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[Week 8] Is my perception the same as yours?

Illusion

    Did you know that  all colors are simply an illusion? Colors  don't exist, but we can also experience them, such as gravitation or space radiation. Every color is created in our brain, which converts electromagnetic spectrum into a visible color. We could observe and measure different waves, even invisible for us like ultraviolet or gamma but it's impossible to see how the other person perceives colors.

http://9-4fordham.wikispaces.com/file/view/em_spectrum.jpg/244287321/em_spectrum.jpg

My red is not the same as yours red

     For example, I'll present three colors, red, blue and yellow. From my point of view they look something like this:


    When, for you they may look like this:




    The problem is that we all learned how to name  them, but we never wondered if does we see the same color. Thinking about it we could get little crazy,  couldn't we?

     I'll give you another sample, a test for color-blindness. It's a simple exercise which is relies on noticing numbers:

 http://www.itknights.net/images/Btest.gif

Of course, the person who sees "normally" is able to observe these numbers, but what if someone chooses the kind of colors which only he can see, and consequently we could see his circles like color-blindness person?

And what if...

     What if we could have the possibility to check out how a single person sees  colors? Let's take for example  a person who which has been blind from his birth and suddenly she or he can see.

Alone

So, for now we are alone with our perception and it's  possible that every single person can  see the world differently. No one can influence on our interpretation. Maybe the eye does not experience the only difference. For example, while eating a blackberry each of us  could experience something different.  Undoubtedly, we never know if we see the same colors, but we can state one think, everyone is original and unique.


What do You think about it, and have You ever taking a reflect on it and what's Yours theories about perception of the entire World?

Comments

Unknown said…
Well, I am aware of this. I am also aware that the same situations are perceived by different people in entirely, completely different ways. Also, the same situations can be perceived by us in entirely different ways depending on when we are in life. The fact that we have different perception shaped by our experiences makes us all different and makes us have conflicting opinions and beliefs. The perception (as in the way our brain receives signals) is merely the first step of the way the information gets skewed one way or another compared to what others see.
Kasia Kmieć said…
The whole thing about the perception of colors seems to be truly interesting. I read that scientists thinks that "color is a private sensation", which I find quite accurate. Actually I had some misunderstandings with my sisters while describing the color of some clothing. It turned out they think it's a different one than I thought (maybe not completely but still a little bit). If you're looking for further reading this article is quite good http://www.livescience.com/21275-color-red-blue-scientists.html.
I also asked some blind people how they imagine colors. It's completely abstract idea for them and they tend to describe each color differently. For example one guy told me that red is something sweet and juicy, while other one said that it's something hot and mostly unpleasant. Totally the opposite!
Maria said…
That's interesting how many factors influence our perception.
Learning about colors is really fantastic. Of course because of ones culture and experience we have different feelings when we see for example red color, but there were made lots of surveys which show that we have a lot of common sensations about colors. For example, red makes people eat faster, which is used in fast food restaurants. Red cars seems to drive faster than, for example blue ones. Blue makes people calmer, green relaxed, and so on. To return to the culture considerations I know a funny consideration: Eskimo see thousands shades of white, while people with ,for example European origins see decidedly less white shades.
I think that red colour will be red for almost everyone. The difference only can be in the shade of colour. Of course everyone receive all incentives and assess different situation in their own way. Individuality is one of the most beautiful things that distinguish every person from another.
Sylwia said…
I have talked with many of my friends about perception of colors. We often have different opinion for example with one of my friends I can’t agree what color are my towels :D We see the same thing and we name it differently – light violet or light brown, which are completely different!
About general perception in life, I fully agree with Simon. We change the way we perceive things depending on our current situation and experience - the same person can see same situation differently depending on the time when it occurs.
Dalvia said…
And that's why there's a saying "We never discuss colors, and our tastes" - because everyone sees it differently :) And same saying is basicly in every language (as far as I know, but people may have lied to me)
Anyway, it's still quite interesting to know the scientific explenation about this phenomenon. Thanks for that :)
Darkia said…
We have some stereotype how colors should looks like. We can name i, but mayby it's true for soem people these colors a bit different. But when we can see pallete of wall paint, there a lots of examples of colours and they are named. and we learn that some colors should looks like that.
But when some people eg see blue as red, they posibbly just call red blue :D (don't know if u get it)
Unknown said…
The perception topic is such an interesting thing! I am really interest in yhe way our brain works with our senses. Seeing colors differently is not the only one thing that our brain influences. Our dreams during night are 'programmed'by it as well, that's why for example artists may have more colorful, psycho images during sleep than for example people who are interested in science. The other curious thing is blind people's dream, how about that?
Tomek said…
It’s very difficult, time-consuming and costly to create something uniformly enjoyed by everyone and also usable by handicapped people for the reasons you describe. I photographer showed me a bunch of 3D pictures once, all with different amounts of 3D distortion. It turned out I saw very little 3D but others might see more. Another problem occures because of badly adjusted equipment. Graphics designers need to have screens that resemble real life colors well. Their perception might be standard but once the designs go through a printing press they lose the right colors.
alt_pl said…
What do You think about it, and have You ever taking a reflect on it and what's Yours theories about perception of the entire World?
I have few problems concerning my eyes so sometimes I truly see other insensitivity or depth of color ( compared to other person ) so I wouldn't call myself an expert in any of ideas mentioned by You. :(
Unknown said…
What do You think about it, and have You ever taking a reflect on it and what's Yours theories about perception of the entire World?

I have the same problem with depth of colors. I do some test with my girl. and it turned out, one of us are colorblind, :) amazing experiment. Thanks Y gave us a lot of fun. Probably each of us sees its own color. I need do more tests :)
Natalia said…
What if I'm the only person which sees yellow in such way or what if my perception of pain is different from others? How to check it? We don't have an interface to pass our feelings or view from our eyes to others and check if they are the same. It is impossible. That is why we have problems to teach robots to actually feel something like joy or pain.

My theory about entire world is that all of our kind see and feel almost the same, but because of our experience we interpret it in different way. In example for some French guy the smell of old cheese would be pleasant and for other disgusting.
It's no news, that the human is an imperfect being, therefore there are bound to be slight differences in the way each one works and how each person perceives the world. I never really gave this much consideration but it appeared quite obvious to me, that people see colors a bit differently (or completely differently in the case of color blind people). I think it's just a part of our nature, probably can be overcame by the means of technology. The question is, do we really need it?
Unknown said…
I don’t really understand this article but for sure some people here do and that is difference in perception? Sure it is :D I never created theories about world perception. For sure we see and hear differently but it is obvious that each person is different and perceive world in own way.
Kacper K said…
I agree completely with the article. Each person perceives colors differently. In my opinion it is very interesting and this topic can bring long conversations. I can believe that for one person the color of an object appears to be yellow and for other person it seems to be orange. Also recently I heard about an interesting discovery. Namely, there is no pink color, it is only a figment of our imagination.

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