JT! Posted January 22, 2011 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 (edited) The reason our brains allows us to 'see' colour is an evolutionary benefit, it allows us to distinguish different frequencies of light. It's said that bat's can 'hear' colours, they have a different colour assigned to what type of texture an object is because that object will reflect their sonar differently. Both us as bats receive different frequencies from the world around us and assign a colour we just do it in different ways. So, if all that a colour is is a label that animals' brain will assign to a frequency, what's to stop, say, your friend assigning orange to what your brain has assigned to blue. Lets say the amber light on tragic lights. Imagine if your friends brain has assigned the frequency that comes from that amber light as blue, but blue to him would be called orange as that's what he's lived with for his entire life. It would be completely untestable too as it's impossible to describe a colour (how could you explain red to a person who's been blind from birth?) Could it be possible other users of TF see it like this? Edited January 22, 2011 by JT! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Revolver Posted January 22, 2011 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 I wondered this. But if you put colours next to each other, then if you didn't interpret them right, they might look shit. So only a few people might like a red and blue colour combo like pepsi, whereas looooads of people like red and blue together. I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dann2707 Posted January 22, 2011 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 YES!!! Finally someone else who understands this theory! I explained this theory to my floormate and I blew his mind. He had to walk out and think about it for ages and returned haha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeanuckleJive Posted January 22, 2011 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 (edited) Dammit JT. EDIT: On topic: I believe this could well be the case, it almost annoys me that it can never easily be proven though, I'd love to see the world through somebody elses eyes, just in the hope that I see everything in different colours than I'm used to for a day or two Edited January 22, 2011 by PeanuckleJive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JT! Posted January 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 (edited) I wondered this. But if you put colours next to each other, then if you didn't interpret them right, they might look shit. So only a few people might like a red and blue colour combo like pepsi, whereas looooads of people like red and blue together. I think. But why do they like it? Probably because they're two distinguished colours. We like distinguished colours, it allows us to see a bright yellow banana on a green / brown tree, and a yellow wild cat hiding behind a green shrub. If the colours red and blue were seen as blue and yellow (respectively) it wouldn't make a difference to it's appeal. I'd love to see the world through somebody elses eyes, just in the hope that I see everything in different colours than I'm used to for a day or two *someone else brain. Edited January 22, 2011 by JT! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Revolver Posted January 22, 2011 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 It might. If the colours were shifted then it would make sense, but if they were randomly reassigned then I think this would suggest its not true. If you really want to bake your noodle, try to imagine a life without language. Imagine how a dog things, or a dolphin, or any other animal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JT! Posted January 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 It might. If the colours were shifted then it would make sense, but if they were randomly reassigned then I think this would suggest its not true. They wouldn't be randomly assigned though. Blue and red frequencies will ways be assigned as very different colours because their frequencies are so different, as opposed to comparing pink to a light red. Every human on the planet has difficulty reading text on a similar colour background. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aener Posted January 22, 2011 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 [practical view]So what?[/practical view] Don't get me wrong, I find things like this interesting, and sure - it could very well be absolutely true, but it's utterly consequenceless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD™ Posted January 22, 2011 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 Orange looks better to me than most people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FINDUS Posted January 22, 2011 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 Simple answer: yes. Under optimal conditions, 20 people could be exposed to the same patch of color which has a measurable, quantifiable value along the electromagnetic spectrum. However, due to variances in the visual system of each person (clarity of cornea, clarity of lens, clarity of the vitreous and aqueous humors, number of rods and cones in the retina, etc.) as well as 20 different ways to interpret the color, each person will see something slightly different. Try this: gather a group of friends--the more the better--at a paint store. Seek out a commercial product, any product will do, that has a STRONG singular color characteristic. Give everyone a good look at it for a while and then, one by one, send each person to the paint sample location and have them pick what they think is the same color from the samples provided. Don't show each other the samples until everyone has chosen. Then compare. Did everyone choose the same color? You may even want to compare it to the product you're trying to match and see who came the closest! This experiment may not produce much variance with a BASIC color like "fire engine red," but when you try it with colors that are harder to define--like "sea foam green" or "French vanilla"--you'll probably discover that everyone's perception of that color is slightly different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liam n Posted January 22, 2011 Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 YES!!! Finally someone else who understands this theory! +1 the other day i was saying this to a colour blind mate....he sees green as orange....if at birth he saw orange then his parents where like thats green then he'd see it as green and thats what it would be assigned to in his brain so when everyone else is like wow look at that green he's like wow but he's looking at orange Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JT! Posted January 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2011 Simple answer: yes. Under optimal conditions, 20 people could be exposed to the same patch of color which has a measurable, quantifiable value along the electromagnetic spectrum. However, due to variances in the visual system of each person (clarity of cornea, clarity of lens, clarity of the vitreous and aqueous humors, number of rods and cones in the retina, etc.) as well as 20 different ways to interpret the color, each person will see something slightly different. Try this: gather a group of friends--the more the better--at a paint store. Seek out a commercial product, any product will do, that has a STRONG singular color characteristic. Give everyone a good look at it for a while and then, one by one, send each person to the paint sample location and have them pick what they think is the same color from the samples provided. Don't show each other the samples until everyone has chosen. Then compare. Did everyone choose the same color? You may even want to compare it to the product you're trying to match and see who came the closest! This experiment may not produce much variance with a BASIC color like "fire engine red," but when you try it with colors that are harder to define--like "sea foam green" or "French vanilla"--you'll probably discover that everyone's perception of that color is slightly different. That has more to do with the eye and slight differences in colour through the imperfections and differences of peoples eyes, I'm talking more about what hue is allocated to a specific frequency inside each of out brains. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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