Tetrachromats: the superpowered humans amongst us

Colour vision in humans occurs when tiny colour-receptive cone-shaped cells in the eye react to various wavelengths of light and send signals to the brain that are interpreted as colour. The typical human eye has three types of cone. Colour blindness occurs when one or more sets of cones is defective. The most common type of colour blindness, an inability to distinguish green and red affects approximately 8% of males in Northern Europe. The figure is much lower for women (about 0.5%) as the gene in which the deficiency can occur is carried on the X chromosome. Men have only one copy of the X chromosome whereas women have a spare, hence their lower rates of colour blindness. More interestingly for women, a condition can occur in which they have an extra set of colour-receptive cones. These gifted superhumans, these tetrachromats, can see extra colours! It’s maybe not quite as exciting as it sounds. The tetrachromats can still only see within the visible light spectrum - so unfortunately no ultra-violet, infra-red or X-ray vision. However, the tetrachromat can make colour definitions that we mere trichromatic mortals cannot. Their vision is as superior to ours as ours is to the colourblind. It’s perfectly possible to go through life without knowing you are colourblind. The condition was only first noted by John Dalton in 1798. What you’ve never known, you don’t miss. Similarly, those of us afflicted with ‘normal’ colour vision will never know the fine distinctions with which the tetrachromat views the world. But it shouldn’t bother us in our day-to-day lives. As you can see, we take colour seriously at Colour Print. We pride ourselves on providing the highest quality print on time at competitive prices, so even a tetrachromat will be pleased with our quality litho and digital services. Call us on 01603 488001 and one of our team will be happy to talk through your plans with you and explain how we can help.