eyes and what colours we see

[dodamaksoud]

i've tried to explain my concept many times to other people but half of them don't seem to understand but maybe i am wrong so please do correct me! basically i believe that everyone has a completely different colour spectrum what i see as green could be someones yellow however we both establish that it is green. and the fact is u can never know if we all share the same colour spectrum we see things and agree they are a certain colour because that is what we have come to call them. now does anybody know what i'm on about or is this complete bolony. if you're gunna prove me wrong i need hard core proof.

[dancealot13]

Im sorry but it is complete bolony. I can't give you hard core proof in here cause' it would take too long to write, but look up this web site and read the first page. That explains it. Let me know what you think after you read it. www.pantone.com (How do we see color)

[Loosehead]

I dunno what you're on about dancealot, that link is to do with monitors not really what the questioner meant.

dodamaksoud, I know what you mean essentially how can anyone prove that the green they see is the same green that others see? First the physics of it, the wavelength of a colour is the same regardless of what is receiving it, ie in this case the eye. So what the eye and brain of the observer translate it too will always be known as the colour concerned to that observer and yes I have often wondered if my green is the same as your green or indeed whether it's completely different, I mean my green could look more like my yellow to you once your brain has translated it even though it's the same wave length. It may explain why people have a different opinion about what colours go together. The short answer is how could anyone know?

[spacechimp]

I have pondered over this many times for many hours. :)

[flashpig]

Does it matter?

Yellow is yellow, regardless of how it is percieved. Even if I see yellow as what you see as yellow, the yellow would still be yellow to both of us. How on earth could you test this?

There is no hardcore proof for us to prove you wrong, there's no proof to prove you right. It's just a mildly diverting philisophical doodad, like that "if a tree falls and noone is around to hear it" thing.

[flashpig]

sorry, one of those yellows should have been green.

maybe you're right.

[snook]

You're right, doda, it's subjective. No-one could possibly know what you perceive. As an example, if you were hypnotised and assured that bananas had all turned dayglo pink, that's what you'd see. You'd be trying to explain to everyone that those bananas on the table in front of you had suddenly turned dayglo pink, and they wouldn' t be able to convince you otherwise. You'd find it very bizarre, but you'd still see dayglo pink bananas.

What happens in your brain is an entirely separate issue from what happens in the outside world. Regardless of the frequency of the light particles/waves that are striking your retina, you'd 'see' (perceive) what you'd been told to see. So, would everyone else think it strange that the bananas didn' t look pink to them? Of course not, they'd just accept that they and you were perceiving the colour differently. And who's to say we're not all doing that all the time??

[PhilBy]

Artists must share the same colour spectrum as me then for I see the green grass, blue sky etc etc as the same colours I note in life.

[flashpig]

But that would require some knowledge of what dayglow pink was, if yellow appeared to you as dayglow pink you wouldn't think anything of it, it would be yellow. It wouldn't matter. Yellow is yellow. Wavelengths and all that, like Loosehead was going on about.

[Ethel]

This is one of life's ponderables.

I understand exactly what you are saying and have pondered it a lot.

None the wiser yet.

:)

[dancealot13]

Im sorry but it is proven that we ALL pretty much see the same color. Read the science of it! LOL and by the way Loosehead, in parenthesis I said (How Do We See Color). They have a good article in there regarding this.

[andante]

I have thought about the same question from an early age without really finding a solution. I think, the truth is, we will never know. As every person has a different view and outlook on life, in my opinion there is a strong possibility that you are right. For example we have a dark metallic-coloured car which my husband and I both consider as green. However, at the auction where we have bought it, it was listed as blue - you see? So this question might be as justified as it is philosophical.

[NITA EDWARDS]

Ethel, are you the same who writes on current affairs?

[jno]

well, I don't see colours the same as everyone else. I can barely tell darker reds and greens apart (I'm ok with traffic lights, fortunately). Other people can. So the physiology of the eye must have something to do with it, as well as the wavelengths.

[happy_face]

I think we all generally see the same colours but we see different shades to it. There's always to argument over something turqouise where some people say it's green and some blue. And then there are the colourblind they see things differently too.

It must be the same as it is for taste. See if I drink a glass of redwine I taste maybe 3-5 different things whereas Jilly Goolden would taste a summersday in Morroco when a man has just walked past with some cinnamon swirls

[cook1254]

Happy_face I thought Jilly Goolden always tasted compost heaps in her wines !!!