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pygy_yesterday at 4:21 PM2 repliesview on HN

Color perception has nothing to do with light wavelength. Color is a subjective perceptual space.

If you zap your occipital cortex with electromagnetic pulses, you'll experience color flashes (phosphenes).

If a blind person who can read baille does the same, they'll experience tingling sensations in their fingers [1].

People can have visual experiences through somesthesic stimuli (you can give muddy waters divers sonar-based sight by stimulating their skin with an electrode array).

AFAIK, it is not however know whether someone who was blind at birth and whose brain didn't learn to see could have such experiences.

1. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00221-007-1091-0 full text: https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/50371662/s00221-007-10...


Replies

pygy_yesterday at 4:56 PM

Re. color and wavelength, some of the colors one can experience are only accessible in after-images, not through direct retina stimulation.

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