• Question: Do you think that maybe everybody sees colours completely differently, but because we cannot describe colour, we'll never know? Because we get taught to put names to colours, but the colours each of us see could be totally different.

    Asked by selmae to Andrew, Ash, Gem, Paige, SJ on 28 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Paige Brown

      Paige Brown answered on 28 Jun 2012:

      That is a very good question!!! Indeed scientists recently discovered that some women have more cones than other women, and can see more colors. These women, called tetrachromats, can see four distinct ranges of color, instead of the three that most of us live with. Some animals are tetrachromats, and can detect UV light for instance (birds can do this), which helps them better choose mates and find food.

      I think that it is very possible that humans all have slightly different sensitivities in their cones and rods to color, and so the colors you see might be so very slightly different that what your friend sees!! But probably the colors are not radically different…. you probably wouldn’t ever be able to really tell a difference!

      Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/health/some-women-may-see-100-million-colors-thanks-to-their-genes-450179/#ixzz1z5UrjyLO

    • Photo: Gemma Staite

      Gemma Staite answered on 1 Jul 2012:

      I think Paige is spot on with this. I definitely think that everyone sees slightly different colours and shades to each other, rather than totally different. You are right though, we can’t really describe them and it would be possible based on the fact we are taught what they are by looking. It is subjective.

    • Photo: SarahJayne Boulton

      SarahJayne Boulton answered on 2 Jul 2012:

      The way we experience the world is a some of our senses – colour is a really important part of our visual sense. I wonder the same about this as we each, as individuals, take those signals from our eyes and ears and fingertips and build up a picture of the world around us.

      Our interpretation of these signals is bound to be unique from person to person. How cool would it be to switch your conciousness with someone else and see how their body and brain work together to interpret the world around them? I wholehearted see where you’re coming from and wonder the same. We’ll never really know though, as we only have our one body and one set of nerves and sensory organs.

      I have a friend called Jez who has achromatopsia – he has no cones in his eyes and thus sees no colour at all. His perception of detail and texture is mindblowing – as a costume designer his drawings are so incredibly precise it’s unreal. He claims his eye for detail comes from ‘not being distracted by the noise of colour’.

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