As you've asked for an article by a usability authority, I would like to quote a couple of paragraphs found in Handbook of Human-Computer Interaction:
Color Emphasis
Color emphasis suggests using strong contrast in value and chroma to
focus the operator's attention on critical information. High chroma
red alerts seem to aid faster response than yellow or yellow-orange if
brightness is equal, but this also depends on background colors.
The following is a special case but still makes a lot of sense:
Code Economy: Sequencing
To code a large set of colors, use the spectral sequence: red, orange,
yellow, green, blue and violet. Frnacine Frome, a human factors
researcher shown that CAD/CAM viewers see a spectral order as a
natural one and would select red, green, and blue as intuitive choices
for the front, middle and back layers, respectively, when viewing a
multi-layer display.