Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: DoctorBeaver on 12/08/2007 22:12:36
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In the same way that some people can hear higher-pitched sounds than others, can some see colours that others can't?
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There are two things to consider :
- the range of wavelengths that are to be considered "visible light"
- the different colour shades you do not see in the spectrum
I remember a demonstration of spectrophotometers : the demonstration instrument projected the spectrum on a white paper, and the teacher marked the wavelengths on that image. Nobody seemed to see any colour outside that boundaries. Of course, this was a limited group and it does not exclude the possibility that some people may see what is infra red (or ultra violet) to you and me.
But not all colours are part of the spectrum e.g. there is no brown in it, while there surely are many shades of brown. That is because few colours are monochromatic (= one wavelength only). I can imagine people able to distinguish more shades of brown (or whatever colour) than others. But that may be due to training - like the Inuit having about a dozen different words for different kinds of snow. I imagine painters will see different kinds of green, and having different names for them, where you and I where you and I would notice a difference only if these shades are shown side by side.
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Eric - I meant above or below those colours normally seen.
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Would this help ? Lysergic acid diethylamide !
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Would this help ? Lysergic acid diethylamide !
(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fbestsmileys.com%2Ffreak%2F1.gif&hash=84721bc60b468cf86f105b18502f239b)
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In the same way that some people can hear higher-pitched sounds than others, can some see colours that others can't?
Only recently has a study revealed that women have a better ability to discriminate colors in the red-orange spectrum. Researchers found that the gene that allows people to see the color red comes in an unusually high number of variations. This may explain why women see crimson, vermilion and tomato, but it's all just red to a male. Previous research in other primates has suggested that enhanced red vision in females allows them to better distinguish between berries and foliage when they are gathering food. Scientists speculate that this color sensitivity may be explained by the fact that human females did the gathering in prehistoric times.
Footnote: Verrelli, B. and Tishkoff, S., American Journal of Human Genetics, Septermber, 2004
http://www.colormatters.com/news_spring_07/focus.html
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Thank you, RD. That's quite interesting.
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I have also read that some women have photorecepters for 4 different wavelengths of light, whereas most people have only 3, and people who are red-green colorblind only have 2.
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Please take a moment for science at http://coglanglab.org (http://coglanglab.org)
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I have also read that some women have photorecepters for 4 different wavelengths of light, whereas most people have only 3, and people who are red-green colorblind only have 2.
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Please take a moment for science at http://coglanglab.org (http://coglanglab.org)
http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=8637.msg101511#msg101511
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MMM, more than a neural interpretation, i think is the way that how we learn to see the world, neurons are learning centers and the way that we look the world i think is all that matters.
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More than that colors are the way of the brain to understand objects and things.
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I meant above or below those colours normally seen.
'Colours ' are not ' above or below'. The wavelengths may be greater or less than those which we can detect but the colours we see occupy a three dimensional (at least) colour space which consists of combinations of three (or four, if other posts are correct?) signal levels from what are, effectively, three (4?) filters - centred around red, green and blue -but each filter is quite wideband in order to get the most sensitivity and not to waste received light energy.
There is, then, the issue of the ability to distinguish between adjacent parts of the colour space. Apparently, humans, can distinguish with more accuracy / resolution between different colours in the region of 'skin tones' than, say, reds or blues. We have learned to do this, presumably, so that we can judge emotions when we are looking at a face.
As nikomaster says, 'colour' is something in your head - it is totally subjective,. If you are 'colour blind' it really means that you do not distinguish between colours as well (or in the same way ) as someone with 'normal' colour vision. You will still see objects and light and dark.