Science Questions

Do we all see colours as the same?

We’re taught that the grass is green and the sky is blue but do all of us see these colours as the same? Fran, via SMS

Ben - I think it’s partly cultural but ultimately, the actual frequency of light that our eyes are picking up is going to be same for green as it is for everybody else.  But then if we’re brought up being told that green is in fact blue then, we’ll always going to think that green is blue.  Kat, what do you think?

Kat -   Yeah.  I think we had someone on a while ago who was talking about the science of vision and basically the red I see is not the same as the red you see.  It’s because the frequency maybe the same but it really depends how the brain interprets it.

September 2009