Hi Don,
On Thu, 21 Nov 2002 13:13:55 +0200, Dr E D F Williams wrote:
> I don't think there is any way we can be sure that what one
> person sees is exactly the same as that seen by another.
Well, it's been tested, though I couldn't tell you the technique, and I
didn't do it myself. Consistency of color perception, or
inconsistency, plays a big role in textiles, for example. The "dyeing
and coloring" folks in the textile industry have gone to great lengths
to figure out where they stand in judging product colors before they
leave the factory. This is becoming less of an issue with automated
(computerized) inspection.
In the past, the general rule has been that human females have more
consistent and subtle color perception than human males. Overall, the
mapping between light wavelengths and color names is remarkably
consistent across different humans, once you filter out gross visual
disfunction, like color blindness.
> can't be sure that Tom or Dick sees the same thing when he looks
> at the same Rose petal. His eye will distinguish the wavelength
> as a separate 'colour' but will it be the same as mine?
In general, while maybe not be the identical, the two will typically be
very close to each other, as long as neither of you is color blind,
etc.
> I do know that settings Aino will put up with on her monitor
> downstairs would drive me up the wall.
That's a completely separate issue, however. "What Aino will tolerate
on her monitor" is more of an aesthetic issue. However, there are some
color combinations that cause physical or chemical stress in the visual
system, but there aren't that many of them.
Juxtapose a strong blue with a strong red, and you set up competing
chemical reactions in the neurons of the retina. For most people this
seems to make the edges between the red and blue appear to vibrate. Try
red text on a blue background, or, better yet, blue text on a red
background.
As a test, cut the following text and put it in a file, then view it
with your web browser.
<HTML><HEAD>
<TITLE>Color Test</TITLE>
</HEAD><BODY BGCOLOR="#0000FF">
<FONT SIZE="+3" COLOR="#FF0000">
<P>
Just a little test to see how strongly the red/blue
juxtaposition affects you. For many people, it will
be hard to read this text ... the text will appear
to vibrate against the background.
</P>
</FONT>
</BODY></HTML>
TTYL, DougF KG4LMZ
