URN: 6033145 page

Title: How do we perceive colour?

        

The meaning of colour is very complex to describe. When people try to describe a colour, they usually link it with something of that colour and give an example to explain it. For example, the colour “Green” is linked to grass or trees since these have in common the green colour. However, there is evidence showing that some cultures do not list colours in the same groups other cultures do. For instance, people from Berimno separate “green” into two sections: nol and wor (Davidoff, Davies, and Roberson 1999). They cannot distinguish blue from green, but this is good in some way because it is not difficult for them to perceive “blue “as being “green “as they are found in the identical colour group (cited in Perception book, Fifth edition, chapter 7, page 235).

Bornstein and colleagues carried out a research in order to find out whether there is a difference between the way infants and adults perceive colour. Firstly, they showed a bit of light, whose leading wavelength was 480 nanometres, a light that is familiar to blue. After looking at the light for some time, infants showed there incapability of seeing the colour. Bornstein then used a new bit of light that was similar to the previous one with wavelength 450 or 510 nanometres. The human eye perceives that light as green. Infants responded to the light this time unlike before. The results of the experiment showed that both infants and adults perceive colour in the same way (cited in Perception book, Fifth edition, chapter 7, pages 235-236).

Join now!

Isaak Newton argues that objects are not coloured but are given their colour through the reflection of light from certain parts of the scope. Moreover, there are some people who see colours differently from the majority of people because they may have irregular eyes or irregular brains and these are the two important parts from where people perceive colours. Newton discovered that the light which showed up as orange was metameric with a combination of red and yellow lights. By looking at Newton’s colour circle, you notice how he expresses his ideas from the results of light combinations. ...

This is a preview of the whole essay