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Honors Biology
22 November 2016
Color Blindness: The Differences in Color Vision
What is color blindness?
Simply, color blindness, or color vision deficiency, is decreased ability to either see color
or see differences in color. Colorblindness is not really color blindness, it is more of a vision
deficiency, those with color blindness are simply perceiving or sensing a narrower spectrum of
colors1. Color blindness can make some daily activities more difficult if they involve color -
Such as reading road signs and signals or distinguishing between colors for miscellaneous
activities.
Color blindness is most commonly caused by an error in the development of one or more
of the color sensing cones in the eye; photopigments are molecules in the cone cells of the retina,
abnormal photopigments are the cause of perceiving color abnormally. Color vision deficiency is
most commonly found in males because the genes causing color blindness are found on the X
chromosome, about 8% of men and 0.5% of women are affected by color blindness1. The most
common types of color vision deficiency are due to the loss or malfunctioning red cones, protan,
or green cones, deutran - this is most commonly referred to as red-green color blindness. The
more rare type of color deficiency is commonly known as blue-yellow color blindness, where the
blue cones, tritan, are either nonfunctional or have limited functionality.
Top Left:
Control, image to be copied.
Top Right:
Nathan Brown. Moderate Deutan.
Bottom Left:
Robert Hicks. Severe Protan.
Bottom Right:
Daniel Houston. Moderate Deutan.
As one can tell, all four drawings vary in some noticeable ways, this giving those with
normal color vision a glimpse through the eyes of a color deficient person. Each participant was
tested using the standard Ishihara color vision test provided by the Enchroma company and was
branded with their listed deficiency provided above.
Daniel, being in his late thirties, stated that after time of living with color vision
deficiency, one learns, with help from a normal vision aid, how to compensate when viewing
colors that he knows he has issues with. He has gotten help from his family and over time he
claims he can now recognize which colors he is sensing, even though his brain perceives another.
However, from the results of this test, his methods are not perfect.
Bibliography
1. Colblindor | All about Color Blindness. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22, 2016, from
http://www.color-blindness.com/
2. Facts About Color Blindness | National Eye Institute. (n.d.). Retrieved November 22,
2016, from https://nei.nih.gov/health/color_blindness/facts_about
3. Enchroma