Tetrachromacy in People: Is it real?

[Sheilawisz]

This is yet another of my color vision-related threads, I hope people will be interested =)

I have spent a considerable amount of time researching the possibility of Tetrachromacy in people, a subject that has intrigued me just as intensely as all of the other aspects of Color Vision have before this. I already came to my personal conclusions about it, but first I would like to explain more about this:

These people that are often described as Tetrachromats would have a color vision vastly superior to normal Trichromacy, all thanks to the fact that they have a fourth class of color-sensitive Cone cells in their eyes. Trichromacy works thanks to three types of cones (red, green and blue) so the fourth cone would mean a huge advantage.

Some sources explain confidently that Tetrachromat people can see up to ten times more colors than a person with normal Trichromatic vision, but I want to challenge them:

While it has been demonstrated that the alleged Tetrachromats have a fourth kind of cones, it so happens that these cones are the product of a genetic mutation. They are not fully functional cones, and on top of that, the sensitive range of the fourth cone falls somewhere between red and green.

The fourth cones do not react to infrared or ultraviolet light, so they do not enjoy a wider visual spectrum...

In the case of colorblind people, their color vision is diminished because they have the same kind of mutant cones but they have three kinds in total instead of four. Most of them are just weakened Trichromats (true Dichromats are rare) and that means that the Tetrachromatic people are really enhanced Trichromats.

Why do I think this way?

When I compare the vast and shocking difference between Trichromacy and Dichromacy simulations, I cannot help but to conclude that true and authentic Tetrachromacy would drive us crazy. We would see so many incredible colors that we would struggle to simply name them, and this unimaginably colorful world would be overwhelming and terribly distracting for us.

I mean, we would see Grannelum, Vloostek and Kateum in countless shades and combinations instead of simply enjoying a more intensely colorful world, like the four-conned people do...

True Tetrachromacy would give us colors so powerful that our lives would be absorbed and destroyed by them, it would be more a disadvantage than an advantage. Maybe this is why the evolution of our species has produced Trichromacy only, never giving us an authentic Fourth Cone.

What do you think?

 

[ThinkerX]

I have a now deceased uncle who was

A) red-green colorblind, and

B) a crack shot BECAUSE of that. The other colors, in a woodland setting, held no confusion for him.

 

[Sheilawisz]

ThinkerX, I have read many stories about what life is like for color weakened people, and it's true that in many cases it can be incredibly frustrating especially because few people understand how they see the world.

I used to be puzzled and intrigued trying to imagine what's it like, until the moment that I experienced the simulations and took a simulated test myself. I failed miserably, and then I started to understand how and why color vision works... it fascinates me to no end and I keep researching, so now I am into this Tetrachromacy thing.

You see, the same type of mutant, malfunctioning cones that cause the cases of anomalous Trichromacy are responsible for the enhanced color vision of the alleged Tetrachromats.

The difference is that a color blind person has two kinds of healthy cones (usually blue and red) plus the bad one, while the four-conned people have all three types of healthy cones plus the mutant kind... That's what gives them superior color skills, but it does not necessarily mean that they have authentic Tetra vision.

There is a considerable hype about this color vision ability, but like I said before, seeing more varied and more intense colors can potentially become a disadvantage... Sometimes I think that I would prefer to be a complete Dichromat, because that way I would not spend so much time thinking and worrying about colors.