# Are colors the same for everyone? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 31, 2005, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-colors-the-same-for-everyone/287674 "2005-01-31T21:52:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![j\_sum1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8baadc/32.png) [@j\_sum1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_sum1)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-colors-the-same-for-everyone/287674/21 "2005-02-01T07:22:37Z")
> [@2 click twiddle flare](#): > > Is it possible, what you might know as the color blue, is my green? when we look at the color which is named “blue” such as the sky, i see it as you see green, your purple is my orange etc… and we would never be able to tell how others see colors, because if you show me a book of colors and tell me to pick out blue, i will still pick out what you would pick out as blue, because that is the name for the color which i see. It gets worse than that **2 click twiddle flare**. The experience you get when you look at something blue, I get that same sensation when I taste something salty. And when you listen to Mozart, it’s exactly the same as when I have a good masseuse attend to my back. Of course there is no way of proving this, but I guarantee that my head is wired quite differently from yours. (Unless you too are missing a temporal lobe.) ---
**Author:** ![audio\_wizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@audio\_wizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audio_wizard)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-colors-the-same-for-everyone/287674/22 "2005-02-01T09:00:54Z")
Well presuming that the hardware (our eyes, brain, etc) isn’t damaged or just different then there are only 2 ways of not seeing the same color that I am aware of. 1, we simply aren’t sharing the same vocabulary to describe what is seen. 2, we give different attention to colors. Someone keenly interested and aware of colors will see more within a green that someone who is apathetic and distracted with something else will see. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-colors-the-same-for-everyone/287674/23 "2005-02-01T16:13:04Z")
I think everyone would agree that it’s possible that our internal experiences may be quite different, but that it’s unlikely. However, I can’t see any rational basis to assign a likelihood to the possibility. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-colors-the-same-for-everyone/287674/24 "2005-02-01T17:22:13Z")
What about a person’s two eyes each perceiving color differently? I’m not color-blind, but colors are just a little different between my eyes. Looking at a “neon pink” pad of Post-Its right now, it’s a raging bright pink through my right eye and a less wild and just slighty more purple rather than pink through my left eye. ---
**Author:** ![AndyPolley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@AndyPolley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndyPolley)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-colors-the-same-for-everyone/287674/25 "2005-02-01T18:43:57Z")
> [@Queen Tonya](#): > > I don’t want to turn this into an unwilling “Ask the doper” thread, but I’m immediately curious! Care to author a willing “Ask the” perhaps? Ask and you shall recieve. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=5788238#post5788238](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=5788238#post5788238) Let it not be said that I’m unwilling. Uninteresting? Maybe. It’s my very first “ask the” thread…please be nice ---
**Author:** ![ninetypercent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9de0a6/32.png) [@ninetypercent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ninetypercent)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-colors-the-same-for-everyone/287674/26 "2005-02-01T20:28:40Z")
Isn’t there a famous physics experiment that suggest that all people experience colors the same way, suggesting that all experience the same consciousness? Or am I thinking of an interpretation of quantum theory? ---
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-colors-the-same-for-everyone/287674/27 "2005-02-01T21:01:47Z")
> [@ninetypercent](#): > > Isn’t there a famous physics experiment that suggest that all people experience colors the same way, suggesting that all experience the same consciousness? I would certainly be interested in this experiment. Remember anything? ---
**Author:** ![Merhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Merhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merhouse)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-colors-the-same-for-everyone/287674/28 "2005-02-02T15:59:03Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > It’s possible that certain people “see” some colors on the periphery as green, others as blue. > > But if you see a pure blue, or a pure green, everyone whose brain and retina can differentiate between the two will either see a blue or a green. This is me! I have some trouble with shading, especially with blues and greens. I can certainly tell the sky is (what I call) blue, and the traffic light is (what I call, again, what I’m assuming everyone calls) green, but if you give me shades of turquoise (OK, they contain both blue and green!), I’m often very hard pressed to tell you whether it’s more blue or more green. It’s my understanding most people do not have quite this amount of trouble. When red stops being red and starts being brown, for instance, is another one. Certain shades of grey have almost a purplish tint to me. I’m sure there are others, but those are the most glaring. And yet I’m definitely not color blind. I guess I’m just weird. ::shrug:: ---
**Author:** ![jester21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ed655f/32.png) [@jester21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jester21)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-colors-the-same-for-everyone/287674/29 "2005-02-02T16:31:12Z")
> [@lizardling](#): > > I hadn’t considered it, until the question was brought up in some SF story that I read years ago as a sort of throwaway mention. Specifically, even the telepaths in that universe were unable to determine the truth of this question, since a telepath would necessarily be filtering the other person’s perceptions through their own. > > Wish I could remember where I read it… Though, i wonder, if in as with Andy’s Case: Is the problem w/ the eyes? or w/ the Brain? Cuz, if it’s the brain, then possessing someone’s (Andy’s) body would only result in: “His eyes are normal”. Where as if it’s the brain, doing the Vulcan Mind-Meld would result in: “This guy is either insane or brain damaged” :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-colors-the-same-for-everyone/287674/30 "2005-02-02T18:32:23Z")
I have a vague recollection of reading about people (usually women) who have even more colour perception than normal people - has anyone else heard of this, or am I just mis-remembering? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-colors-the-same-for-everyone/287674/31 "2005-02-02T18:52:04Z")
You are asking two different questions in one here, actually: 1. Are there differences in the range of color vision between people? and 1. Are there differences in what people perceive as specific colors? And the answer to both is Yes, but for quite different reasons. Several people above have gone into the issue of “color blindness” (I believe there’s a technical term for this, but don’t know or recall it). In addition, there is a large degree of difference in perception of color at the indigo-violet end of the spectrum. Some people distinguish indigo as a distinct color; for others, it’s a deep blue, or I guess for a few a blue-violet. Some people see quite a bit deeper into the violet range than others. And people who have had surgical replacement of the lens of their eye (by an artificial lens) see color for a significant range into the near ultraviolet. (AFAIK it’s not perceived as “a new color” à la Terry Pratchett’s eighth color, but rather as varying shades of violet.) On the other hand, what is perceived as “a greenish blue” or “a bluish green” or red vs. red-orange vs. orange vs. yellow-orange vs. yellow are cultural artifacts, not perceptual differences. There were a few studies performed regarding “primitive cultures” with languages with only a few color words, and it was found that distinguishing different hues was (except for color-blindness) not particularly different across humanity, but that how colors were classified varied greatly. In other words, what we term chartreuse would be seen as that color by people from every culture – but whether they’d term it “chartreuse,” “yellow-green,” “greenish yellow,” or “yellowish green” or strict “green” or “yellow” depends on the cultural “set” in which they think. The perception is the same; the cataloguing of it differs. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-colors-the-same-for-everyone/287674/32 "2005-02-02T19:25:42Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > On the other hand, what is perceived as “a greenish blue” or “a bluish green” or red vs. red-orange vs. orange vs. yellow-orange vs. yellow are cultural artifacts, not perceptual differences. There were a few studies performed regarding “primitive cultures” with languages with only a few color words, and it was found that distinguishing different hues was (except for color-blindness) not particularly different across humanity, but that how colors were classified varied greatly. In other words, what we term chartreuse would be seen as that color by people from every culture – but whether they’d term it “chartreuse,” “yellow-green,” “greenish yellow,” or “yellowish green” or strict “green” or “yellow” depends on the cultural “set” in which they think. The perception is the same; the cataloguing of it differs. A while ago, a friend and I were arguing over what to call a particular shade diplayed on my computer monitor. I said that it was blue, he claimed it was green. To settle the issue, I fired up my handy color picker application and clicked the color. It turns out we were both right - it was cyan, with equal proportions of blue and green. ---
**Author:** ![Asteroide](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@Asteroide](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asteroide)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-colors-the-same-for-everyone/287674/33 "2005-02-02T22:52:45Z")
Well - as long as it’s possible to discuss questions like “what’s your favorite color ?”, and to debate which colors can be pleasingly paired and which can’t, It’s safe to say that subjective experience of colors varies from person to person. Not sure if this is really relevant to the OP. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2005, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-colors-the-same-for-everyone/287674/34 "2005-02-02T23:40:55Z")
Some art crtics have written that Vincent Van Gogh saw colors differently…his later paintings show brassy tones of orange, yellow, and red. supposedly, thjis was due toVan gogh’sheavy useof absinth, and his advancing mental illness. Has ths been disproven? ---
**Author:** ![newcomb\_being](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/97f17d/32.png) [@newcomb\_being](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcomb_being)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-colors-the-same-for-everyone/287674/35 "2005-02-03T01:08:07Z")
I didn’t read all the threads (sorry), but doesn’t the fact that there are different shades, and pastels and such pretty much eliminate this way of thinking? Pink is usually seen as a “girly” color… could it be someone else out there is seeing what I would call green and thinks that is a girly color? Nah. I thought about this when I was a child as well, and thought it was mind blowing. Then I learned about the visible light spectrem and though, “probably not.” ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-colors-the-same-for-everyone/287674/36 "2005-02-03T02:07:44Z")
> [@newcomb being](#): > > Pink is usually seen as a “girly” color… could it be someone else out there is seeing what I would call green and thinks that is a girly color? Nah. There’s nothing intrinsically “girly” about the color pink, it’s an identification made through association–we associate girls with the color pink for…well…for various (some obvious) reasons. If you spend your entire life perceiving pink as the color green, then you will associate the color green with that identification of “girliness”. ---
**Author:** ![JasonFin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/4af34b/32.png) [@JasonFin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JasonFin)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-colors-the-same-for-everyone/287674/37 "2005-02-03T05:59:03Z")
This would only really be a meaningful question if human perception were a lot simpler than it actually is. The lines between our different senses and between perception and interpretation aren’t nearly as clear as we might naively think. [This absolutely fascinating article](http://www.truncheon.net/newyorker/20030728_sacks.html) suggests that the visual imagination of once-sighted people who have become blind can come to differ in fundamental ways from that of sighted people and between one another. ---
**Author:** ![II\_Gyan\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/bbe5ce/32.png) [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-colors-the-same-for-everyone/287674/38 "2005-02-03T08:24:17Z")
> [@JasonFin](#): > > This would only really be a meaningful question if human perception were a lot simpler than it actually is. The lines between our different senses and between perception and interpretation aren’t nearly as clear as we might naively think. I think it possesses enough coherence to be a meaningful question. Let it be phrased thus: _Do the observed similarities in structure and behaviour among individual humans indicate (gross) similarities in the subjective phenomenon experienced?_ and equally _Can any consistent correlations be established between the nervous system and subjective experience?_. This should take care of your objections. The objection then left is, that if qualia are epiphenomenal, all that an affirmative answer to the above questions demonstrates is internal consistency, not external. Without falsifying solipsism, these questions are unanswerable, but meaningful. ---
**Author:** ![newcomb\_being](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/97f17d/32.png) [@newcomb\_being](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcomb_being)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-colors-the-same-for-everyone/287674/39 "2005-02-03T08:53:07Z")
> [@](#): > > More recent research, however, suggests that color terminology may not be so arbitrary after all. Brent Berlin and Paul Kay (Basic Color Terms: Their Universality and Evolution, 1969), to whom Cecil is indebted for much of the preceding discussion, suggest that there is a remarkable degree of uniformity in the way different cultures assign color names. In a study of 98 languages from a variety of linguistic families, they found the following “rules” seem to apply: > > 1. All languages contain terms for white and black. > > 2. If a language contains three terms, then it contains a term for red. > > 3. If a language contains four terms, then it contains a term for either green or yellow (but not both). > > 4. If a language contains five terms, then it contains terms for both green and yellow. > > 5. If a language contains six terms, then it contains a term for blue. > > 6. If a language contains seven terms, then it contains a term for brown. > > 7. If a language contains eight or more terms, then it contains a term for purple, pink, orange, grey, or some combination of these. This isn’t really talking about what this thread is about, but it’s relevant I believe. And it settles it for me. I just don’t think that different people can observe the visible light spectrem differently than others. I think we’re wired to attach a certain color with a certain wavelength, and I doubt it’s random. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2005, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-colors-the-same-for-everyone/287674/40 "2005-02-03T17:23:59Z")
[This](http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20040802/color.html) is what I was talking about - > [@](#): > > “It is estimated that a number of people today — we estimate about 40 percent of women — have (an) added color perception ability; however, it is unclear whether natural selection still operates today to maintain it.” (Thanks for the link, **RitzyRae**.) Women apparently can have one or two red opsins, which are on the X chromosome - men can therefore only have one at most. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-colors-the-same-for-everyone/287674.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-colors-the-same-for-everyone/287674.md?page=3)