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The present study used the event-related potential technique to investigate the nature of linguistic effect on color perception. Four types of stimuli based on hue differences between a target color and a preceding color were used: zero hue step within-category color (0- WC); one hue step within-category color (1- WC); one hue step between-category color (1- BC); and two hue step between-category color (2- BC). The ERP results showed no significant effect of stimulus type in the 100-200 ms time window. However, in the 200-350 ms time window, ERP responses to 1- WC target color overlapped with that to 0- WC target color for right visual field ( RVF) but not left visual field ( LVF) presentation. For the 1- BC condition, ERP amplitudes were comparable in the two visual fields, both being significantly different from the 0- WC condition. The 2- BC condition showed the same pattern as the 1- BC condition. These results suggest that the categorical perception of color in RVF is due to linguistic suppression on within-category color discrimination but not between-category color enhancement, and that the effect is independent of early perceptual processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]