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alisonros...

M¢25 Funded By Mahalo ? | July 02, 2009 03:58 PM

Open Question: How can we prove that we all see the same thing? Like how do I know when I see red, you also see "red"?

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sciencegal

July 02, 2009 07:55 PM | view on twitter

While we may all see red differently, we all identify what we see as red. It is difficult to say that we see exactly the same thing. However, our perception of whatever we see is defined the same.

To consider different perceptions, read this http://www.flickr.com/groups/56447474@N00/

"The real voyage of discovery lies not in seeking new
landscapes but in seeing with new eyes."
— Marcel Proust

Hence, the landscape may be the same, the perception varies.
Source(s):
http://www.flickr.com/groups/56447474@N00/
http://lydiagarciastudios.com/index.htm

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Voted as best: beast1oh1, badaspie

nushka

July 03, 2009 07:20 PM

Good one!
However, it is difficult to have "different eyes" since the photoreceptors of the human retina (and its photopigments -molecules that sense light) are basically the same. However, there could be variations in the number of these cells and this could lead to variations on light perception for different colours (different wavelenghts).
But in the end, we all have been set up using the same standards.

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krysstel

July 02, 2009 05:58 PM | view on twitter

tough question! visual acuity and accuracy is based on a complex process between the eyes, the brain, nerves, blood vessels, memory (both accurate and confabulated) and other factors...... My opinion (and I am not a doctor) but have studied a lot of pre-med is that people do not all see the same things, visually.

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nushka

July 03, 2009 07:28 PM

Light-sensing and color-vision are a more primary process. Independently of the connections to the brain, the human photoreceptors do have the same photopigments. These molecules have a very characteristic light spectra (range of wavelengths that excite the molecule).
So in the eye ("visually"), red is always red and it elicites certain responses that other colors don't (and vice-versa).
But in the end, when the information gets to the brain, things are less universal and there could be thousands of factors that could make a person picture blue in their heads when they see red in their eyes.
I recommend the site WebVision for all vision-related matters. It's major contributors are PhD students from the fields of Ophtalmology and Vision Research. I used to be one of them.

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