Colour Awareness

Have you ever wondered if you see the same colours as other people? Most people know what blue is when they see it. It's the colour of the sea, sky and sapphires. They see the colour and call it blue because they were taught the word and associated it with what they saw. But how do you know what you see as blue isn't someone else's red, and vice versa? The ability to perceive different colours is down to receptors in our eyes known as cones. Light waves hit these receptors, and they react depending on which colour the light is, sending signals to the brain. The brain then decodes these signals to determine which colour of light the eyes are receiving. Some people's receptors are more developed than others. And those with more enhanced receptors can see more shades of one colour, which is the first way in which people may see colours differently from each other. The inability of the receptor to interpret the light waves correctly means that some people cannot distinguish between different shades of a colour. So we sometimes hear people having an argument about whether something is dark blue or black.