Do we all see different Colours?

Question

Some people may have asked this question before but I've been wondering, Do we all see the same colours in our eyes?
My orange may be your blue but we've all been taught the same names even if they are totally different colours. But the other thing is Would we all definitely have to see the same shade of black because black is apparently nothingness so we'd all have to see the same grays?
It confuses me.


And one more question, (Just thought I'd squeeze it in so I didn't have to push everyone elses questions to the bottom)
Do albino people get a tan?

Answer 1

I think everybody has wondered about this at one point or another. I've certainly heard many people ask it, although I'm surprised that I haven't seen it crop up more frequently here on Yahoo! Answers. My guess would be no, we don't see different colors (with a few exceptions, outlined below), and what I call blue is blue to you as well.

I have a few reasons for thinking this. First, the light we perceive as blue (or red or orange or whatever) is made up of one particular wavelength. When that light enters your eye and strikes the retina, it excites color-sensitive cones, which interpret the light's wavelength into a nervous impulse that is sent directly to your brain. There the impulse is processed, which gives you the sensation of seeing blue. Of course it's much more complicated than just that, but I'm guessing you don't want to read a whole text book on how human vision works (although you should some day...really fascinating stuff).

Since the physiology of the healthy eyeball is more or less the same from person to person, if there's any difference in color perception it would have to happen at the brain level. I really can't begin to speculate on why two people would perceive the same color differently, although I'm not going to claim that just because I don't understand it, it could never happen.

That said, there is also the issue of the color spectrum. When we see a rainbow, we see a continuous spread of the colors from red to violet, but it's the in-betweens that is perhaps most telling. Let's say that we're both looking at solid patches of red and orange. Let's say that what I call red and orange, you perceive as what, to me, would be blue and yellow. What do we then call the shade that exists between red and orange? To me, it looks like a tangerine-ish blend of the two colors, but you would perceive it as white, assuming that color mixing works the same way for your brain as it does for mine. As you can see, in order for everybody to perceive colors differently, we would also have to have completely unique systems of mixing colors, and I just don't think that could ever happen.

Still, who knows? We do know of SOME people who have different color perceptions...namely, those who are partially or completely color-blind. People with red-green color-blindness have a hard time distinguishing between those two hues, for example, so you could say that their perception is indeed different. Also, people who use hallucinagenic drugs may temporarily experience colors differently than you and I, but that effect is short-lived (barring any sort of permanent brain damage arising as the result of the drug abuse).

For your second question...albinism can cause a person to have no pigment, but less extreme cases can cause melanin levels that are only slightly below normal. Albinos who have SOME pigment can tan, just as we do, but they have to be careful in sunlight because with less pigment, they have less protection from sunburn. People with extreme cases of albinism (no pigment whatsoever) will not tan and do burn very easily in direct sunlight.

Answer 2

Black is actually a shade as is white, that is what my children say to me.lol
Its interesting you say that, a lady at a newsagent was showing me different style grey paper foor a project I am doing and she showed me this grey and I swear it was a green. But she was adamant that it was grey? I know Im not coloured blind and Im sure she wasnt either, but I guess some people see colours differently then others.
Perhaps if we were all the same then life would be just plain boring and would only see black and white.
I wonder if there ever have been studies on this, it would be very interesting to see the results.
As for Albino people, that would be No as they have a pigmentation and I think the sun would burn there skin worse then myself. I also remember that apparently their eyes are sensitive to sunlight? But then I could be wrong its been some time since I have been at school.<)

Answer 3

AS the old song goes, 'black is black' and as you will probably know there are differing shades of black. I don;t know if we all see colours exactly the same but I imagine it's more likely that we don't. Besides, like you say, we only say 'green' is green because we've been conditioned to think so. You just have to place your trust in the people who teach you I suppose. I'm not sure if black and white are actually counted as colours anyway. Question 2 (cheeky!) I doubt albinos will get a tan because they don't have any melanin in their skin which is what makes your skin tan , and that's why they're albinos.

Answer 4

If my blue is your orange due to being taught different names, then yes, we do see the same colours. We just call them different names.

Black is SIMILAR (not the same) to blue. Put yellow in it and you get green. But white gives a different colour.

There are people who are colourblind, and can't see certain colours.

And light can affect you vision of colour s well. I have found that if you get light in your eyes for too long, not only does everything seem duller, but also, I usually have a blue tint in my colour vision.

The shades of grey vary. When it comes to grey paint, the shade depends how much white is in the black.

However, there is no way to tell how another person sees things, because at the end of the day, you're not looking through their eyes.

And on the footnote, Albinos should not try getting a tan, because they burn very easily.

Answer 5

Yes we do all see the same colors. Everybody once in their lives have thought about this question whether we see different colors or not.
There's another way to look at it, we generally put colors in groups, by characteristics such as cool colors, warm colors, pastels, and so on. These colors all have something in common. For example the "warm colors" would be red, orange, yellow etc while the "cool colors" would be blue, green, violet etc. if you notice all these colors have something in common. But now if my blue was your yellow, then these groups wouldn't make sense anymore. This is the non-scientific answer. Also, some colors go well together, some don't. If we all saw different colors, you might think someone would look weird for wearing blue jeans and a white shirt and might even make a comment like "man those colors don't go together (if my blue happens to be your yellow and my white your purple).
The scientific answer would be that our eyes are all designed the same way and have the same mechanism, and color is no magical thing that appears differently to different people. Also, white is the combination of every color and black the absence of color, so at least everybody would see those two colors the same way or else we wouldn't be able to make those statements. The only way then to see those two colors the same is for our eyes to have the same mechanisms. Therefore we all see the same colors.
So just like the second answerer said, this is an out dated philosophical question, especially now that science has made so much knowledge available to us.

Answer 6

I think you've had some amazing answers on the science of colour and why each colour is different and how the eye perceives and there is not much to add, but perception of colour also seems to be affected by mental state. Some depressed people really do seem to see things in greyer or muted shades and I can only assume that is where the term feeling a bit grey comes from. I have known people who have begun to get better and have started noticing colours again or have commented on how bright certain things seem. The colours haven't changed their perception has. Also different people are attracted to different colours and hate different ones. That can't be all to do with childhood associations with certain colours but also to do with pleasure stimulated in our brains by certain colours and how colours make us feel. Colours affect the endocrine system within the body causing different physiological responses. Hence the terms "seeing red" for angry, "feeling blue" for a depressed state and "green with envy". This is because these feelings are because of an imbalance in the areas of the body governed by certain colour frequencies.

So because we feel colours as well as see them( some blind people can tell colours apart very well because they have tuned through touch not sight to the frequencies) I think your question is more complicated than just the physics of the eye. Children probably see the world in glorious technicolour through healthy clear eyes unclouded by problems and preconceptions.

Colour is fascinating and amazing. Try looking some stuff up on colour therapy if your curious about any of the stuff I've mentioned above. I can recommend Theo Gimbel, Jacob Liberman and Pauline Wills as authors who after years of experience and research have put together books on the history,science, philosophy and healing aspects of colour.

Answer 7

the only way to investigate this is to place a tiny camera behind the lens of a persons eye. The image could then be recorded. Yes people do see colours slightly differently due to the number of rods and cones (in the retina) differing from person to person. I do not think eye colour has anything to with this but having said that I don't even know if biology has discovered the answer

Answer 8

No. Colour is something which can be affected by amount of light and how we feel.
It's not true that a person will see orange and another blue, as for example people don't confuse the colour of an orange with the colour of the sky. There seems to be a regularity.
But colour blindness has to do with defects in optics in a person that they see shades of colours - usually green and red- as very similar.

Answer 9

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Answer 10

No. We don't see the same color in the same shade. It is due to the fact that certain persons may be color blinds, but they don't see the same shade which an ordinary person sees this colour. It is to be mentioned here that it is compulsory for railway engine drivers to see "Green Colour" and " Red Colour" as they are controlling the train operations and if they are color blinds, they would not be able to distinguish in green and red. They would however see these colours in diffeent shades.

Answer 11

Surely you answer your own question. If your orange is my blue, then no we are not seeing the same colours.

Even within a single colour e.g. green. 10 different viewer will see half a dozen shades of green. My green is Turquoise to my eldest Grandaughter and Blue to my youngest Grandaughter.

I have expensive colour calibrating software on my imaging computer to help resolve such issues.