I think the actual
perception is less important than the
cultural and
emotional significance the colour has upon us. Whether you and I see the same thing when we look at a
pale blue is a question that can never be answered; however most people find that looking at that particular colour induces feelings of
peace and
calm.
Likewise something that's painted in vivid red and orange: the same wavelength of light is stimulating the rods and cones in your eyes and my eyes, but how our brain interprets that is a unique, personal experience. What is know is that to most people from a western culture these colours are far more "stimulating" than most others.
Our understanding of colour is also very open to cultural bias. Many people know that to the Chinese white is a colour that signifies death, whereas black has this symbolism in Western cultures. Yet even amongst people from the same region there is variation: the Welsh have a word glas that basically translates as "the colour of a mountain lake" -- dependent on the ambient lighting this can be anything from grey through deep green to a vivid blue. In the Welsh language these shades all count as one colour, glas, whereas English distinguishes between them.