Is color interpeted differently from person to person?

Question

Is color interpeted differently between people? If I see Blue does somebody else see it as Red but call it Blue because thats what it is to them. Like what I interpet as Blue may really be viewed as what I consider Red by someone else, but to them it is there Blue. Maybe people interpet colors differently from one another.

Answer 1

Very good question I've asked myself. I don't think it can ever be determinded. The objective analysis of an exclusively subjective experience is impossible. Along similar lines, I've always wondered if a person totally blind from birth has a "mental image" of sight....do they know what they can't experience, or have any idea what seeing would be like?

P.S. As i thought about this, it occurred to me that the variations in eyes and even brain may "shift" color along the spectrum...in other words alter it's frequency so that two people may actually perceive something different, but the relationship between any one color and another would stay the same....somewhat like in music. You could play the same guitar rif in different keys...the tone is changed but steps between any one note and another remains the same. The relationship between red and blue for example would still have the same scaler difference along the spectrum...if that makes sense. Thus contrasts between any two colors would still be perceived equally by two different people....unless one were color blind.

Answer 2

I've had this same question for ever! But how do we really know, Because we were taught which colors are what names. After all, everyone's brains are different. Perhaps the color I see, and Call blue, appears what you think is purple ^-^I really have no idea what I'm talking about, but yeah... I should ask a Scientist! TO THE LAB!

Answer 3

Its possible but no one would ever know. I doubt even if total eye transplant was done would the color received by the brain would appear different.

When I was told I was color blind (at age 10 or so) I told my mom when she wonder what it was like for me " You know the sky is pink and the grass is blue" and she said "really?" and I responded "How the heck would I know".

It could possibly explain why some people like some colors better. Or like certain scenery better than others.

Id guess though that we pretty much see all the same colors.

Answer 4

I have thought about this. I think all humans perceive color roughly the same. Why, because if we perceived colors differently then contrasts would not work as they should. If contrasts didn’t work, camouflage would not work, and road signs would not be easily readable.

What does that mean? Well, it is simple. You read freeway signs even in bad weather, because they are painted with white writing on a dark green background. White and dark green exhibit strong contrast. If a person perceived dark green as yellow, or pink, the signs would be nearly unreadable.

The same is true with back writing on an orange sign. If a person perceived orange as brown, or purple, then the sign would be nearly unreadable at a distance.

Answer 5

Maybe, since you cant check it since you can only see the color you think is that color, and so can the other person. But I've heard that people with light colored eyes are more sensitive to light and see colors slightly different from darker color eyes. Course, color blindness is a whole different ball of wax!

Answer 6

No, because light is only reflected at certain frequencies so the color that you see is the same color I am seeing. We may be calling it different things due to differences in learning but the colors are the same.

Answer 7

Well this is all really resonable due to the fact that the color you see isnt an actual color of the object anyway. It is what color isnt absord by that object. So it is reasonable to say that another person receives it as a different color because to his/her eyes the colors being absorded and thus reflected off are different from yours.

Answer 8

Dude, check the crayon box.

Just kidding. But consider this....in our poetry, certain colors have always been associated with certain emotions. Blue brings peace, yellow cheerfulness, red passion, etc. If we were all seeing different colors, wouldn't this interpretation be skewed?

Just a thought...deep question.

Answer 9

I have thought about this many times over the years. It's truly fascinating. We can't ever really know, can we? If you're interested in these types of conundrums, I suggest reading a book called the Mind's I by Douglas Hofstaedter.

Answer 10

I think there may be slightly different color perceptions, just because you see like.. color blind people that can't tell the difference between greens and blues and such like that.