Social Question

sunshine123's avatar

How do you know that we all see colors the same?

Asked by sunshine123 (202points) September 3rd, 2009

Is my red your red or your orange?

Observing members: 0 Composing members: 0

15 Answers

Barce's avatar

You don’t and there’s no way to prove it either!

cwilbur's avatar

I don’t know, but I don’t think that it’s really important.

JLeslie's avatar

We don’t all see colors the same. There is a blue green color, that most people see as more green, and I see it more blue. It happens over and over again to me.

SundayKittens's avatar

I’ve always wondered this, too!!!!!

tinyfaery's avatar

Some people don’t even see color. And apparently I see more colors than most people. For those on the normal spectrum, I doubt that anyone perceives a color exactly the same as another.

JLeslie's avatar

@tinyfaery most color blind people don’t see certain colors well, Iike my dad is red/green blind, some are orange/blue, but I guess there are people who really live in an all shades of gray world, but I had not heard of that before.

I tink the majority of people do see colors the same.

erichw1504's avatar

I’ve always wondered that. But, some people are colorblind and such. I also like what @JLeslie said.

JLeslie's avatar

Someone once expalined it like this to me. Imagine there are 10 switches in your brain that control color. 1 and 5 go on for orange, 2 and 6 for green, 2 for blue, 3,5, and 9 for brown. If you are color blind switches 3 and 4 might not work, so all colors that utilize 3 and 4 will not be perceived accurately, or not how most others perceive that color. I figure one of my switches is just a little dim, like a brown out.

I am not a doctor or a medical scientist, so I have no idea if that is really an accurate way to describe it, but it was a nice story. Maybe a doctor will chime in.

dynamicduo's avatar

We can perform certain tests to indicate that most people “see” red as being a vivid bright color that is seen via blood. I can guarantee you that there are at least slight differences in how we perceive color, simply because of the nature of the way our eyes work, there’s bound to be people with more cones or less cones or rods and that would change their perception a bit compared to a “normal” person. And then of course there are the myriad of colorblind folk, the different types of which can “change” different colors. But it really is all perception, there is no guaranteed way to prove that my red is your red, nor does it really matter I think. We can measure the wavelength of light and declare that one with a wavelength of 575nm is yellow, but there is no way to prove that you and I are perceiving the same variance of that color. You might find this wikipedia article interesting to read.

JLeslie's avatar

@dynamicduo that link was very interesting. It actually mentions specifically the bluish green pigment, which is where I am a little whacky. I wasn’t clear if it means these people, maybe me, see the color differently…more blue or more green, or it becomes grey? And, my father is green red color blind, but I had been told previously that my minor “problem” is not related to his.

noodle_poodle's avatar

we dont and i think its awesome…but more than that we have no idea how much one persons senses, thought patters and experience of existing differs from person to person there in lies teh great mystery and the fun of it!

YARNLADY's avatar

The same wave lengths are received by the color receptors in the eye, but from there we have no way of knowing how each person’s brain interprets them.

drdoombot's avatar

I have always thought about this. Great Question!

greengogreen's avatar

I’m glad you’re all so understanding. Sometimes people don’t believe me no matter what I say or what color blind-test I take for them. They probably still think the world is flat too. The fact is that I’m very Red/Green color-blind.

The funniest thing about me being color-blind is that my last name is “Green” (just like the color :)

JLeslie's avatar

@greengogreen People don’t believe you? Does that mean they don’t believe in color-blindness? Or, that they just think you personally are trying to pull a fast one?

Answer this question

Login

or

Join

to answer.
Your answer will be saved while you login or join.

Have a question? Ask Fluther!

What do you know more about?
or
Knowledge Networking @ Fluther