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MEL's picture

Color

 

I found our discussion about color this week very interesting. I have always wondered about color perception and how it differs from person to person. Although it makes sense to me that every person interprets wavelengths and perceives colors differently, it is still strange that color is completely a construction of the brain. Is our individual color perception due to genetic factors? Is my perception of the color red similar to my mother’s perception of red? Is there any way to determine how two people’s perceptions of a color differ?  Our discussion about color got my thinking about the consequences of people having different color perception. What influences color pairing? For example, when I pick out an outfit I usually try to avoid some color pairings (purple and yellow) because I think they clash. Most people agree with the opinion that purple and yellow clash. How does this conformity develop if we all see different colors that correspond with the names “purple” and “yellow”? Is this conformity due to environmental factors? Are many people taught that certain colors don’t match and then, therefore, internalize the belief that the colors that they perceive, such  as “purple” and “yellow”, do indeed clash? How do we form color or color pairing preferences?

 

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