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Perceiving Colors

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When talking about perceptions we are discussing the ability to be aware of something with our senses. Of the five senses, I would like to concentrate on just one: sight. In our eyes there are rods and cones. The rods are used for seeing in low light & used to detect motion; while the cones are used with brighter light and & used to detect color. Within the human eye there are 3 types of color receptive cones. There are cones for green, red, and blue. And it is a combination of those different color receptors that make up all the different colors we can see.
            The YouTube channel Vsauce (which you can get to by clicking here) has a very interesting video about color and how we can be tricked by computer monitors, television sets, etc. into thinking we are seeing the color yellow when we’re actually not. I’ve included the abridged version of that video below (and I encourage you to watch the whole video “This Is Not Yellow”):

One of the things that are truly fascinating about this is the way in which our eyes are so limited. Not only are we easily tricked into thinking we’re seeing yellow, additionally there is a whole spectrum of colors we can’t even see. We don’t even have words for them. We only have the broad terms ultraviolet and infrared.
            As mentioned before humans have 3 receptors. Butterflies on the other had have 5. That means there are 2 extra colors that butterflies can perceive that we just simply cannot even comprehend. Even though butterflies have more receptors than we do there is a deep-sea creature that can see even more colors. The mantis shrimp has 16 color receptors that make up its hexnocular vision.  That means the mantis shrimp can see 13 colors we don’t even have names for.
            Even though our eyes are severely limited in comparison to other creatures we are capable of doing things these other creatures cannot. We can use instruments that can detect light in wavelengths outside of our visible spectrum and then “translate” that data into colors we can see.

This is a microwave scan of the night sky that has been “translated.”


Prior to the colors being altered, we would only see a map with small specks of lights from stars. What we are seeing in this altered version is the wavelengths of light ranging from 23 GHz to 94 GHz. And what we are now seeing, in its altered state, is the proof of the big bang, known as the cosmic microwave background (CMB).
            The mantis shrimp may have us beat on seeing colors. It sees a spectrum of colors we can’t even begin to fathom. We need special tools to see such amazing things and even then it is still only a poorly translated version. What we can do though is take these poor translations and then synthesize complex theories about our very existence. Which is something, as far as I can tell, is exclusive to humans and a feat the mantis shrimp cannot even begin to fathom. While our sensory organs may be limited, our ability to use tools to enhance our perceptions is a remarkable skill.



Here are some links for more information on: eyeball rods & cones, the cosmic microwave background, and the mantis shrimp.

·      Rods and cones
o   http://www.cis.rit.edu/people/faculty/montag/vandplite/pages/chap_9/ch9p1.html
·      Cosmic microwave background
o   http://lambda.gsfc.nasa.gov/product/map/dr4/sos/5year/
·      The mantis shrimp
o   http://www.aqua.org/explore/animals/mantis-shrimp

o   http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/worlds-deadliest/deadliest-mantis-shrimp
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