Have you ever thought about this?

Question

Someone told me that people see different colors. For example, everyone would agree that the color of the Yahoo! is red. However, when I see red, my red may actually be your blue. So we see all of our colors different. Has anyone ever heard of this? Just curious because I thought this was really interesting!

Answer 1

Yes, I've thought of that. And maybe sweet is salty and stuff like that.  

Answer 2

yes this is a provocative question, but alas, it has an answer.  color perception has to do with light reflection, what ever color something appears to be that is the color it reflects.  people who cannot discern between colors properly, are called to some varying degree "colorblind" we developed standardized tests a long time ago, and found out that they are very effective, and that all of the rest of us see colors the same...some colors even evoke in us certain passions and emotions...the same across the board.  

Answer 3

i ask people this question all the time! everyone thinks im crazy. glad to see someone asks great questions! the answer. you'll never know. how would you find out?

Answer 4

That actually is a great question, but it poses a real conundrum.

Suppose that everyone sees blue, but you see red.  If you grow up with everyone telling you that this is blue, why would you consider it to be anything but blue even though it may actually be based upon your perception?

After all, how would you describe red to a person who has been blind since birth?  

Oh darn.  Now my brain is hurting...

Cheers

Answer 5

We do not see different colors. What we see differently from each other is a different shade of color. For example. we all see blue, as blue and red as red. but when it comes to purple (a color formed by a mixture of blue and red), one may say that the amount of blue pigments is higher in the mixture while someone else may say that it has more red.

My mom and I always have a disagreement on whether aquamarine (color) is blue or green, I see it as a shade of blue while she says it is more green. In reality it is a mixture of both. See it for yourself and you decide what shade it is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquamarine_...

Answer 6

Oh my gosh, I thought I was the only one who thought this.

I told a few people I know and they called me crazy/stupid.

It is an intriguing thought though.

Answer 7

Yes I have thought about that.  What if everyone's favorite color was actually the same ... but we all see it at different wavelengths.

Answer 8

Hi,

Congratulations! Very very few people have bothered to even think along these fundamental lines!

You are the second person i know who has asked this question.

It occured to me when i was in universiry .."how do we gaurantee what ia see and call as red is not actually seen as blue and called as red by another guy?

Because, it may be people "see" differently, and call (label) things differently due to inherent diversity of perceptions.

But the more i think about it, the more convinced i get that it is NOT so.

the rersaons are as under:-

1 - The basic genetic template of all humans is "same" even "identical". ("looks" may differ, but that part of genetics hardly matters!)

2 - color perception has more to it than one thinks of. It is all about evolution. Color perception has evolved over large extended periods of time, and fits the "survival of the fittest" rule of evolution. It means what we "see" as 'RED' / 'GREEN' / 'BLUE' is seen as such because THAT perception helped us survive!

Perforce when combined with point 1 above, it means we all HAVE to see RED in "like" fashion, owing to exactness of underlying evolutionary and genetic "sameness".

3 - The biochemical nature of the human retina is SAME in all humans! So the sensory area (which is separate & independent from the "perception" area, even is actually "same" in all humans).

4 - During the learning process when we generate the "lookup tables" that identify sensations in the visual system (sensation in retina + its associated "unique perception") with identifier labels like RED/BLUE etc,

it is almost certain the sensations and associated unique perceptions even WILL be alike due to points enumerated above.

The proof of this lies in the fact that we can play "games"!

people never say "10 meters for you is 5 for me"! Else simple mundane things like playing baseball or basketball or cricket, even walking in traffic, would degenerate into a terrible disaster.

The fact that humans can collectively undertake harmonious activity, itself reveals, the underlying truth of all above observations.

Hope that suffices.

Answer 9

yeah i have thought about that question and I have heard that research has been done on the issue and the researchers found out that people who do not have any type of colorblindness see the same colors. i have been looking for the research online but no luck. if i find it i will post here.