What is Normal Color Vision?

How does the human eye experience normal color vision? The answer is with special cells in the back of the eye. Those special cells are known as rods and cones. It is cone cells that allow you to have normal color vision. Cones contain photopigment molecules that undergo a chemical change when they absorb light. This chemical change triggers electrical signals passed from the retina to the visual parts of the brain. Rod cells are known to process the size, shape, and brightness of visual images versus color.

What Are the Different Types of Cone Cells?

We have three types of cone cells: blue, green, and red. This is why people with normal color vision are known as trichromats. Normal color vision uses all three types of light cones correctly. The center of the macula (fovea) is responsible for the most acute color vision because it contains the highest concentration of cones.

How Can People with Normal Color Vision See Other Colors?

While there are three types of color cones, the cones can sense other colors. But it is the overlap of the cones and how the brain processes the signals sent from them that allows us to see different types of colors.

What is Color Blindness?

Color blindness means that the way you see colors is different from what most of us see. Color blindness affects approximately 1 in 12 men (8%) and 1 in 200 women in the world. If you have color blindness, you won’t know you have it unless you take a color blind test. EyeQue offers a quick color blind test that can help you learn more about your color vision.