[IxDA Discuss] Amber and Yellow color perception

[Jeff Howard]

One other thing I wanted to mention is that it's easier to apply a
pattern if we have a name for it. I'd be surprised if anyone who
didn't design LEDs for a living used the word "amber" to describe
anything other than fossilized tree resin or waves of grain. Without
the right words, we're left trying to describe rather than identify
(like yellowish-green in my example with traffic lights). Describing
a thing's properties is different than recognizing it by those
properties as a pattern. If you don't have the word "amber" in
your lexicon, it's harder to see.

To pauric's point, the overall distinction between a blinking LED
and one that's not blinking is greater, even if the color
distinction is masked. Whether or how that difference carries meaning
is another matter. The first time my younger brother encountered a
blinking red traffic signal, he had no idea what it was telling him
to do, but he recognized that it was different from a regular stop
light.