Colour perception

[enismirdal]

Close one eye. Note what colours things look. Then open it and close the other eye. See whether the colours of things look the same or subtly different. Then complete the poll.

[Poll #1522104]

Explanation: This poll is not intended to exclude people with <2 eyes with functional colour vision or upset people who would prefer not to discuss whether they are hetero- or homogametic. It arose from a discussion with flatmates where two out of three of us report that the world has different colours/brightnesses through different eyes, and the other flatmate couldn't even begin to imagine this. I am attempting to collect some more data, and investigate if and how this is affected by myopia and the number of X chromosomes*.

*For those who don't geek out over colour vision, two out of three of the main genes coding for colour vision are on the X chromosome - hence colour blindness being mostly a male thing (as XY individuals don't have a backup set of functional alleles) and the fabled existence of tetrachromatic females.

Comments

[lauand.livejournal.com]

The difference between my eyes prescription is very little (about 0,25), but I see exactly the same hue with both if the time I've spent closing the eye is short enough.

I can't be 100% sure about my chromosomes, but I've never had reasons to suspect I'm not XX.

[illusive-shelle.livejournal.com]

Seconded, given I'm too lazy to retype the same answer :)

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

And thirded!

[rainien.livejournal.com]

LOL Got totally confused on the chromosome thing. I'm a girl. Pick the right one. :D

I see exactly the same colors/brightness/saturation with both eyes. I'm also far-sighted, if that makes a difference.

Something that might figure in for you...

My older son is very myopic and I've noticed that he sometimes sees colors all wonky. Something that looks green to me, he'll say is purple or some other color.

[enismirdal.livejournal.com]

LOL Sorry to be confusing - gender/sex questions on LJ are something I try not to add too many assumptions into these days! Since this question only depends on people's sex at the genetic level and not the various shades and levels of gender identity I figured I'd get the most reliable data if I just went straight to asking for the genes!

Hmm...that's interesting with older son. Has he ever taken a colour blindness test?

[rainien.livejournal.com]

It got confusing for me because I would have sworn there was only XX and XY. To see all those others was just a big "HUH?" for me. :D

Older Son has never been tested for color blindness. It's odd. He's able to match up his clothes just fine. Just, sometimes, it's like he looks at something wrong and sees the wrong color. I'll probably see about color blindness testing next time he has an eye exam.

[enismirdal.livejournal.com]

LOL Well, I assumed that 99.99% of respondents would be just regular old XY or XX, but given that variations do occur I thought I'd include the most likely other options! (There actually was a girl with Turner syndrome, i.e. X0, at my school - and although she looked female and indeed was female for all normal measures, for colour vision purposes I guess she'd be more likely to exhibit colour blindness and possibly if there are other normally "male" colour quirks she'd be more likely to show them too.)

[ilanin.livejournal.com]

Different between my eyes is, um, I think 0.5 of myopia and 0.25 of cylindrical aberration. I could fish my prescription out if it's really important.

[enismirdal.livejournal.com]

I don't think exact numbers are necessary! I just wanted to include some sort of control for eye dominance (both of us in the flat who reported colour-skews also have asymmetrical prescriptions, whist the flatmate who didn't have any sort of colour shift has to all intents and purposes symmetrical 20/20 vision). :)

[ilanin.livejournal.com]

Ah, well, eye dominance is another matter entirely. I'm mostly ambi-eyed with occasional right-eye dominance but not anywhere near enough to convince me to shoot a bow right-handed because I just can't.

[naath.livejournal.com]

Whoa, I'd not noticed that before. WEIRD.

I'm more myopic in one eye than the other by about 1 (of whatever it is opticians measure), and have moderate astigmatism (and I tested this with my glasses on).

I think I'm probably XX, but I've never had it tested.

[beckyc.livejournal.com]

I've not noticed anything much different. When I've been reading in bed with one eye shut, it's quite a difference when I put the light out or open the other eye.

Have no idea of chromosomes, so picked most likely answer

Outlier?

[nybiara.livejournal.com]

Wow, I'm in the group that never imagined that there could be differences in colour vision between eyes. I have very different prescriptions for each eye (0 and -2.25) but I've just given myself a headache straining to spot any difference in hue or saturation between them.

[eveiya.livejournal.com]

Heh, thought I was a weirdo... I first noticed a distinct difference in colour vision between my eyes while lying in bed looking up at the side of a varnished wooden wardrobe one day back in 1993. My right eye sees colours more saturated and with possibly a slight red shift; my left eye is very dominant.

I've never had my eyes or my chromosomes tested; I know I'm slightly short sighted in both eyes about equally (perhaps enough to need glasses if I drove, although I'm not certain of that). As for my chromosomes, I've no good reason to think I'm not XX, but who knows?

[jay-of-lasgalen.livejournal.com]

I'm as blind as a bat without my glasses, but see the same colours with both eyes - one is just more blurred than the other.

I'm intrigued by the chromosome question - I thought it was a case of XX or XY??

[enismirdal.livejournal.com]

I assumed basically everyone would be, but since colour vision is genetically determined in such a way that the number of X chromosomes actually can make a big difference, I thought I'd cover my bases, and ask about chromosomes rather than gender identity/apparent physical sex.

XXX and X0 females are pretty uncommon (I think only about 1/2000 women are X0, and probably XXX women don't even know when they are) and likewise XXY men are uncommon (1/1000 or so men). But they exist, and I'd expect X0 women to have more male-type colour vision, and XXY men to have more female-type colour vision.

In general I guess it's safe to assume that unless you have reason to think otherwise, overwhelming odds are you're just XX (or for blokes, XY)!

[divulge.livejournal.com]

I assume I'm XX - never tested it!
One eye long-sighted, one short-sighted, but colour is the same for both.

[gareth-rees.livejournal.com]

If you are one of the people who normally see no difference from one eye to other, but want to try the experience of having radically different views in each eye, trying letting one eye get dark adapted and the other not (e.g. using an improvised eyepatch). Cover one eye for a decent amount of time—half an hour is good—for best results.

[enismirdal.livejournal.com]

An interesting variation on that, I'd imagine, would be to adapt one eye to a skewed colour experience - e.g. by shining a coloured light in it or using a coloured acetate eyepatch in bright ambient light. I'll have to try it sometime. Could be quite a funky experience I suspect!