Human tetrachromacy: Some women do have this gift

[Hugh_3170]

It is well known that a number of insect species have polychromacy - the ability to see beyond what most humans perceive as red, green, and blue within the 400nm to 700nm visible wave length band.

What is less well known is that some women are known to see a little bit of the near UV, due  to having a slightly different rod/cone structure in their eyes.

The following link is about the artist Concetta Antico who discovered that she was carrying a genetic mutation that endowed her with tetrachromacy which in turn has given her an astonishingly sensitive perception of colour – seeing a spectrum of distinct shades where we only see one.  Her story and that of the scientists that have studied her is in the following BBC link:

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160316-i-can-see-colours-you-cannot-perceive-or-imagine

(I have posted the story here for the want of a better spot.  Moderators please feel free to shift it elsewhere if deemed more appropriate.)

[Bill De Jager]

This is certainly a fascinating subject and it's enoyable to read more about it.

The article states that the woman discussed, Concetta Antico, now understands better the differences between her own vision and that of most people.  I wonder if photographs that look like accurate renditions to us look dull to her, since film and digital technologies are calibrated to typical human vision and likely lack accurate representations of the subtle colors she sees.  She may be seeing a broader color gamut, but more importantly it sounds like her gamut is more complex than that found in usual human vision.

[Hugh_3170]

Bill, it sure is. 

I know that a red item is a red item because my parents told me so, but does my red look the same to me as your red looks to you?

Another reference to some work from around 2010.  The first and the last author have been working in this field for some 25 years.

Link:  http://vision.psychol.cam.ac.uk/jdmollon/papers/JordanDeebBostenMollonOnTetrachromacy.pdf

[Andrea B.]

For people with normal colour vision, their red and your red is the same. 

Reference: Color Perception Is Not in the Eye of the Beholder: It's in the Brain