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We Don't All See The Same Color.

By Alex in Pictures, Science & Tech on Feb 5, 2006 at 2:01 am


Do we see colors the same way? Maybe not, according to this science report:

Debi Roberson of the University of Essex in Colchester, U.K., and colleagues studied a Southern African tribal community whose members, she reported, viewed colors quite differently from English speakers. They gave the same name to blue and green, for example.

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  1. residentweevil
    Feb 5th, 2006 at 10:12 pm

    Seems like not so much that we see colors differently, but that we name them differently.

  2. Eric N.
    Feb 6th, 2006 at 12:12 am

    Well, is it from our cultural exposure and ability to see much finer seperations between colors than those of tribal Africa? Is it the technology we use?

  3. Alex
    Feb 6th, 2006 at 1:03 am

    Good point residentweevil, but I disagree: it's not that they name it differently but they actually classify the colors differently. According to the chart above, for Himba people, red is composed of different hues than what we call red.

    There are two scientific camp of thoughts here: the first , called "cultural relativitist" said that culture shapes man's perception and hence his classification of color. The second, called "universalist" said that color is so basic it's hard coded in the brain.

    Which one is correct? Who knows, there is evidence for both.

  4. Gesu`, notes from stambugia » Blog Archive » Qualcuno ha detto “Wittgenstein”?
    Sep 19th, 2006 at 9:19 am

    [...] (Via Neatorama) [...]

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