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If I would show someone a yellow object and ask them, "is this object yellow?"
That person would say "yes".

But I could never know if my perception of the color yellow is the same as that other person's.
Because he or she could actually be seeing, what I know to be the color green.
But then tells me that its the color yellow because that has been taught to him or her from young age.

So how can you test if people are really seeing the same color?

Question closed and can now be found @ https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/5728/how-can-you-test-what-color-different-people-perceive

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Inadvertently I found how to test color perception by another person and discovered the color blindness of a workman.

A gypsy came by selling plastic chairs of all colors. We bought some for the summer house, and a workman who was present bought two bright orange ones. I was surprised by his choice and before he left for the day I thought he might be color blind, and asked him:

" what color are the chairs you bought."

"why, a nice blue" he replied.

So a test is easy. A questionnaire with colors.

and it has nothing to do with physics.

anna v
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    I dont understand how this anwsers my question, in your situation, you and another man see the same color but discribe it different. In my situation I and another person see a different color but discribe it as the same. –  Jan 09 '13 at 16:02
  • @anna v, You didn't get the question correctly. He is not asking how we can know somebody cann't recognize colors from each other. – AmirHosein Sadeghimanesh Jan 09 '13 at 16:15
  • @AmirHoseinSadeghiManesh If a questionnaire with colors is filled by everybody, then each can check if the others see the same colors as him/herself, i.e. the questionnaire should ask for the name of the colors. – anna v Jan 09 '13 at 16:25
  • @annav, let me describe in this way: think I and You are brother and was grow up together, one wave of light for example with wave length 700nm comes to our eyes but I receive 600nm and you receive it as 700nm, so I see yellow but you see red, but both name it red, although I am seeing standard yellow not standard red. excuse me because of my English. – AmirHosein Sadeghimanesh Jan 09 '13 at 16:39
  • @annav, But your method to find a person is color blind or not is useful.)+1 – AmirHosein Sadeghimanesh Jan 09 '13 at 16:53
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    @anna v, im afraid you still dont understand the question, when all of us where little children we learned what color has wich name because our teacher or someone has told us what name that specific color has. But if you already perceived the color yellow different then I did at the moment we where taught, then we can still both agree that a banana is yellow, yet we both see different colors. –  Jan 09 '13 at 17:56
  • @MichielT The banana has one color, banana color. I do not understand your logic. The definition of the banana color is what the majority calls yellow. What do you mean "different perception" . If one consistently names "yellow" when seeing a banana then that is his/her perception of yellow. If one calls a banana blue then one has a different perception, as happens with people who are colorblind and a test finds it. – anna v Jan 09 '13 at 18:41
  • @annav I agree that the banana has one color, but imagine that you and I know that color to be yellow but if I where to "look through your eyes", and then notice that my yellow is different from your yellow. Thats the situation Im trying to discribe. –  Jan 09 '13 at 19:29
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    then the question makes no sense. There is no way the situation can be tested except metaphysically. – anna v Jan 09 '13 at 20:14
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    well I dont know the answer to this question thats why I'm asking, and was hoping this was testable in some way –  Jan 09 '13 at 20:38