How Does Colorblindness Work?

[@jeferlygiraffe8408]

When I tell people that I'm colour blind they're like: "WhAt CoLoUr Is ThIs!?

[@AnonymousJ99]

“Do you see everything in black and white?!?” No I think I’d kill myself if that was the case

[@shmexyhippo3954]

Yea same I absolutely hate it

[@cowtipper46]

And this video did absolutely nothing to clarify that misconception. Too bad everything is gray

[@simondavidras4738]

EXACTLY

[@caffeinedreamer]

Grey? The colours I can't always decipher don't show up as grey. I just see it as an unclear red/green that I can't differentiate between.

[@ajh_exe]

Me too

[@rubie1454]

Well there are different types of visions. - Achromatopsia - Tritan Vision - Protan Vision - Deutan Vision

[@BrainStuffShow]

We see color thanks to complex coordination of signals from the eyes to the brain. Here's what happens when the signal gets scrambled.

[@EqualsThreeable]

BrainStuff - HowStuffWorks Question. I was once told as a child that one day we might be able to add a new type of cone to see a new version of all the current known colors. Much like seeing Ultraviolet light, is this possible, where we might be able to see different wavelengths such as radio waves, microwaves or even the INTERNET?

[@immigrantworld4899]

Gene therapy?

[@trashboi-bk]

I always get so excited when Josh is in the thumbnail. :D

[@strombopopolous]

This is a pretty bad explanation. Most people who are colorblind (like me) do not see things as grey and dull. Our color spectrum is definitely more dull than normal vision - but so many people think we see everything as grey or in black and white, which is so not true. All you are doing in this video is perpetuating that myth. Of course there are many types of colorblindness, and there is a type where you see almost no color - but that is the rarest type of colorblindness. Most of us do see color, just not as vibrantly.

[@MissSpaz]

Okay- but in comparison to a normal coned person- we see things pretty muted, apparently. Not that we'd ever know. I see nearly no color- not quite monochromatic but very close. Apparently. Everything HAS color but I guess a normal person sees things things more vividly. I don't see how this video is perpetuating the myth that all color-blind people are monochromatic.

[@EnChromaInc]

Here at EnChroma, Inc. we call it Color Vision Deficiency, CVD. Thank you for taking the time to make this video. Great job!

[@JoeBidenOfficial]

Can I get an owa owa

[@immigrantworld4899]

Your glasses and your boss Mcperson are insane. You created the worst thing ever in this world👎👎👎

[@mariefourmi]

I am very glad you are maming a remark when correcting the term as being color deficiency and not colorblindness, as I am truly colorblind, having achromatopsia that is. Would you look into it and make a video about it? That way I'll have a link to send to people when my explanation is not enough. THANKS

[@BGBTech]

MariantBBenoit though, the video does also ignore the less common forms of color deficiency, namely tritanomaly and tritanopia. like, not everyone has issues with red vs green, some have issues with blue. in my case, I suspect I have a form of anomalous trichromacy, where what I see IRL and what I see on computers doesn't really match particularly well, and where rainbows don't rally match. there isn't really a cyan band in the rainbows I see, rather green and blue blend, more into a weird flickering grayish band in the middle (which seems to rapidly pulsate between green and violet, but with a general dull/grayish look and seems weaker and more translucent than the other bands, and the color of the sky is subject to vary). on computers, I can see cyan though. IRL, I sometimes see cyan, but most often it is on something using artificial pigments. likewise, with nitrile gloves, I tend to see them either as greenish or as violet/purple. sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference between blues and purples though, where blue things often seems to have a purple tint (though, this is also often for things which often tend to show up as black or black with blue snow on cameras).

[@BrainStuffShow]

Brendan Bohannon That's fascinating! I suspect that cyan comes through more clearly on a screen than IRL because on a screen, it's a flat, single color. Pretty easy for your brain to interpret! In 3-dimensional objects, though, lighting and viewing angles and reflections/refractions create a lot of subtle shades, even on a solid-colored object. So that's harder for your brain to process, and creates the overlap/confusion we talked about in this video. (Thanks for sharing your experience -- it's so hard to find clear explanations of how color deficiencies actually come through.) And yeah, we wanted to concentrate on the common red-green anomaly for this episode -- just to keep it short and simple. I'll add achromatopsia to our idea list, MariantBBenoit!

[@BGBTech]

BrainStuff - HowStuffWorks yeah, dunno. I see the full rainbow without much issue on computers, just not so well IRL. I suspect it may be bacause computers make colors by weighting specific colors, rather than depending on specific levels of color-response for a given set of wavelengths. the red-yellow-green band is intact, and the blue/violet band is intact, just cyan and sky-blue is messed up looking (with a flickering effect, similar to when using 3D anaglyph glasses). in terms of color biasing, things which others may describe as gray or blue, I see as more solidly green (usually more of an olivine color). and, most of what blues I do see are in indigo/violet territory. and, with the sky, it is like my eyes can't tell if they are seeing violet or olivine, so it flickers (and just sort of looks "weird" in a way not easily described, *). have noticed if I put on sunglasses, they settle on seeing an indigo-blue color. ( *: it is like there is another color there, but it has a hard time deciding whether it wants to be green or a blue/indigo color, but this color strongly dislikes cyan, so it flickers instead. this color seems to "feel" towards cyan what green feels towards purple... yet, I still can't really see the color it wants to be... ). but, I suspect it may be inherited (one of my grandmas has tritanopia, my mom also has some minor color-perception issues). though, oddly, I seem to have slightly different color perception issues (my mom sees cyans and sky-blue ok, but has issues with other colors, like not really being able to see purples or violets, ...).

[@burt591]

2:35 Wait, the X chromosome can also be contributed by the male (to his daughter) so that 100% chance of having color deficiency apply only to a male, right? Am I missing something?

[@BrainStuffShow]

burt591 No, you're right! We accidentally left that (important!) detail out. We put in a note to clarify. Thanks so much for letting us know!

[@burt591]

BrainStuff - HowStuffWorks Thanks for responding to my comment, it is very kind of you

[@randominternetartist2615]

@@BrainStuffShow either that or you assumed the viewer was male

[@Tkke]

Didnt talk about us peeps with tritanomaly 😔😔

[@caitlinreavill440]

I have a question.... Do colorblind people always have brown eyes or can they have different colored eyes (sorry probably stupid question I'm just curious)

[@BrainStuffShow]

+HeyItsCaitlin Not a stupid question! Color deficiency isn't linked to any particular eye color. ^__^ Thanks for watching!

[@jadynbanchik6441]

thank you sooo much you just saved my grade!

[@SamTheMan12]

I have Quadchromatic vision.

[@randominternetartist2615]

That's cool! But a little hard to believe. There is only one person in the world with confirmed tetrachromatic vision (Concetta Antico), and online tests aren't reliable because computers can't actually show enough colors to be able to tell if someone is tetrachromatic

[@28scotland]

Josh, you're doing amazing!

[@Ramshackle6984]

Do other animals have more cones than humans allowing them to see light wave lengths that we can't? If so, what would their vision be like? UV and IR come to mind...so I guess it would be like Predator?

[@alexr6705]

"Most beautiful words" syntheitet

[@tmcgwow]

This video was very interesting but I must say this. Not ever in my life have I ever heard a color blind person refer to color blindness as color deficiency. There's nothing not PC about saying color blindness. I've known people with the inability to see colors and they always say "oh, I'm color blind". Sorry but trying to be PC on a non PC issue just bugs the crap out of me.

[@BrainStuffShow]

We're not being politically correct, we're being scientifically accurate.

[@tmcgwow]

"First though we should say; it's actually not called color blindness, the preferred term is color deficiency. So let's get a little more PC shall we?" You literally stated your reasoning for calling it color deficiency is to be more PC. If you had said "the scientific term is color deficiency" then what I said in my earlier comment would be unfounded. This isn't criticism of your channel, but trying to be PC on a subject that you have no reason to be PC on is nonsensical. I'm dyslexic, but if the general accepted term was word mixer, that's what I, and basically everyone else would call it with out even thinking it's an issue.

[@BrainStuffShow]

The "PC" line was a joke. Josh's delivery is dry.

[@tmcgwow]

I can't prove whether or not it was actually a joke, but I am a huge fan of dry humor and it didn't really come off as humor. Like I said in my first comment, this video was genuinely interesting and I did learn something about color blindness. I would work a bit though on the humor. I'm not trolling in any way I'm just suggesting something that you may want to strengthen a bit. Oh by the way, thanks for replying. It's nice to see a channel that does read their comments.

[@Rabbitthat]

It was absolutely a joke, it was funny! If something sounds ridiculous, maybe you should ask yourself if the person is joking? I don't want people to be afraid to make a joke just because some people might not get it.

[@ShonkyLegs]

If you guys are missing 'Don't be dumb'; just watch this at half speed.

[@rmh_223]

"Aka your mom" nice one Steve. Nice one.

[@puunk_9240]

Sad you didn't talk about blue cones more :(

[@iama_ama-ama4825]

Maybe that made you... BLUE xD I'm sorry but I had to say that even though this comment is a month old

[@loneviper98]

The corrective glasses are 400$ and I'm color blind

[@--sql]

I'm red-green color deficient. Yay...

[@veggieboy1]

Butt Poopington Me too! Let's hang out

[@TheCh0senOne]

Butt Poopington Same here.

[@stefandurbaba]

i think I am too

[@AngelTerri]

My sister can't see red and my mom was the same.

[@MewMewisweird]

A Roblox horror character is blind. Ask Roblox if the Roblox company can make a rainbow friends doctor game to cure Green.

[@randomguy2028]

I am actually color blind

[@BlueSuedeAsics]

nice vid

[@SkyBooFast]

I am color blind, but I wacth this video.

[@Master_Therion]

"Anomalous trichromacy" means "cellar door"?? lol Unfortunately, your genetics explanation from 2:30 is a little off. What you described is true only if you are a male. But I guess it's common knowledge that colorblindness is mostly in men. It still made me go "huh? Come on Josh, don't be dumb." ^_^

[@BrainStuffShow]

rusman74x Oof, thanks for pointing that out. Sometimes in the translation from research to the final video, a few important details get left out. We'll put in a note to clarify!

[@InfinityS315]

Is there a genetic disorder where you see more colors then usual?

[@pierreeshak6463]

I don't think so because then u would need to have a fourth cone and maybe the part in the eye that stores the cones only has room for three types... or something. If u had a fourth cone the other three and the fourth would be weakened. It would be an image overload and u would probably end up blind. But good thought. I might be wrong altogether but whatev

[@Master_Therion]

KillerBillPickle There may or may not be something called tetrachromacy in humans. There's a lot of bad information about it online, so beware. But it's safe to say some women are much better at discerning colors than the average person. I doubt anybody sees a spectrum made up of 4 primary colors instead of 3... that would almost be an X-Men super mutation. lol

[@pierreeshak6463]

Exactly

[@pierreeshak6463]

Maybe women's brains are more suited to more colors not to be sexist or anything

[@Master_Therion]

Beboabracadabra 234 lol, no. It's because they have two X chromosomes, men only have one.

[@slurpys1337]

hi im color blind and I would know all the glasses that say help don't not at all. you can ask any real eye doctor

[@ahlamzidan54]

hi

[@TheUtheman]

So that explains why I can't see red or green

[@iyattii9853]

I sense cap

[@mattlm64]

Men have an X chromosome too.

[@BrainStuffShow]

Matthew Mitchell That's right: men generally have an X and a Y, and women generally have two Xes. We meant that in men, the X chromosome comes from the mother. (That's because females always pass an X chromosome to their kids, but males can pass on either an X or a Y. If they pass on a Y, the child will be male -- if they pass on an X, the child will be female. So a male's only X chromosome comes from his mom.) Apologies for the confusion!

[@mattlm64]

Thanks. That makes sense, though no doubt females could get colourblindness from their fathers in that case?

[@BrainStuffShow]

Matthew Mitchell Yes! It's less common in females than in males because it's a recessive gene on the X chromosome. So females have a better chance of having a dominant gene on their second X chromosome that cancels it out. So if a female has a color deficiency, it came from BOTH of her parents. About 1% of females and about 5% of males have red-green color deficiency.

[@pkedm]

BrainStuff - HowStuffWorks so why men develop have a better chance to develop color blindness. Perhaps it is because the Y is also a recessive gene ?

[@montazmeahii6029]

@@pkedm men have a better chance of being color blind because men (typically) have only one X chromosome. If that one is bad, he’ll be color blind. Women need both to be bad to be color blind; if you have one good X, you’re okay.

[@Thomashorsman]

I’m 12.7 Deutan, which means I can’t be a pilot 😥

[@narutoxpein98]

i chuckled at 3:00 because i was one of them XD

[@arhaikal7382]

if i was a bird i will starve to death

[@immigrantworld4899]

6 years ago…hummmm no human trials are started yet

[@danielcarstairs8683]

Ikr, third already?

[@thisissamy]

5 views.. Holy shit, I got here early.

[@logiticalresponse9574]

See if only meterologists could be like a hundred percent that's a certainty ........theyd have it in THE BAG 😃

[@JackClayton123]

Some humans are tetrachromates.

[@_rozto]

Go and check out rainbows. lol kills me :D

[@_pepefranco]

It is not a cure! 😡

[@dr.blauerkraut]

Know why Facebook is blue.. Ha? Beacuse mark zückerberg is "couler-blind"!!!

[@LadyPashta]

It's color blindness. Period. Enough with the stupid "pc" crap!

[@BrainStuffShow]

LadyPashta It's not really politically correct -- it's scientifically correct. Josh was just joking. :)

[@LadyPashta]

BrainStuff - HowStuffWorks Oh, good! Hehe :)

[@TheCh0senOne]

BrainStuff - HowStuffWorks Let's trademark "sc", then.

[@jort93z]

im red-green color"blind" :/