Effects - LSD and colour perception

[lemon3k]

SWIM has never taken acid b4 and was curious if any1 has ever seen or is it possible to see a completly brand new colour before while on acid. im guessing its probably not possible but thaught i'd check if any1 could shed some light on this thanks

[Danc9552003]

SWIM isn't sure if 'new' colors would come out, but on good acid then you definetly will see pretty much every color there is. SWIM has only done acid once and it was an experience, the walls were alive for sure. Not in a bad way, just enough to make you say 'Hey man do you see that?????!!'

[toe]

No new colors- unless one was color blind, perhaps? Definitely no dancing elephants, either. The "walls alive" visual described above is def. typical and to be expected of most solid surfaces. The people who relay me radio signals through my fillings would be more apt to describe such visuals as "walls breathing" or, in more intense situations, "bubbling/simmering."

[Heretic.Ape.]

When Aldous Huxley first took mescaline he noted that the mind is like a reducing valve to perception so that one is only aware of stimuli pertinent to survival, etc and that taking the drug was like openning that valve to allow in all of the perceptions that had been filtered out. This holds true with most psychedelic drugs. Thus an individual may look at something and see a whole new universe of subtle nuances like finer degrees of the color scale never noticed before. My monkey tells me it is quite breathtaking.

[uno]

Originally Posted by lemon3k

SWIM has never taken acid b4 and was curious if any1 has ever seen or is it possible to see a completly brand new colour before while on acid. im guessing its probably not possible but thaught i'd check if any1 could shed some light on this thanks

on acid everything may seem brand new, not only colors colors are the same of everyday, but you can see them in other ways, and of course more brilliant, more vivid.

[Orchid_Suspiria]

Swim saw colors while on acid that he might not describe as new but would say they are the kind of vivid colors one only sees in dreams.

[allyourbase]

SWIM prefers to color the world in the hues of his own insanity.

[little carrot]

Yes! You can see new colors. Fluorescent brown and grey are not hard to see. Also, sometimes when one looks at green, it's got a scratchy pink look to it. If you see a truly new color, take a picture of it. You might just become famous. Apparently, some South American indiginous tribes had never seen teal until very recently. They did not have a name for teal, though they'd been living for thousands of years with the capability to make teal-colored things with their dyes. It kinda makes you think.

[Nature Boy]

The human eye is not capable of coming up with "new colours". The only way to see new colours would be to see through non-human eyes, possibly organic, more likely artificial enhancements. And even then it's unlikely new colours would be perceived. One would have to completely re-wire the way their brain digests visual information.

[little carrot]

Originally Posted by Nature Boy

The human eye is not capable of coming up with "new colours". The only way to see new colours would be to see through non-human eyes, possibly organic, more likely artificial enhancements. And even then it's unlikely new colours would be perceived. One would have to completely re-wire the way their brain digests visual information.

By artificial enhancements, do you mean things like acid, because if you do, yeah, I agree. Or do you mean that the eyes would actually have to be placed in your skull? Check this article out, with a little genetic enhancement, some mice can see new (for them) colors http://www.physorg.com/news93792566.html . They need to be dosing some mice and seeing what they think about colors. Fluorescent grey is the new pink.

[Bajeda]

Originally Posted by little carrot

Apparently, some South American indiginous tribes had never seen teal until very recently. They did not have a name for teal, though they'd been living for thousands of years with the capability to make teal-colored things with their dyes. It kinda makes you think.

I think you are referring to Kay & Kempton's test of the Whorfian hypothesis using the category-boundary effect. It was meant to help determine whether language determines thought or influences it. While the colour was perceived as different perhaps, you are taking things way out of context. It wasn't as though they had never seen a mixing of blue and green before.

The study is attached so you can look at it further.

KayKempton84f.pdf


As for new colours, we could maybe make more subtle distinctions between shades of colours we already recognize, but unless our vision evolves so that we can start seeing shades on the UV side of things they aren't truly novel.

[little carrot]

Thank you for posting the Sapir-Whorf article, it is a fascinating read. One thing that I think this research shows is that if indeed we did see a new color, we would likely try to identify it using our existing color categories. So, yeah I agree that if someone saw an new color, they'd probably say, 'I saw a new shade of blue today,' rather than, ' I saw a new color today.' However, one who is caught up in the giddy adventure of an acid trip may find this new 'shade of blue' to be so profound as to warrent a proper naming. It's rather like the car companies and mail order catalogues that can endlessly come up with new and often humorous adjectives to describe the same old colors. I still think there are a few undescovered colors out there, just like undiscovered species. If you turn over enough rocks, you're bound to find something.