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What color is the dress, really?
One of the top social media items today regards the color of the above dress. Is it blue and black? Or white and gold? The internet is in a disarray and a great debate has ensued. Even Taylor Swift has chimed in (her vote is blue and black). I see white with a gold fringe.…
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How do we see so many colors on a digital screen?
How can we possibly perceive a world of colors from just red, green, and blue, the colors of lights in TV, computer, and phone screens? The answer has to do with the way our visual system is set up: We have three different kinds of cones in the retina which respond most to what we…
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What is color (in vision)?
Roses are red, Violets are blue, And you probably think That the sky is blue too. Color, however, exists only in the mind: Color is our experience that maps onto the physical luminance properties of visible light and visible-light reflectance properties of objects. Psychologists call this color perception, to recognize that color is more a property…
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Synesthesia: When Ordinary Activities Trigger Extraordinary Sensations
Many of us have had the experience of unusual associations between our senses and our memories. Perhaps a certain smell unexpectedly reminds you of a grandparent, or certain foods evoke memories of old friends. Associations between memories and sensory experience are normal, but about 4% of the population experiences a condition called synesthesia in which…