual awareness. PLoS ONE, 11(3). e0152212. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0152212

Rogers, M., Knoblauch, K. & Franklin, A. (2016). Maximum likelihood conjoint measurement of lightness and chroma. Journal of the Optical Society of America, A, 33(3), A184-A193. doi:10.1364/JOSAA.33.00A184

Maule, J. & Franklin, A. (2016). Accurate rapid averaging of multihue ensembles is due to a limited capacity sub-sampling mechanism.  Journal of the Optical Society of America, A, 33(3), A22-A29. doi:10.1364/JOSAA.33.000A22

Brooker, A. & Franklin, A. (2016). The effect of colour on children's cognitive performance. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 86(2), 241-255. doi:10.1111/bjep.12101

2015

Álvaro, L., Moreira, H., Lillo, J. & Franklin, A. (2015). Color preference in red-green dichromats.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(30), 9316-9321. doi:10.1073/pnas.1502104112

Maule, J. & Franklin, A. (2015).  Effects of ensemble complexity and perceptual similarity on rapid averaging of hue. Journal of Vision, 15(6). doi:10.1167/15.4.6

Wright, O., Davies, I.R.L. & Franklin, A. (2015). Whorfian effects on colour memory are not reliable. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 68(4), 745-758. doi:10.1080/17470218.2014.966123

Elliot, A.J., Fairchild, M.D. & Franklin, A. (2015). Handbook of color psychology. Cambridge University Press.

Franklin, A. (2015). The development of color categorization. In Elliot, A.J., Fairchild, M.D & Franklin, A. (Eds.) Handbook of color psychology.  Cambridge University Press, in press.

2014

Bird, C., Berens, S., Horner, A. & Franklin, A. (2014). Categorical encoding of color in the brain. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(12), 4590-4595. doi:10.1073/pnas.1315275111

Witzel, C. & Franklin, A. (2014). Do focal colors look particularly colorful? Journal of the Optical Society of America, 31(4), A365-A374. doi:10.1364/JOSAA.31.00A365

Xun, H., Witzel, C., Forder, L., Clifford, A. & Franklin, A. (2014.) Color categories only affect post-perceptual processes when same- and different-category colors are equally discriminable. Journal of the Optical Society of America, 31(4), A322-A331. doi:10.1364/JOSAA.31.00A322

Maule, J., Witzel C. & Franklin, A. (2014). Getting the gist of multiple hues: metric and categorical effects on ensemble perception of hue. Journal of the Optical Society of America, 31(4), A93-A102. doi:10.1364/JOSAA.31.000A93

Ludlow, A., Heaton, P., Hill, E. & Franklin, A. (2014). Colour obsessions and phobias in Autism Spectrum Disorders: the case of J.G. Neurocase, 20(3), 296-306. doi:10.1080/13554794.2013.770880

Franklin, A., Skelton, A. & Catchpole, G. (2014). The case for infant colour categories. Carole Biggam et al. (Eds). Progress in Colour Studies. John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Franklin, A. (2014). Infant hue categories. Chapter in: Ronier Luo (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Color Science and Technology. Springer.

2013

Bannisy, M.J., Tester, V., Muggleton, N.G., Janik, A.B., Davenport, A., Franklin, A., Walsh, V. & Ward, J. (2013). Synesthesia for color is linked to improved color perception, but reduced motion perception. Psychological Science, 24(12), 2390-2397. doi:10.1177/0956797613492424 

Taylor, C., Clifford, A. & Franklin, A. (2013). Color preferences are not universal. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 142(4), 1015-1027. doi:10.1037/a0030273 

Farran, E.K., Cranwell, M.K., Alvarez, J. & Franklin, A. (2013). Colour discrimination and categorisation in Williams syndrome. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 34(10), 3352-3360. doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2013.06.043

Taylor, C., Schloss, K., Palmer, S. & Franklin, A. (2013). Color preferences in infants and adults are different. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 20(5), 916-922. doi:10.3758/s13423-013-0411-6

2012

Clifford, A., Franklin, A., Holmes, A., Drivonikou, G.V., Ozgen, E., & Davies, I.R.L. (2012). Neural correlates of acquired color category effects. Brain and Cognition, 80, 126-143. doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2012.04.011

Taylor, C. & Franklin, A. (2012). The relationship between color-object associations and color preference: Further investigation of Ecological Valence Theory. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 19(2), 190-197. doi:10.3758/s13423-012-0222-1

Franklin, A., Gibbons, E., Chittenden, K, Alvarez, J. & Taylor, C. (2012). Infant color preference for red is not selectively context specific. Emotion, 12(5), 1155-1160. doi:10.1037/a0025333

2011

Franklin, A. & Sowden, P. (2011). Colour in Autism Spectrum Disorders. In Biggam, Carole P., Hough, Carole, Kay, Christian & Simmons, David R.C. (Eds.), New Directions in Colour Studies. John Benjamins, Amsterdam, NL.

Drivonikou, G.V., Clifford, A., Franklin, A. & Davies, I.R.L. (2011). Category training affects colour discrimination but only in the right visual field. In Biggam et al. (Eds.), New Directions in Colour Studies. John Benjamins, Amsterdam, NL.

Clifford, A., Franklin, A., Holmes, A. & Davies, I.R.L. (2011). Investigating the underlying mechanisms of categorical perception of colour using the Event-Related Potential technique. In Biggam et al. (Eds.), New Directions in Colour Studies. John Benjamins, Amsterdam, NL.

2010

Clifford, A., Holmes, A., Davies, I.R.L. & Franklin, A. (2010). Color categories affect pre-attentive color perception. Biological Psychology, 85(2), 275-282. doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2010.07.014

Franklin, A., Catherwood, D., Alvarez, J. & Axelsson, E. (2010). Hemispheric asymmetries in categorical perception of orientation in infants and adults. Neuropsychologia, 48(9), 2648-57. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.05.011

Franklin, A., Sowden, P., Notman, L., Gonzales-Dixon, M., West, D., Alexander, I., Loveday, S. & White, A. (2010). Reduced chromatic discrimination in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Developmental Science, 13, 188-200. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2009.00869.x

Franklin, A., Bevis, L., Ling, Y. & Hurlbert, A. (2010). Biological components of infant colour preference. Developmental Science, 13(2), 346-354. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2009.00884.x

2009

Franklin, A. (2009). Pre-linguistic categorical perception of colour cannot be explained by colour preference: response to Roberson and Hanley. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 13(12), 501-502. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2009.10.006

Clifford, A., Franklin, A., Davies, I.R.L. & Holmes, A. (2009). Electrophysiological markers of categorical perception of color in 7-month old infants. Brain and Cognition, 71(2), 165-172. doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2009.05.002

Holmes, A., Franklin, A., Clifford, A. & Davies, I.R.L. (2009). Neurophysiological evidence for categorical perception of colour. Brain and Cognition, 69(2), 426-434. doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2008.09.003

Franklin, A., Wright, O. & Davies, I.R.L. (2009). What can we learn from toddlers about categorical perception of colour? Comments on Goldstein, Davidoff, and Roberson. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 102(2), 239-245. doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2008.08.003

Overview of Franklin, Drivonikou, Clifford et al. in ‘Editor’s Choice’ section of Science: Chin, G. (2009). ‘Reading from left to right.’ Science, 322, 1610.

2008

Franklin, A., Drivonikou, G.V., Clifford, A., Kay, P., Regier, T. & Davies, I.R.L. (2008). Lateralization of categorical perception of color changes with color term acquisition. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 105(47), 18221-18225. doi:10.1073/pnas.0809952105

Franklin, A., Sowden, P., Burley, R., Notman, L. & Alder, E. (2008). Colour perception in children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38(10), 1837-47. doi:10.1007/s10803-008-0574-6

Franklin, A., Pitchford, N.J.P., Mahony, L., Davies, I.R.L., Clausse, S. & Jennings, S. (2008). Salience of primary and secondary colours in infancy. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 26(4), 471-483. doi:10.1348/026151007X256672

Franklin, A., Drivonikou, G.V., Bevis, L., Davies, I.R.L., Kay, P. & Regier, T. (2008). Categorical perception of color is lateralized to the right hemisphere in infants, but to the left hemisphere in adults. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 105(9), 3221-3225. doi:10.1073/pnas.0712286105

2007 and pre-2006

Drivonikou, G.V., Kay, P., Regier, T., Ivry, R., Gilbert, A., Franklin, A. & Davies, I.R.L. (2007). Further evidence of Whorfian effects to the right visual field. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 104(3), 1097-1102. doi:10.1073/pnas.0610132104

Franklin, A., & Davies, I.R.L. (2006). Converging evidence for pre-linguistic colour categorisation. In C.P Biggam & N. Pitchford (Eds.), Progress in Colour Studies: Psychological Aspects (pp. 101-120). John Benjamins: Amsterdam, NL.

Franklin, A., (2006). Constraints on children’s colour term acquisition. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 94(4), 322-327. doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2006.02.003

Daoutis, C., Franklin, A., Riddett, A., Clifford, C. & Davies, I.R.L. (2006). Categorical effects in children’s colour search: a cross-linguistic comparison. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 24(2), 373-400. doi:0.1348/026151005X51266

Franklin, A., Pilling, M. & Davies, I.R.L. (2005). The nature of infant colour categorisation: Evidence from eye-movements on a target detection task. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 91(3), 227-248. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2005.03.003

Franklin, A., Clifford, A., Williamson, E. & Davies, I.R.L. (2005). Colour term knowledge does not affect categorical perception of colour in toddlers. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 90(2), 114-141. doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2004.10.001

Franklin, A. & Davies, I.R.L. (2004). New evidence for infant colour categories. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 22(3), 349-377. doi:10.1348/0261510041552738

Davies, I.R.L. & Franklin, A. (2002). Categorical similarity may affect colour pop-out in infants after-all. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 20(2), 185-203. doi:10.1348/026151002166406

Media

• The Times,  Baroque or Brutalist? Babies like buildings with bells and whistles, March 2025
• The Daily Telegraph, Modern architecture is an eye-sore , even babies can see that, March 2025
• BBC Sussex, Babies prefer complex architecture, study suggests, March 2025
• The Guardian, Art is a natural impulse, and babies are born critics, August 2023
• The Guardian, Adults’ penchant for van Gogh is mirrored in babies, August 2023
• Wall Street Journal, Colourblindness exam gets a kid friendly makeover, May 2021
• The Telegraph, Coverage of ColourSpot, October 2021
• The Times Educational Supplement, How schools can help colourblind pupils, September 2021
• Scientific American, Are Colors Innate or Learned?, 12 Jul 2017
• IFL Science, Babies can categorise different colours, suggesting it's hardwired into us, 9 May 2017
• Medical XPress, Study with infants suggests color categorization is biological, 9 May 2017
• ZME Science, Biology imparts us with instinctive color categories — culture only shapes them, 9 May 2017
• Axios, We're born knowing colours, 9 May 2017
• The Guardian, How we categorise colour is based on biology, not culture, study suggests, 8 May 2017
• Live Science,Babies Can Sort Colors Before They Learn the Words for Them, 8 May 2017
• Vozpopuli,Un estudio con bebés pretende zanjar la polémica sobre la percepción del color, 8 May 2017
• ScienceMag, Babies' gaze suggests we are born understanding colour , 8 May 2017
• The Guardian,The vision thing: how babies colour in the world, 11 Apr 2017
• The Guardian,Science Weekly Podcast, First impressions: what can babies see?, 1 Apr 2017
• ITV News, Do you know what your child is thinking? 15 Feb 2017
• Horizon2020, How we perceive colour depends on our culture and language, 15 Nov 2016 
• The British Psychological Society, Colourful Language, 20 Jun 2016
• Nautilus, Why Red Means Red in Almost Every Language, 30 Jul 2015
• The Guardian, Is The Dress blue and black or white and gold? The answer lies in vision psychology, 27 Feb 2015
• ScienceNews, Brain uses decision-making region to tell blue from green, 4 Mar 2014
• BBC World, The Why Factor: Blue, 19 Nov 2012

Photo credits – Header image, Shutterstock, Etta Loves logo and baby images, Etta Loves, Sunflowers, Brighton Museums, Colourspot logo, The Colour Group.