I've been pondering this thought lately and I just wanted to know what others think about it. This is a very different topic from my other blogs, I just wanted to switch things up a bit.
When I view a piece of splintered wood that has been painted red, does everyone see that same color and view the same texture as I do? Does everyone perceive all the colors, textures, and depths the same way that I do? I know that there is a definitive difference in color blind people, but I'm focusing on people with normal eyesite that can view all colors. I know that there are people that have a depth-perception issue. If people have different perceptions on the depth and distance of objects, does the same apply to colors? There's not too much you could do to test this I don't believe, but it's an interesting point to ponder. My friend has blogged about something similar on a different website. She brought up how different colors make you feel. This sense is hightened in her case in that any color is related to a direct emotion and even songs have specific colors that she can visually see. If the color brown to me feels warm and inviting, does it feel dirty and cold to others? I just want to know what everyone thinks on this.
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I have definitely wondered the exact same. I would guess that perceptions are mostly similar, but as there is no way to test it, I guess we'll never know. Weeird.
thats crazy. i always thought i was weird for wondering about this. your right that there is no way to test it, so its just another thing to add to the list of "i wonders". i can say though that i dont assosiate brown with warm and inviting, i would say its probably closer to the cold and dirty range... which is really rather odd considering that i have brown hair... oh well
I guess just like the three of you, I've also thought about this. I've wondered if the color that I see as green is what other people see as red, yet we both call it green and have always called it green, so it's all the same. Like as if the color wheel had rotated, and every other color looked differently to someone else, except no one would think anything of it because it'd be the same color pattern that they had seen for their entire lives and what they considered normal. I don't think there would be anyway to really know if this were the case or not, as everyone can only see out of their own eyes. However, I doubt this is a reality.
That color wheel rotation idea sound spretty interesting actually. Imagine if someone was born with an "incorrect" idea of what colors were. For everything we'd say is red, they'd view it as our yellow or something. That'd be quite the disorder to diagnose I'm sure. That kid would go through school getting all the names of colors incorrect and noone would really know why. I think we all agree though that this is an untestable thought. Unless we were to hook up a monitor to see what each individual was seeing... that might work actually. Then again, it may be more than that if it's just how the person's brain interprets the color. They may see the same red we see but the brain may tell the person that it's actually yellow... who knows?
Red, yellow, purple... they're all just names used to identify colors. It really wouldn't matter or need to be diagnosed if someone sees them all differently. If the green that I see looks yellow to you, but you still call it green, because that's what you learned, it doesn't matter. When I say green you just think of what I would call yellow. If that makes sense...
I understand what you're saying, but still that would be what we would consider wrong. It's not the "norm" so to speak. This could be applied to anything really; if I were to look at a rock but say it's a tree, that wouldn't be considered normal. So really it's not just colors, it's anything at all.
With the rock/tree example, those things look different... rocks and trees don't look like each other and anyone can see that (I think). Colors though are different, they're just an attribute given to objects to help describe them in greater detail. So if we all learn that what one person sees as red, is red, it will be red for everyone, even if we somehow discovered that someone saw it as purple.
Yeah, that's true, trees and rocks don't look very similar.... most of the time <_< Once again, it all really boils down to what word they assign with the color. They could be seeing the same red we see, but they have just subconsciously assigned a different word to describe it. So, they might say that what they're seeing is purple, but it's actually red, they have just put a different name with it.
I am a very weird person in a sense that I can see details in objects that others don't. I feel it may be because since I am an artist I have to look at detail to get a drawing as accurate as possiable. If someone sees a green sign. i will see a green sign with a chunk of paint missing out of it. I don't see objects as having one color because some don't to me anyway. Like an apple. Instead of saying the apple is red. I will see that it has white and yellow tiny specks in the peel. I think some people do see differently. I believe I am one of those people. I think alot of people don't notice detail as much as I do.
Thanks for writing about this, it is something different than all the other blogs...and that is a good thing!
Ps- I believe it also depends on the lights reflection. If someone is seeing something from one angle with little light it will look different than someone seeing it at another angle.