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Asked by catherines12 to Kate, Kieren, Nicola, Rowena, Roy on 13 Mar 2014. This question was also asked by , , , , , , , .
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Kate Nicholson answered on 13 Mar 2014:
The retina, the structure at the back of the eye has specialised light receptor cells called rods and cones. The different size and types of these are what makes our eyes different to cats and dogs, for example cats have thicker rod cells. Humans have red green and blue receptors and our brain processes the signal from these as colour. Some humans have defective red/green receptors and so they are colour blind. My grandad seemed to liken this to shades of brown rather than red and green but I have no idea if this is true.
Dogs can see different parts of the spectrum to us (UV) because the lens in our eyes filters this out.
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Rowena Fletcher-Wood answered on 14 Mar 2014:
Adding to Kate’s comment, the kinds if rods and cones you have and how many and where they are changes how you see colour. It’s also genetic so colour blindness is passed through families but is much much more common in men. Men also have fewer red cones and find it harder to see as many shades in red and pink than most women. My grandfather is red-green colour blind and my mother is dark blue-dark green colour blind. When we set routes on the climbing wall we have to take common colour blindnesses into account as well as similar colours.
Have you heard of synaesthesia? People with synaesthesia see things in colour like days of the week or feelings. Some of them ‘smell colour’!
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catherines12 commented on :
That’s interesting! Thanks a lot!