Color Perception

Response to David Tynan - full post here

This is quite the interesting question; I was thinking about something related to it in class. Functional tetrachromacy seldom occurs in humans, though retinal (non-functional) tetrachromacy is more common; rods may help see colors in low light intensity, giving many humans a sort of tetrachromacy rather than trichromacy.

Even on a more common level, people see colors differently. I recently took a colour distinction test, and received a perfect score. While my friends did well, they did not do perfectly. Many non-color blind people are unable to distinguish one kind of red from another. So, how you perceive any given color may be drastically different from your friends; your friends may see that sunset just a little more vividly than you can.

Also, interestingly, with advancements in technology related to the human eye, humans may eventually be able to unlock the ability to perceive more light wavelengths. That is, assuming the human mind will eventually be able to process the information, technology could allow humans to have gamma ray vision, x-ray vision, ultraviolet vision, optical light vision (we have this already), infrared vision, microwave vision, and radio-wave vision. Of course, we would have to have the ability to shut these off when we want, otherwise we would all be effectively blind.