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Do Colors Look The Same For All Of Us?


Still Waters

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Well, differentiating between red and green leads one of us to being colour blind...

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I know lots of artists and they can discern and mix colors exactly from what I'm told. I'm extremely color blind, which is very frustrating in getting dressed and decorating the house. My husband doesn't mind it at all, because I'm not very enthusiastic about redecorating. I hate asking someone to go shopping with me to make sure I get the right colors and our friends don't make fun of things I pick out any more. :D

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I'm not sure if all of us see colors as the same. Like red for instance, we might all see it as red but we could be seeing it as different shades of red. If your color blind you would see colors way differently as other people.

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Qualia has always been a biatch that reductive materialists like to ignore. They also hate the accounts of people born blind who have experienced vision during NDE's.
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I know lots of artists and they can discern and mix colors exactly from what I'm told. I'm extremely color blind, which is very frustrating in getting dressed and decorating the house. My husband doesn't mind it at all, because I'm not very enthusiastic about redecorating. I hate asking someone to go shopping with me to make sure I get the right colors and our friends don't make fun of things I pick out any more. :D

It's worse to go shopping with a completely blind person, Michelle. I did that once with a friend when she visited and I was always afraid that when she went home, her friends would see the clothes and wonder what the hell I was thinking suggesting certain colours or clothes to her. :P I'll go shopping with someone colour blind over someone just blind any day.

Edited by Lady Kasey
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Ive always loved this mystery.

my only evidence would be fashion runway shows and based on that Id say no.

Edited by AsteroidX
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It's worse to go shopping with a completely blind person, Michelle. I did that once with a friend when she visited and I was always afraid that when she went home, her friends would see the clothes and wonder what the hell I was thinking suggesting certain colours or clothes to her. :P I'll go shopping with someone colour blind over someone just blind any day.

:w00t:

My husband worked with a guy once that was very color blind. They always knew when his wife was mad at him because he would come to work in the most ridiculous clothes. At least when I'm told something goes together I remember. I make marks on the tag sometimes, in case I forget, but everything goes with blue or black jeans.

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:w00t:

My husband worked with a guy once that was very color blind. They always knew when his wife was mad at him because he would come to work in the most ridiculous clothes. At least when I'm told something goes together I remember. I make marks on the tag sometimes, in case I forget, but everything goes with blue or black jeans.

Imagine a poor blind guy whose wife are mad at him. Me might come to work in a clown costume. :P

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People do not all see the same colour,but they see different shades of that colour,and you do not "get" colour blind like catching a virus,you are born with it and its with you for life.I've read recently that scientists are developing spectacles that will enable colour blind people to see colours properly,but like anything new they are expensive, about £400.00 each ($600.00 est).I always get a friendly arguement when I say an article is green,my Senior Officer (Wife) will say thats Turquoise not green, so I'll see something which I consider "turquoise", and lo its guarenteed to be green.Thats life I guess.I know my blood is green I think,hee hee.

Edited by spud the mackem
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I know lots of artists and they can discern and mix colors exactly from what I'm told. I'm extremely color blind, which is very frustrating in getting dressed and decorating the house. My husband doesn't mind it at all, because I'm not very enthusiastic about redecorating. I hate asking someone to go shopping with me to make sure I get the right colors and our friends don't make fun of things I pick out any more. :D

Ahhh, so you're color blind! That explains so much.
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Ahhh, so you're color blind! That explains so much.

:D

My husband still kids me about being color blind and thinking he was white when he is mostly Native American.

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It often seems to me that my right eye has just a touch more red, and my left a touch more green.

I think everyone looking at Green sees Green, but the vibrancy, richness, and brightness probably vary from person to person.

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:D

My husband still kids me about being color blind and thinking he was white when he is mostly Native American.

:w00t:
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Vision is based on two components: reception of light waves (via the eye) and the interpretation thereof (via the brain). Differences in either part will naturally manifest as differences in perception.

This thread has already brought up colorblindness, which is a clear example of some people perceiving colors differently than others. In this case, colorblindness is usually linked to defects in the eye itself, either by genetics or physical damage, though it may also be brought about by damage to the brain (in which case it falls into the realm of interpretation).

Another interesting example of differential perception has come to us from anthropological fieldwork. Certain tribes demonstrate a unique perspective of color which seems to be rooted in the realm of interpretation. One such tribe is the Himba of Namibia. The beginning of this clip (which is part of a larger BBC documentary on the subject) gives a good look into the different way they interpret colors:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xl7eh1_horizon-do-you-see-what-i-see-part-4-4_shortfilms#.USMAD6XZjJ0

This, then, raises another interesting question: what is the cause of the difference in interpretation? Some posit that their different terminology affects the way their brains interprets the colors, while others posit that the way their brains interpret the colors has shaped their color vocabulary.

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after 35 years or so of asking people... " do you see green in that?" And having them answer .. no it just looks brown .. or blue.. or gray... I'm convinced people's color perceptions vary.. a little. (color Blindness aside) ^ same thing with orange^ except then they say... no it just looks brown.. or Gold.. I seem to see more green AND orange in colors.

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As one of the earlier posts mentioned, this is the "qualia" issue in neurology -- how we come to experience the world rather than just sense it. It has to do with far more than just our visual perception of color, although that aspect of the problem gets the most attention, probably because it is easiest to understand.

There are people who smell or hear colors rather than see them. This is rare but is a significant clue that all is not what we think it is. There are optical illusions that can make us see certain colors that can be shown are not there.

The same things happen will all our senses, both external (vision, hearing, taste, smell, and the million and one senses we call touch) and internal (pain, nausea, hunger, sexual arousal, kinesthetics, etc). We hear pitches and loudness and identify where a sound is coming from; we see color and brightness and hue and motion and contrast; etc., etc. All this is constructed in our brain and presented to our mind. The scientists can trace the pathways and which neurons are busy when such-and-so are perceived, but how does a neuron doing its thing become our experience of a color? Standard reductionism -- materialist, physicalist "there exists nothing paranormal" comes to a dead end here -- which is I think why the standard reductionist in discussing this issue inevitably stone-walls it.

Nor does it end with sensations. Far more important, in fact, is that the same issue is wrapped up in the business or emotions. When we feel anger or sadness or emptiness or jealousy, and so on, what is going on? These are experiences, not neurons and neurochemicals. The scientist can associate the presence of certain brain chemicals with our experience of certain feelings -- happiness is associated with the presence of lots of serotonin. What the Hell is going on that this physical thing becomes an experience?

I have no ax to grind on this -- I just present the problem and the fact that it tells me that there is a lot in this world we humanis scientificus have no approach to. It is to my mind a demonstration of nothing more than that the universe has properties we don't even suspect, but which natural selection nevertheless tapped into in our evolution.

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I think the color of an object is a direct result of the surface, material and texture of an object. That someone sees a green leaf as red in their mind, but understands it to actually be green does not mean that the leaf is any less green. Physically it is green.

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when we are children our mothers point to something and say that is the blue sea , or that is a green tree , at that point in time though there is no way for either the mother or the child to know whether their brains are seeing the reflection of those light vibrations the same way, but once the child has been shown all the colours it does not matter , because whatever vibration his/her brain receives from those reflections he now knows what to call them.. so even if other people see a different reality to that reflection they will all call that reflection by the same name , even if their reception of it gives them a different perception ..

I do think however we probably all see the same colours , as when we mix colours ourselves , ie take blue , and yellow paint and mix them we get green , or red and yellow to get orange , presumably if we were all seeing different shades when we saw the reflections then we would not be able to mix colours to make a new one we all recognize as the same .

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Here is a few tests for those of you who think that they might be colour blind.

color-blindness-test-4.jpg

139727,xcitefun-colour-test.jpg

ishihara.png

Edited by EllJay
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I can see one of those, EliJay. When I was tested they showed me 36 circles and I could only see the numbers in three of them. Between the three people who worked there they had 70 years of experience and said they had never seen anyone so color blind. B)

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I can see one of those, EliJay. When I was tested they showed me 36 circles and I could only see the numbers in three of them. Between the three people who worked there they had 70 years of experience and said they had never seen anyone so color blind. B)

Ouch, to bad for you. Does everything look kind of greenish-brown to you or?

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Ouch, to bad for you. Does everything look kind of greenish-brown to you or?

I think I see primary colors pretty close to what they are. After that I can see things are a different shade sometimes, but it's difficult to tell what color they lean towards. Like large oranges and small grapefruit side by side in the grocery store, I have to smell them to see which is which if they don't have a sign. I can see bright colors...I may not know exactly what they are, but I can see them. Needless to say, I've had some weird combinations of colors in my house over the years if I try and pick things out by myself. :D

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