Tetrachromats: Some Women See Extra Colors
Some women are lucky enough to see colors beyond what the rest of us can imagine.
Ever wonder why your wife can tell if your two black socks are actually two different shades of navy blue? What about when your sister points out that your living room wall is a mix between sea foam green and very light blue? Sea foam green? What?
It may be because some women are tetrachromats. Tetrachromats have four color receptors rather than the regular three, allowing them to see colors the rest of us can’t even dream about. Because of genetic issues, it is impossible that a male could be a tetrochromat, and it is in fact more likely for males to be minus one of the regular color receptors, making them functionally colorblind.
A tetrochromat would have another color beyond the standard green, red, and blue trichromats experience, a color somewhere between red and blue, which would allow a tetrachromat to experience millions of extra colors when mixed with other shades.
However, even with an extra color receptor, tetrachromats still do not see colors above or below the regular range of human beings, rather, they see extra colors within the range.
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9 Responses to “Tetrachromats: Some Women See Extra Colors”
On September 7, 2007 at 8:16 pm
This is an interesting article. I have never heard of this before, but it truly opens my mind to a whole new world of possibilities.
Best wishes.
Sincerely,
-Liane Schmidt.
On September 11, 2007 at 2:20 pm
Yes – it’s amazing. It’s why I love science! On reason, at least.
On November 7, 2007 at 11:35 pm
I liked this article. It was fascinating. Thank you.
On February 27, 2008 at 11:26 pm
very interesting. now I understand the incident when my friend wore dark navy blue socks that sorely missmatched her white/black skirt. I told her she should change her socks to black and she suggested all of the time they are black. And my husband agreed with her and repeatly insisted they were black.
and I have other friend, I see clearly that her eyes are bluish tinted gray but she suggested they are BLUE
On April 10, 2009 at 8:32 pm
awesome, i guess sara is a tetrachromat then lol but i can only imagine what the extra color looks like and isn’t there other colors only reptiles can see?
On March 3, 2010 at 6:36 pm
Brilliant! I love this! thanks for posting.
On March 4, 2010 at 4:48 pm
Synaesthesia and tetrachromacy, now that would be interesting.
On March 4, 2010 at 8:13 pm
What is the probe, some articles maybe or University investigations?
On March 5, 2010 at 9:40 am
This may explain why there are 1,000 shades of red lipstick that all look alike to me, and why my wife swears they are all different.
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