How do we know that everyone sees the same colour?

Question

we may just have common words but are actually relating them to different colours than anyone else.

Answer 1

Good question! You are right. Everyone sees the same wave lengths from the outside world, and those wave lengths have been given names such as red or yellow. But what actually is perceived within the brain may be up to each individual brain. Everything fits logically and mathematically and there is no way to tell that we don't see the same thing.

;-D But it doesn't matter. We all agree to call red 'red.' So whatever we all actually perceive, we all know what we mean by 'red.' In fact, there are no colors at all inside the brain, only perceptions.

Answer 2

We don't. When referring to a colour, you can describe it as "the colour of.." or by a technical reference such as Pantone. The truth is, we cannot be sure. Different people might be able to discern subtle differences in colour that we cannot. We do know that colours have similar psychological effects on people, for instance, blue and green are relaxing, orange and red are exciting.

We live in a kind of virtual reality. Our senses (in this case our eyes) do not send colours to our brain, they send nerve impulses. Our brains then "paint" a picture in our minds, decoding the impulses in an analagous way to a monitor displaying an image.

Of course, this can be faulty, as in the case of colour blindness where a person may discern two different colours as the same.

Answer 3

That's what i was thinking not too long ago...and figured it out myself.

What you probably are thinking is that a person might see yellow from what you might consider as green or red from blue. I wondered about a similar thing before, but most non-colorblind people see exactly the same colors (because of nature's growth, if you know what I mean). Other non-colorblind people might be just slightly off, but basically the same. Colorblind people are a different story, however, because there are hundreds of levels of colorblindness. But that is a different story so I'm not going to continue lengthening my answer. You can message me about it, though, and I will be glad to answer it!

PS Penguins!!!

Answer 4

I've been wondering about that for years. I remember telling my wife that very same question and I used an example like maybe what she sees as green may be a blue to me, but all her life she was told it was green as I was taught the same way too. We may be looking at two different colors and the teacher would've been seeing a third color but we all were trained to call it all....blue.
Well I hope I'm not confusing anyone. I think I just confused myself....lol. But at least I know I wasn't the only one around who thought like that.....lol.

Peace

Answer 5

An interesting point, and I think most people will have had an argument over colour at sometime, along : 'It's red', 'No it's green' lines. I suppose we can always refer to a paint manufacturer's colour chart to resolve differences!

Answer 6

as far as research has gone everybody (exept colour blind) sees the same colour , as we go thro school and at home we get told that red is red and blue is blue etc so when we see that colour we think of its name , but the actual colour we see for the same object could in theroy be different for everybody

Answer 7

I had this conversation with my cousin a few months ago. We don't his conept of green could be my blue and vice versa. It's a bit of the - reality is only important to who's reality it is!

I point to the grass and say green and he agrees, but if I had is vision i'd say it was blue.
He point's to the sky and say's blue and I agree, but if he had my vision he'd say it was green.

I think our original example was a bit more obscure, but you get the idea.

As a side issue Red Green colour blindness...

Answer 8

actually this was similar to the question i put to my other half after a pub session. because when your young they tell you what colours are...i.e. the grass is green the sky is blue. so you just link the colour to what you think to be true...for example if you buy a sky blue top you think its blue because you link it to the sky. see my point?

Answer 9

specific, anybody sees shade otherwise. all of us see categories of colors. form of like how a man or woman could be colorblind and easily see specific colors of specific colorings. My boyfriend is colorblind and can't see purple and thinks that eco-friendly is yellow. it is definitely enormously interesting to think of roughly :) sturdy question, i'm hoping I helped!

Answer 10

you could be blind so u can not see any colours or colour blind so the answer is no (or you could be deaf and not be able to hear them if u ask them ) (or you could be just dead so u can not see anything)