What Color is Your Benham's Top?

[El_Machinae]

Very interesting!
Now, I'm color-blind, so here's the funny part, I'm seeing a color that I know I don't know.

Dark tan? Green? Light brown?

I have no idea. I can see it, I just don't know what y'all would call it.

 

[red_elk]

Two concentric rings, grayish-yellow color. Interesting.

Edit:
This color, tan, very close.

http://www.colorhexa.com/d2b48c

 

[The_J]

Blue + yellow.

Which part is supposed to turn a color? I just see black and white flashing.

Yeah, it looks yellow on my yellowish monitor with f.lux running, but on my properly calibrated monitor it's just black and white.

The lines are changing their colours.

 

[Civ'ed]

Red and green, with green predominant on the right side...
EDIT: and then the second time red and some aquamarine-ish color.

 

[red_elk]

Very interesting!
Now, I'm color-blind, so here's the funny part, I'm seeing a color that I know I don't know.

Dark tan? Green? Light brown?

I have no idea. I can see it, I just don't know what y'all would call it.

But you can see the other objects of the same color, right?
Or you sense the color which you can't see otherwise?

 

[El_Machinae]

I can see other objects of the same color, the thing is, I cannot distinguish it from other things that aren't the same color.

It's tough to explain. Imagine watching a black and white movie, while everyone else is watching the color version. All the grass is the same shade of grey, so it's all internally consistent. The problem is, a 'shirt' can show up as the same shade of grey, even though the actual shirt wasn't. You know that the shirt was the same shade as the grass, you just don't know what color the other people would call the shirt. You could guess 'green', and might be right, but you will probably be wrong (how many grass green shirts are there?). The shade is distinctive to me, I just don't know what any specific shade is to y'all.

 

[Gori the Grey]

I see "Driftwood."

(I tend to see in Land's End colors.)

 

[red_elk]

I can see other objects of the same color, the thing is, I cannot distinguish it from other things that aren't the same color.

I understand what is color blindness, I just thought for a second that with this illusion, you somehow sensed a color which you can't see otherwise. Ok, now I got it.

 

[Manfred Belheim]

I just see black and white...

 

[El_Machinae]

Oop! Nope! It's a color I have seen before, for sure! I thought about that too, but I spent a second figuring it out. I can definitely normally see it, I just don't know what to call it.

 

[Formaldehyde]

The video does a better job while showing how the Benham's top works.

But I see various colors with both of them.

 

[Goodfella]

Light green with some yellow.

 

[Kyriakos]

I can see other objects of the same color, the thing is, I cannot distinguish it from other things that aren't the same color.

It's tough to explain. Imagine watching a black and white movie, while everyone else is watching the color version. All the grass is the same shade of grey, so it's all internally consistent. The problem is, a 'shirt' can show up as the same shade of grey, even though the actual shirt wasn't. You know that the shirt was the same shade as the grass, you just don't know what color the other people would call the shirt. You could guess 'green', and might be right, but you will probably be wrong (how many grass green shirts are there?). The shade is distinctive to me, I just don't know what any specific shade is to y'all.

That seems very interesting. I did not know that 'colorblind' people actually had no names for the colors they see in the missing locations of those they don't. I tended to think they see the same spectrum but with toneless/gray colors for the few tones they don't see like the rest do.
Do you always see the same shade for any same-colored object which is just not there as it is for regular-vision people? You said the grass could appear to have the same 'color' as the shirt, but could it still be green grass and red shirt, etc? (but appear entirely the same to you).

 

[El_Machinae]

Yes, that's right. At that point, we play a game of odds. We recognise the shade, and then we try to remember what that shade was in that circumstance.

For example, some melted chocolates (to me) are the same color as blood. Now, I'll never guess that the stuff weeping from a wound is brown, and I'll never guess that an Easter Bunny is red. I'm playing the odds; I actually cannot tell. Now, if I see chocolate all over the face of a child, I second guess what I am seeing. It's not 'weird' to see melted chocolate on a child's face, but it's not completely unexpected to see blood there, either (and, if there's blood, something needs to be done!).

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Ecru sounds about right.

 

[Kyriakos]

Yes, that's right. At that point, we play a game of odds. We recognise the shade, and then we try to remember what that shade was in that circumstance.

For example, some melted chocolates (to me) are the same color as blood. Now, I'll never guess that the stuff weeping from a wound is brown, and I'll never guess that an Easter Bunny is red. I'm playing the odds; I actually cannot tell. Now, if I see chocolate all over the face of a child, I second guess what I am seeing. It's not 'weird' to see melted chocolate on a child's face, but it's not completely unexpected to see blood there, either (and, if there's blood, something needs to be done!).

hmmmm...

And what does the 'nameless' color tones mostly look like to you? (btw, out of the main colors, which can't you see? Do you see blue and yellow?).

 

[El_Machinae]

hmmmm...

And what does the 'nameless' color tones mostly look like to you? (btw, out of the main colors, which can't you see? Do you see blue and yellow?).

I'm mostly red/green colorblind.

So, I do, and don't, see blue and yellow. The one rule of thumb I can give is that I will never mistake blue for yellow. I can make all types of crazy mistakes, but blue will never show up as yellow. Most of the time when I say a color, I'm actually guessing and playing the odds - your bluejeans might be purple, and I've guessed 'blue'. Or, if they're blue, I'll probably guess 'blue' (playing the odds). I'll never guess they're yellow, though.

 

[red_elk]

hmmmm...

And what does the 'nameless' color tones mostly look like to you? (btw, out of the main colors, which can't you see? Do you see blue and yellow?).

AFAIK there are different types of color blindness - the site which I referred before (http://www.colorhexa.com/d2b48c) shows how specific color will be seen by color-blind people, at the bottom of the page. Not sure if it's correct though.

 

[red_elk]

Oop! Nope! It's a color I have seen before, for sure! I thought about that too, but I spent a second figuring it out. I can definitely normally see it, I just don't know what to call it.

Funny thing is that this time, nobody can tell you what is "real color" of the thing you see. Because real color is an illusion . Strange.

 

[BvBPL]

Color isn't an illusion. That's absurd.