BBC Young Reporter @ LCS

How humans see colour

Colour is perception, it isn’t exactly real in a way. It’s mainly light bouncing off surfaces and into people’s eyes. Then, cones (a type of light receptor) within the eye send messages to the brain, this creates the familiarity of different colours e.g. Red, blue, purple, yellow…

Colour deficiency is just certain colour cones being weaker than others and colour blindness is when you can’t identify colours at all.

Colour Deficiency

Colour deficiency can either be inherited or caused by injury or illness. It is usually passed down from Mother to Son through a mutated X chromosome. If inherited then it will definitely effect both eyes, otherwise if caused by injury or illness it usually will only effect one eye.

Edward, a year 7 student, is colour deficient and told me what it is like.

He said it didn’t affect him majorly in any way, and that being colour deficient felt fairly normal to him, mainly because he just saw colours slightly differently. When I showed him a light shade of yellow, he said it looked like a light shade of green. When I showed him the colour blue he said it was blue. But when I presented the colour green he told me it looked red to him.

He told me it was mainly because he had red-green colour blindness (otherwise known as deuteranomaly and protanomaly). This form of colour blindness is passed down from mother to son on the 23rd chromosome.

“I got my colour deficiency from my Great grandad, due to my Mum and grandmother receiving his genes which were then passed on to me,” he said.

Edward said that he must have been colour blind for a while, although it was truly recognise when he was in year 2 and took a test online. After that he went to the opticians and they confirmed it.

I asked him if there was a cure for colour blindness, he told me there wasn’t. But there are in fact special glasses for colour blindness, which can be bought for over £100.

The Human Eye

Though, there may be science experiments, being conducted by eager scientists trying to find a cure for both colour deficiency and blindness.

It has been said that the colour green apparently has some sort of healing ability, as it is the most restful colour to the human eye, as it can supposedly improve vision. Since it sits at the opposite end of the colour spectrum to red, green gives your eyes a break. Also, red is the most emotionally charged colour, so because green is opposite to red, it may also calm you down emotionally.

More on the Colour Spectrum

Have you noticed how a mini rainbow is created when you shine a light through a prism or water? This is due to light refracting off the surface and creating the seven colours of the rainbow. They go in order from the colour with the highest wavelength to the shortest (red-indigo).