Colour Blindness

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:04][music] >> Hello. Welcome to the Curiosity Show.

[00:00:09]Have you ever wondered whether your eyes work the same way as everybody else's?

[00:00:14]Well, these are simply bicycle reflectors. More about those later on.

[00:00:18]But, do you see colors the same way as other people do?

[00:00:22]You probably know that some people are totally color blind. If they're looking at this screen now, they would see it in black and white shades of gray. But, most of us do see colors and many of them. So, let's go back to normal color and think about that. Many people though, although they have some sort of color blindness, they're only partially color blind. They're color deficient.

[00:00:43]Some people have red-green color deficiency. So, if they're looking at this brightly colored scene where you can easily distinguish the red apple from the green vase, they would see something more like this. The colors are still there, but they're not as clearly distinct from one another.

[00:00:57]And if a person has some sort of color deficiency, they've probably been through a series of test cards with a doctor or specialist. Here's one of them. What can you see there? If you have normal color vision, you can probably just make out a circle top left and a triangle top right in a greeny color. Person with red-green color deficiency sees neither of those. Here's another card. If somebody has trouble distinguishing blue from yellow, they see nothing. You may see a circle on the left and a cross on the right. And here's another card. What can you see there?

[00:01:27]Probably a spade near the top and a fork near the bottom. Some people see one, some people see the other, some people see neither, depending on what sort of color deficiency they have. And here's a final card. What do you see there? With normal color vision, probably a woman with a hat and an olive green bikini. Somebody with red-green color deficiency sees a woman wearing a hat only. Now, you might be wondering how a person with red-green color deficiency distinguishes stop from go at the traffic lights. Usually they have no difficulty at all. See if you can work out what.

[00:02:03]>> [music] >> Curiosity.

[00:02:12]Curiosity. [music] Stop.