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Asked by rosieapple to Ailsa, Evan, James, Kath, Ryan on 21 Jun 2011.
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Ryan Ladd answered on 17 Jun 2011:
I’ve often wondered about this question myself! Unfortunately, I don’t know the answer… I think it’s possible but there’s no way to test it that I can think of.
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Ailsa Powell answered on 17 Jun 2011:
Like Ryan and yourself, it’s something I’ve thought about before.
I’m not sure it would be as extreme as your example (except maybe in severe colour blindness) but I think it’s entirely possible that we each have different perception of colours.
Say we remove colour blindness from the equation. A group of people may all be able to agree that the colour of something was blue, but each would have a slightly different perception on the shade of blue. Even if you knew the exact wavelength of the blue colour and knew it was one colour of light and not a range of wavelengths, I think we may all see something a little different, like a lighter shade or with slight green hue to it.
I’m no expert in this area but I suspect it would be incredibly difficult to prove and no one is wrong, my perception of blue means something to me as does your perception of the same colour but we could never see what the other sees. This is touching on a philosophical concept know as the philosophy of perception.
I hope that answers your question and I haven’t confused you – turning philosophical thoughts around in your head can get pretty confusing 🙂
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Evan Keane answered on 21 Jun 2011:
Definitely. And I disagree with Ryan and Ailsa on this one and think you could test it. Let’s think about it how we “see” something? Well the same blue light goes into my eye as it goes into yours. Then a lens in your eye focuses the light onto the back of your eyeball. Now of course your lens and eyeball shape will be different to mine so I’m pretty sure that you could think a slightly different colour to me is what is blue. But that’s a slight difference, what about seeing red as blue and things like that. Well, the image formed at the back of your eye is sent along your optic nerve and that goes to your brain and tells it “there is something blue over there”. But of course there are many signals like this going to the brain, for all different colours. I’d be surprised if these signals could not get mixed up. I know that even weirder things happen. For example have you heard of synaesthesia (wonder if I’ve spelt that right!)? This is where light is experienced as sounds or even smells by people! Yes I know it sounds strange but many people experience it. To me it seems more extreme than just mixing colours so I would not be surprised if your blue was my yellow! 😀
Comments
k0roseybum commented on :
…i have tried to explain the same questions to people but they just look at me like im mad…..:)
rwn1 commented on :
Your not the only one.
albob11 commented on :
yeah / its cooonfusssingg!!!
albob11 commented on :
thats because u ARE!!!!!……:)
albob11 commented on :
well….not really
albob11 commented on :
yeah sometimes my friends and I look at the sky and we cant agree on the colour””!!!!!!!
booto67 commented on :
i have no idea but i bet theres a simple explanaition for it.
harria1 commented on :
It’s a wierd question but I like it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)
morgana97 commented on :
I like it too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:):):):)
rwn1 commented on :
I once thought of that and yes there is no proof
rosieapple commented on :
i dont know if we will ever be able to find that out!
Evan commented on :
Don’t be so pessimistic! Remember things you see are transferred to your brain along nerves and are really just electrical signals. I’m sure it is possible to tap into these electrical signals and compare them for different people! It just requires a bit of advanced technology, but in prinicple it is not impossible! 😀
albob11 commented on :
how would u do it then?
Evan commented on :
I don’t know how exactly as it is not my area of expertise but tapping into electrical signals in the brain sounds doable. It certainly doesn’t sound impossible which is the main thing. Difficult is way better than impossible! Perhaps we can even do things like this already as I have seen examples of brain activity being monitored and the use of EEGs could be extended to this.
Look at all the comments -> the sign of a great question! 😀
Ailsa commented on :
Even if you did measure the electrical signals going to the brian, that wouldn’t tell you how the brain interpreted that signal. It would just tell you that it was there was a signal. I’m not sure there is a way of measuring a difference in perception. Extreme difference like blue and yellow would be easy to spot in visual tests, but subtle differences would not.
Anna commented on :
Hi. This is a brilliant question. I approach this question from an anthropologist viewpoint. We know that people in different cultures view colours very differently, and some populations can perceive very tiny changes in some colours more than other populations. For example, the Masaii of East Africa have a cultural system that revolves around cattle and especially cattle blood. They can perceive many hundreds of shades of blood red that people in other cultures would not be able to perceive. I don’t know if this is related to genetics, or upbringing, but it is interesting. Similarly, people in Lappland have lots of different descriptions of snow (I think it is something like 27 different types), which is also to do with their perceptions of colour. There have been a few studies of people’s perceptions of colour, and apparently, the only colour that seems to be universally recognised is the colour of blood, which makes sense, as it is the only colour you can guarantee that every person in the world has seen!
Evan commented on :
Thanks for the input Anna! And yes, I agree this is a brilliant question! Very clever students in this I’m A Scientist! 😀
Ailsa commented on :
Hi Anna,
Welcome to the Iron Zone 🙂
I had also heard that the only colour universally perceived is red and that makes sense. I imagine a lot of perception is based on cultural and environmental influences, but I would guess there may be a genetic advantage to perceiving so many subtle shades of different colours depending on the environment you are traditionally from (eg Lappland).