Is Your Red the Same as My Red? Colour Perception and a Light Quiz

Is your red the same as my red?

Yeah, we both agree that stop signs are red, as are blood, strawberries and superman’s cape. But what’s to say the ‘red’ you see isn’t actually ‘green’ to me? You might be surprised to learn that there’s some pretty concrete evidence to support this theory. (Note: the evidence is suggestive rather than concrete. The 2012 Live Science article quoted here points to differences between individuals’ colour vision, such as red-green colour blindness and experiments with monkeys, and to colour being “a private sensation”; it does not show that anyone’s red looks green to someone else.)

“I think we can say for certain that people don’t see the same colors,” says Joseph Carroll, color vision scientist at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

You see, color perception is a very individual thing. It’s all got to do with our experiences in the world around us and how they impact our brains.

“The circuitry there simply takes in whatever information it has and then confers some sort of perception,” says Carroll.

How’s your brain doing? I’ll give you a second to scrape it off the ceiling before we continue.

You good? Cool. On the topic of color perception, how about we do a little test? Check out the following quiz that’ll help you analyze how your experiences in the world have shaped both you and your perception of color. (Note: the quiz is a game and cannot measure colour perception.)

Quiz: How Much Do You Know About Colour Perception?

No quiz can show whether your red looks like mine, but we can test what science does know about how we see colour.

How many types of colour-sensing cone cells does a typical human retina have?
Most people have three cone types, most sensitive to short, medium and long wavelengths of light.
Which cells in the eye do most of the work in dim light?
Rods are very sensitive to low light but do not distinguish colours, which is why colours fade at dusk.
What is the most common type of inherited colour vision deficiency?
Red-green colour vision deficiency is by far the most common inherited type.
Why is red-green colour vision deficiency more common in men?
Men have one X chromosome, so a single altered copy of the gene is enough to affect their colour vision.
Stare at a bright red patch for 30 seconds, then look at a white wall. Which colour does the afterimage usually take?
Tired red-sensitive responses make the afterimage appear in the opposite colour, a blue-green.
Which colour of visible light has the shortest wavelength?
Violet sits at the short-wavelength end of the visible spectrum, red at the long end.
Roughly what range of wavelengths can the human eye see?
Visible light runs from roughly 380 nm (violet) to around 700 nm (red).
In 2015 a viral photo split the internet over whether it was blue and black or white and gold. What was it?
'The Dress' showed how the brain's assumptions about lighting can change the colours people report.
What is 'colour constancy'?
Thanks to colour constancy, a banana still looks yellow to us under both daylight and warm indoor lamps.
How many types of cone cells do dogs typically have?
Dogs are dichromats with two cone types, so they see fewer colour distinctions than most people, not just grey.
Which animal is famous for having far more types of colour photoreceptors than humans?
The mantis shrimp has around a dozen or more photoreceptor types, though studies suggest it does not tell colours apart better than we do.

Colour curious

Colour vision is a surprisingly deep subject. The explanations are a good starting point for exploring it.

Bright spark

You know the basics of how we see colour. A little more reading and you will be explaining afterimages at parties.

Colour scientist

Impressive: you know your rods from your cones and why The Dress fooled so many.

Perfect vision (of the facts)

A perfect score. You clearly know what science can, and cannot, say about how we each see colour.

So, what results did you get? Do you think they’re accurate? What do you make of the whole ‘color perception’ theory we discussed in this article? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Source: Davidwolfe.com via Ideaspots

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