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"I'm not sure why you think that women perceive colours more brightly."

Well we know for a fact that women perceive colors differently than men because they like different colors than men. It's not exactly clear what the differences in color perception are, but it seems like the drugs that increase men's serotonin levels leave them with aesthetic color preferences that more closely resemble those of women. So it stands to reason that men's color perception is becoming more close to that of women. Obviously there are some epistemological problems with proving this, but it seems like a reasonably good assumption.



Well we know for a fact that women perceive colors differently than men because they like different colors than men.

I hate to turn this into a hard-core discussion of qualia, but I'm not convinced that the fact that women like different colours means that they perceive them differently.

At least, not except in the trivial sense that they see "purple" and think "I like purple" whereas I merely see "purple" and think "I am indifferent to purple".


I agree with you that this is possible. Then again, because it's trivial to prove (at least to yourself) that altering brain chemistry can change both color perception and color preference, I think that my hypothesis is the most likely explanation. Especially since the fact that gender differences in sensory preferences are detectable at 3-4 months of age shows that they are likely biological and not cultural.




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