How we see color - Colm Kelleher

View full lesson: ed.ted.com/lessons/how-we-see-...
There are three types of color receptors in your eye: red, green and blue. But how do we see the amazing kaleidoscope of other colors that make up our world? Colm Kelleher explains how humans can see everything from auburn to aquamarine.
Talk by Colm Kelleher, animation by TED-Ed.

[@lbncstll7415]

i love that our eyes are seeing this and knowing that this is happening while we're watching this

[@basti4655]

Our eyes are only the light sensors and signal converters, the actual seeing happens in our brain.

[@evanthedragon3704]

​@@basti4655 yeah right man!

[@user-hp8rf4ze5k]

@@basti4655 fr! everything that we perceive as happening is just consistent hallucination lmao

[@pawamusic1301]

Cruise

[@greencat1849]

@@basti4655 well reeeeeally, the processing takes place in the eye

[@dargon1084]

First I always think the natural world is beautiful. But in a way, the act of us learning something is just as beautiful

[@laureleephillips8266]

It's one and the same as we are part of the 'natural world'. Yuval Noah Harari author of Sapiens A Brief History of Humankind, taught me this and much more.

[@dargon1084]

@@laureleephillips8266 one of the best books I've read, very sad in some parts too

[@Tamizushi]

While I knew all of these things, I always have a hard time explaining and you guys are doing an awesome job at it. I think from now on everything I speak to someone about colours the eyes I'm just gonna show them this video instead. Keep up the good work!! :)

[@Tupster]

A nice, concise, and simple explanation of a complex topic.

[@NovaRuner]

this fascinating! but then I started to wonder... what if someone genetically engineered a people with retina cone cells for other light waves? like ultraviolet or radio waves. would those guys think the rest of us color blind? and how might their perception of color be different from ours? Makes you think doesn't it?

[@user-em4rk4qo1f]

+Nathan Ricard Would be fantastic if that was possible

[@workhardt2]

Well light is just energy that is being transferred. The difference between different electromagnectic waves ( ultraviolet waves, radio waves, light) is simply their wave lenght. Color, is an illusion. Our eyes our merely sensers, the energy transferred with wave lengths of ( 400 cm to 700 cm ) is called light..

[@wolfwithlashes5303]

Actually there's animals like butterflies who can see at least double the colors we can, they have six of those color sensors so they can mix up more color combinations we can only imagine.

[@rob-profoundlydapper1619]

There is a condition(forgot what it was called) that causes a person to have 4 cones in their eyes (only present in women and quite rare), the world perceived by them is full of more colours than the average person can determine.

[@naveenrajan537]

Nathan Ricard those kind of peole alrady exist..it's most like you say..they ate tetra chromatic... They can see four colours... just evolution...

[@pulpfictionost]

lol, Its an Irish accent. He sounds so happy. :D

[@gojo_is_alive]

jacksepticye.

[@w3jd4n]

he sounds happytalking about rainbows, get it? patrick’s day

[@nontrainspotter]

Yea, you made my point clearer and more concise than I did, hadn't thought about the "cross wiring" with other sensations of which there are many examples now I think about it!

[@akhileshsajeev4240]

Beautifully and lucidly explained 👌

[@taalatchouf5427]

This is one of the most fascinating video I've ever seen. Proves how little I know. Thanks!

[@taleahbailey9667]

Ahhh, the 'no signal' tv screen with that specific array of colours... It all makes sense haha!

[@numex106]

seeing this makes me want to protect my eyes more

[@beanman4342]

7 years later

[@mayasudac6232]

@@beanman4342 1 month later

[@buggax7967]

@@mayasudac6232 1 week later

[@mayasudac6232]

@@buggax7967 2 hours later

[@sigmaswan2969]

Yeah

[@Jcarr250]

RGB is an additive color system, where the colors combine together at the same time. Red blue and yellow form the basis of a subtractive color system. Each dye works by absorbing colors, but reflecting a certain frequency well in order to give it its color. When you combine them, the two dyes each absorb some of each others frequencies, which causes them to reduce the strength of the two. The primary colors in each are really determined by several things and I don't have room here for it.

[@sofiya2319]

Animations are WOW really playing a big role in understanding and learning. 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@nickromo8195]

Wow isn't an adjective

[@DisGuyEditz]

@@nickromo8195 so you really care about that?

[@asmitapaul_]

Ted-Ed videos r equal to ASMR videos for mee,so relaxing ...😌 (additional benefit: no wastage of any products and u get to know about something in detail)

[@tinkerbell_faye]

Thank you so much for your videos. I find them very helpful; I have an exam in perception and cognition, and your videos are extremely helpful! Thank you!

[@irasanchez1265]

I like hearing voice artists with a variety of accents. Addison is good, but I'm happy to hear the diversity of others.

[@KapilMidha]

good video, nicely and concisely explains certain aspects of colour vision in humans.

[@Daph909]

Wow, I'm used to working with RGB stuff in photoshop and video editing software, but I honestly never knew why these three colours are so important. Thank you so much for clearing that up, it totally makes sense to me now!:)

[@khanhnamphung836]

It's so helpful.Thank you,Ted.

[@ahmednasseh]

very beautifully presented Thank you

[@Kibari2600]

Thank you! I was about to tell Smith something myself but then I saw your comment. You actually said more than what I was about to x)

[@gozdavid9671]

thank you for presentation.

[@ManojKumar-si9zj]

Thanks for the knowledge bro😊 Loved your explanation 👏 👌

[@cemiledu]

Thank you, I search this too much but couldn't find an answer. Thanks to you now I am so happy to find an answer to my question

[@azaleamartinez3482]

This REALLY helped me on my science project !!!! :D

[@CarlosPortela]

very simple ... brilliant

[@DriverrRon]

Finally, It took me some time to find a show that understands why we really see light. I give props to Colm Kelleher's internet science show... I feel you should get the nobel-peace prize but maybe some day...

[@indebtanup]

Wouldn't noise cancellation require both waves to have the same frequency? So that, like you said, the opposite amplitudes coincide. This gets me thinking though: If waves of diff frequencies superpose, then shouldn't we always just see one resultant wave? Rather than seeing discrete colors and objects, shouldn't we just see one "final" wave as given by the superposition formula?

[@rahatali365]

i really loved the way it explained

[@ericlang7987]

Wow, this sounds really cool!

[@jacobandrews2663]

JUST PERFECT!

[@Pozpenguin]

This is fantastic!

[@spitama1234]

great video. Thank you!!

[@Alphathon]

What makes it even sillier is that the video that is being displayed is encoded in terms of R, G and B, so any yellow that is displayed is merely reconstructed from the existing RGB source, which is what our eyes would do anyway.

[@TheBelmontClan]

Thats a very good point of spectrum processing. The thresh hold between the subreality in which reality is born from. Color blocks being separated in a play pen is much different than four color theorm. Its the complexities associated with human emotion based on colors and unresolved historical grivences that have effect all down to the simple level of color processing. Colors have history already pre-wired into them before life is even born.

[@nicoswithsevenis]

this is really eye opening

[@dcxdawn7541]

this little film is exceptional!

[@naveensharma7478]

Thank Boss . Please more videos

[@renouncer]

I LOVE THIS!!! TED ED ARE THE GOATS!!!

[@googolplexbyte]

Wow, that was really good.

[@daredevilskydiver]

That’s really an eye opener ☺️

[@valtunacat]

thank you , i have been watching all yoour videos and i learn a lot more things then i do in school :)

[@MrJayPuff]

Can you explain how this works with the opponent process theory of vision

[@apexindigo3217]

Mind expanded thanks

[@daddyleon]

oh... yeah :( I know those.. thanks for helping me with the definition

[@hoppopandaciddrop]

Yeah, I think I'll continue to make subs for videos. It'd be great to translate it in voice and posting as a video response. I'm working on it...

[@habeebasultana7593]

The composition of these 3 receptors make us perceive colors and that's why the red color you see isn't actually the same red color some other guy sees because you both don't have the exact number of photoreceptors. Job well done Ted👍 Widened our perspective BTW are you really TED the man with the golden voice who was found homeless before his talent's recognition

[@taiham25]

I know this comment is from 2 years ago, but having more receptors then someone else doesn’t mean you see a completely different color, we all have the same type of cones (short, medium, long) having more of let’s say long cones can help you differentiate between long wavelengths, so if you have more long cones you can see more shades of red than the average person, not see a completely different color.

[@naimaghulamm3454]

Thank You For Sharing...

[@late_arvie]

Very good video. Thanks.

I would hire this guy just to say the word "cone"

[@ivfm13]

Awesome! Thanks!

[@javierreyna5321]

Guillermo González Camarena was the mexican inventor that made the first color TV :) .

[@ma2i485]

nice

[@toka1296]

thank you so much it is really useful and helps me in my exam

[@SSJ5Goton]

the frequency of light waves don't have colors - they are just frequencies. It is only when they stimulate the cones in our retina that we "see" color.

[@-physics]

Thank you so much

[@axelharris6495]

this video was so helpful for my project im doing

[@JaedenFerr]

Loved the video btw

[@spurthichadharam9144]

Thank you for giving this opportunity, I think an object gets its color as it accepts that quantum of energy..for example red color is obtained as the object is at that energy quantum in its natural state..

[@iheart2ferrets]

great information, thank you :)

[@heidi_jsamuel]

Amazing video ❤️

[@kennedypressley7091]

Okay I have a question.So if green and red light makes the color yellow the why is yellow considered a primary color instead of green?🤔

[@helmutalexanderrubiowilson6835]

flawless explanation of this in youtube

[@maakatea8]

Well done! I would have also mentioned a little bit of the opponent-process theory, though. Trichromatic theory is only half of the story, and it would be important to say that even if it makes it a bit more complicated.

[@davide7708]

Can you explain?

[@ayush_singh6203]

can we bypass the eye and directly induce these colors to visual cortex?

[@waterlife3933]

true that is the eye deeps the oposite of it that is the 3 primary colors, energys, lights, are in the space, ciano, magenta and yellow, :)

[@alegtz2584]

The video was very interesting.

[@giuseppeturco7377]

I simply think that there are some phenomena wich can be both perceived and phisically described, and others that can only be perceived or only be described phisically. And, of course, that experiencing something is completely different than just understand it theoretically, but this doesn't mean that a theoretical description could not correspond to or explain perceivable phenomena (for example we don't directly perceive the velocity of gas particles in the air, but we do perceive temperature, which theoretically depends on this average velocity). There would be much more to discuss and think about

[@blindekillen]

My take on it is that all the different regions of the brain is used for interpretating different forms of signals. As these senses gets more and more complex with more and more ways of observing the physical world. Soundwaves, lightwaves and then representations to predict causal patterns of all these signals your brain has taken in. The conciousness grows out of these senses in combination to build a richer simulation of the oustide world. An observer is needed to get a full picture of it.

[@QuantumSong]

The "cancelling" only happens to waves of the same frequency and opposite phases (not amplitudes, amplitude is always positive by definition). So waves of the same or very close frequencies do "interact" with each other (scientifically speaking, they make an interference pattern), but waves of different frequencies propagate mostly independently from one another. See wikipedia page on Interference.

[@iMacBoy91]

Über cool explanation! :D

[@user-rq8gm5gv7u]

Nice precious knowledge worth it watching it after 9yrs lol can't believe

[@munikalyanvenkatesh4576]

Ohh... That's awesome..... Thank you

[@janatawelfareenghighschool6414]

huiii

[@hoppopandaciddrop]

0:15 - 0:21 Вы наверное слышали, что свет, в некотором смысле, является волной и что цвет объекта зависит от частоты световой волны, которую он отражает. 0:22 - 0:29 Свет с высокой частотой электро-магнитного излучения видится нам фиолетовым, с низкой - красным, а промежуточная частота светового спектра видится нам желтой, зеленой, оранжевой и т.д.

[@Buttocks79]

This video is interesting but I'd love to see an additional few of minutes talking about white. There is no way to make white light with a monochromatic light source, it only exists as a mixture of other wavelengths of light. In essense, there is no physical white light, it only exists in the mind. Would make a good segway into talking about how the brain processses and represents our qualitative experience of colour, which is truely fascinating.

[@qwertymnvcxz]

This guys voice is amazing.

[@mokk0ri]

Thanks!

[@malcolmbryant]

You disagree with the statement that "two different frequencies shouldn't interact at all" yet give as a counterexample the case when "two waves of opposite amplitude coincide" to produce noise cancellation. Opposite amplitude yes, but they need to be of the SAME FREQUENCY for it to work. The man in the video is wholly correct.

[@Chandima504]

This is amazing

[@aventadorgamer1575]

Very informative

[@MushroomKing30]

The rods and cones should be pointing outwards instead of inwards, with regards to the center of the eyeball

[@gksalf10]

If the red and green christmas lights are overlapped and neither blocks each other(not realistic assumption), it will look like a piece of yellow lightsource. But you see a red light and a green light at [different locations]. Beams of light coming from different locations arrive at different points on retina, thus stimulating different cells of different points. Brain can interprete both color and "location"(or rather, "direction") of the light source, not only the color.

[@AzCrX2]

how can i find more about this combination the brain does, whats the name of this phenomena ? I have heard of this no pink thing but i would like to know thesicence that makes it

[@mwauraerick]

I have a question. If the cone cells are damaged, leaving only the rod ones, does it mean I will see black and white? It might be cool somehow

[@2442MTS]

The RGB-color system is used to describe light, while the RYB-color system is used to describe paint. If you mixed all colored light together you would get white, while if you mixed all colored paint together you would get black.

[@delvin480]

What music is this on the intro of video

[@juriaanlangstraat8049]

Great video! Is there an option to view this video with Dutch (Nederlands) subtitels? Would be great for my students.

[@allydog509]

If I remember correctly, clicking on "captions", should work, but it's been a long time, so I could be wrong.

[@RANDALZ]

You're totally right.

[@nezamani_]

Thank God for us who have the blessing of eyesight.

[@Infinitiely]

Very cool!

[@KuZiMeiChuan]

How is it that we perceive at all? Where is the specific mechanism in the brain that is experiencing all of this? I know it's in the occipital lobe, we can see the activity in fMRI scans, but it's hard to frame the question of what I'm asking exactly. If this world I see is a screen in a movie theater, then what is watching the movie? An atom? Chemical reactions? Electricity? What is consciousness made of? What is the core component of the brain that suffers its perceived reality?

[@kendallangel8960]

Color is property of the object. Color is produced by the absorption of selected wavelengths of light by an object. Objects can be thought of as absorbing all colors except the colors of THEIR APPEARANCE which are reflected (that's why color is property of the object). A blue object illuminated by white light absorbs most of the wavelengths except those corresponding to blue light. These blue wavelengths are reflected by the object.

[@TheDummbob]

+Kendall Angel Hey, did you just copy/paste BasharCommunications's comment when "attaking" my other comment? (Also by this logic, the property of the object would be wavelenght of el.magn. waves, not color)

[@TheDummbob]

There may not be evidence that the brain creates color, but there ain't no evidence that light is color either. No, you get it wrong, YOU confuse perception with reality. I'm repeating myself, but you guys just don't seem to get it. Look what i'm saying is this: The physical property called light, actually doesn't look like it looks to us. Its only colored when sensed and translated by a certain biochemical algorithm. It gets translated into color, but in and of itself (eg. it's objective "look") it is not colored. I'm nit saying that light doesn't exist or anything like that, just saying that it doesn't look like anything outside of brains capable of processing light. This doesn't mean that it can't be sensed: It still has energy, it still can interact with matter, therefore it still can be sensed by other organisms without a brain to "produce" the color. All you need in order to explain that, is that electro magnetic waves do exist beyond our perception, and they do interact with other objects beyond our perception. Color is not needed to explain any of these phenomenon YOU guys say, that what you percieve (color) is actually the same thing as the objective physical property that is being observed. therefore YOU confuse perception with reality, because YOU say that you can see the objective qualities of light. I'm saying that i can't see the objective properties of light, because i think they can't be seen. Therefore i differentiate between what i can see and what is really physically there, outside of my brain. If that sounds like confusing perception with reality to you, then you're lost in the labyrinth of your own confused "reality".

[@monkgot45]

Ahhh. Okay the way it was presented in this confused me to an extant. Thanks:)

[@alberthaust4542]

In the diagram, why is light shown moving through portions of the eye other than the pupil? Also, going by how physicists sometimes speak, light waves are bigger than the waves shown in this diagram.

[@casaamaril]

Great!

[@yulibby6267]

I’m watching this for school as a quiz for the teacher but every time I’m submitted to the teacher it returns as Missing

[@GP1706]

Keep it up. Though we should also discuss lobe which is responsible for color in our brain

[@zodiacfml]

Lucky for digital camera makers.

[@GMLSX]

And you can prove it with a good camera or the color picker within a paint programm.

[@ayaabdelmawla1857]

❤thnkx

[@123JimmyTheCookie]

I'm Irish too :D That feeling of pride...