Understanding Color Perception: Insights from Science and Art

Have you ever wondered if everyone perceives color in the same way? While we often think of color as a property of objects—like the red light at traffic signals or the blue of the sky—the scientific understanding reveals a more complex picture. Color is actually a perceptual experience crafted by our brains through the interaction of light, material surfaces, and individual neural processing. When light hits an object, it is absorbed or reflected in different ways, influencing what reaches our eyes. However, the true experience of color depends on how our brains interpret these signals.

Perception of color is influenced by various factors, including the shape, context, and surrounding environment of objects. For example, a paint swatch might look perfect in a shop but appear entirely different once applied on walls, due to environmental influences. Recent research at the University of California, Berkeley, has demonstrated this perceptual aspect by manipulating eye responses with lasers to induce viewers to see a new color, dubbed ‘olo’—a shade of blue-green. This work involved stimulating specific retinal cells, called M-cones, which detect green wavelengths of light. Variations in the sensitivity and number of these cones among individuals cause slight differences in how we perceive colors.

Under natural conditions, multiple types of cones—S, M, and L—are activated in overlapping ways, making true ‘pure’ colors difficult to achieve. Artists have long understood that color perception is influenced not only by pigments but also by the surrounding environment and viewer interaction. For instance, painter Mark Rothko meticulously arranged lighting and wall colors to shape how his artworks were experienced, emphasizing the interaction between light, color, and observer.

Interestingly, some visual impairments, like red-green color blindness, result from overlaps in cone sensitivities, limiting the ability to distinguish certain colors. Moreover, language and cultural differences can influence how we perceive and categorize colors, showing that perception is deeply rooted in brain processes.

Despite the pursuit of creating ‘pure’ colors in art and pigments, true perfection remains elusive because color is fundamentally a perception rather than a fixed property. Artists like Stuart Semple have claimed to recreate new colors through innovative materials, but these are still interpretations influenced by human perception. The development of new technologies and scientific understanding opens exciting possibilities: future research may allow direct neural stimulation to produce specific color experiences, fundamentally changing how we see and understand color.

This evolving understanding emphasizes that color is not just sensory data but an integral part of emotional and cognitive experience. Artists and scientists alike recognize that the interaction of light, material, and the mind shapes our perception of the world, inspiring ongoing exploration into the mysteries of color perception.