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The woman with 'rainbow vision'


Still Waters

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A few years ago, the artist Concetta Antico discovered that she was carrying a genetic mutation that gave her astonishingly sensitive perception of colour - seeing a spectrum of distinct shades where we only see one.

As she told BBC Future in 2014, even the dullest pebble on the road shimmered like a kaleidoscope.

"The little stones jump out at me with oranges, yellows, greens, blues and pinks,"she says. "I'm kind of shocked when I realise what other people aren't seeing."

Back in 2014, the scientific research into Antico's abilities had only just commenced, but today the investigations are in full swing - with a brand new paper providing some striking insights into her world.

http://www.bbc.com/f...eive-or-imagine

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I think this is more common than this article leads us to believe. I see the same things she describes but the difference is, I wasn't born with her artistic ability to express it ;)

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I think this is more common than this article leads us to believe.

An alternative source link -

'Rainbow Vision' Common, But Untested

http://news.discover...sted-160317.htm

That's the article I found first, it's sourced to the BBC.

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I think this is more common than this article leads us to believe. I see the same things she describes but the difference is, I wasn't born with her artistic ability to express it ;)

I think a lot of people have extra senses or enhanced ones. I must have what she has because when I did paintings I added extra colors and realized I saw differently then other people who commented about the extra color highlights. I also noticed some of those plane brown female birds have a florescent colorful glow. I know birds see better and more colors then people. I guess some of us are seeing like birds :) I'm excited science is confirming enhanced senses in different people. You don't realize you see different until you paint and people think you're imaginative but you're not really.

Edited by White Unicorn
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I heard of tetrachomacy before, but didn't realized it was linked with red/green colorblindness...

Since my maternal grand-mother was color blind (both X affected), my mother and all her sister should be tetrachromate themselves, plus all my maternal uncles' daughters, plus my brother's daughters (if they are not color blind themselves, his father-in-law is too), and my sister-in-law.

I would have 50/50 chances to be tetrachromate myself, like my female cousins born from my maternal aunts...

Looking at this list, I might be tetrachromate, but not knowing it because I only talk about color with other tetrachromates...

Edited by Gingitsune
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I think I know a few women who have tetrachromat. One of whom is a wonderful artist.

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I have excellant color vision, but I'm envious. Color adds so much to vision that I can't imagine being totally color blind. That would seriously suck...

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Ill have to research this now. As a painter I was always taught that women are better at colour matching as they have 4 colour receptors while men only have 3. Guess just some are the exception

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I heard of tetrachomacy before, but didn't realized it was linked with red/green colorblindness...

Since my maternal grand-mother was color blind (both X affected), my mother and all her sister should be tetrachromate themselves, plus all my maternal uncles' daughters, plus my brother's daughters (if they are not color blind themselves, his father-in-law is too), and my sister-in-law.

I would have 50/50 chances to be tetrachromate myself, like my female cousins born from my maternal aunts...

Looking at this list, I might be tetrachromate, but not knowing it because I only talk about color with other tetrachromates...

Do you do any photography?

I read that a tetrachromat can look at digital photography ans see the colours a slightly off.

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That explains a lot about my women artist friends who disagree with me on colors.

They could have this "rainbow vision".

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Before it was more shades of red that women could differentiate between, and now "its rainbow vision". It would be really cool if somebody developed a standardized test for this ability. This also explains to me why i have heard a guy say some clothes were all the same color but they looked different shades to me. I read here before that this may be due to women needing to select the best fruit 😂 but im sure men pick thier food as well.

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The visible spectrum is considered to be between 400 - 700 nm. Most people have the ability to see color in these wavelengths. The full visible spectrum is actually between 360 - 740 nm. Depending on how many color receptors, cones, the person's eyes have. There is a minimum number of cones needed, but there are people that have much more than the minimum required, The cones receive the red, green and blue light waves being reflected from an object or transmitted by a light. Not everyone perceives color in the same way depending how many cones they have. Some people can also see fluorescence as well. Fluorescence occurs when an object absorbs light wavelengths of one color and emits them as a different color. This is what happens when posters "glow" under a black light. The colors on the poster absorb invisible UV light and emit the colors you see as visible light. I would expect the young lady in the article has more than the minimum required amount of cones in her eyes as well a being able to see fluorescence. The unfortunate thing about having extended vision is the person typically develops cataracts later in life. A cataract is your body's way of protecting the retina from damaging light. I am one of these people who got cataracts in my late twenties and early thirties. My lenses have been replaced and I can see well, but even with UV coatings on my glasses I can still see some extended wavelengths and never see color that fluoresces the same way my co-worker see it versus a non-fluorescent sample. Which makes it tough as I earn my living by color matching for or Paper mill customers.

I can send anyone some powerpoint and word files if they are interested. There is also lots on info on the web.

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Is there a practical advantage to this besides artistry?

Like the artist said, she as much better visual clues whether the fruits and vegetables are fresh or not in the groceries. I would be useful in gathrring stuff to eat.

Do you do any photography?

I read that a tetrachromat can look at digital photography ans see the colours a slightly off.

The thing is, colors are always slightly off even for trichromates. Every numerical photo hardware have their own bias. For example, Canon has a reputation of doing reddish-yellowish pictures. Even window glass distorts colors, usually in the greens or blues.

Although, you can expect art magazines and publications to have the best equipment and colors closer to reality, both the cameras and the printers, since it's what their customers value. No one would buy a cheaply printed art magazine. However, they may have enhanced the greens of their pictures to make their garden more appealing...

Opening my own Casio camera, shadows are too light (auto adjustments). Colors are about right, but I am in my office, surrounded by trichromate prints...

I'd better try with real life greens. Of course, we are in March, which mean there is no natural greens outside, except for the neighbor's cedars. They look yellowish, but they always do in winter... I guess I should try with my indoor plants, even if I forgot to water them last week, I hope their colors or not too off...

I'm doing the test with my English ivy, basil and Madagascar Dracaena (which leaf's pink edges appear on the trichromate pictures). Colors are about right, but more so in the West corner of the living room, than on the kitchen table.... I have no idea why. -_-

I need more info about info on how Concetta see the world. Let's see...

http://blog.ac-versa...etta_Antico.pdf

Here's a link to a two pictures set by Concetta Antico, where she draw a peacock twice, on the left like a trichromate see it, on the right, as a tetrachromate see it. Don't mind the text (in French).

Looking at it, I understand she sees the world both as a trichromate and as a colorblind at the same time... Well, the colors on the left are off, they are too blueish. Reality isn't this saturated, even in my trichromate gardening publication. Not to mention this is a trichromate print on a trichromate screen, the only way to appreciate the difference between the two paintings is to look at the physical frames. *sigh*

I also found a paper about tetrachromacy which explain in more technical language what a tetrachromate sees:

http://www.rmki.kfki...acs/TETRACH.htm

In her teens she observed various strange vision impressions and gradually discovered that, in spite of the statements of her relatives, "Green is not a boring colour". Sooner or later she observed that the green leaves of bush can easily be distinguished from the green wire-fencing. [...] That green is not always the same green, but it is always a chemical product of organic industry. It does not mimic clorophylle green even for trichromats; still the difference is not too great to trichromats between fence green (in this Chapter simply Fency) and some plant green (in this Chapter simply Grassy). [...]

Mere trichromats can see distinctly any plant even on the fence background, but from bigger distance they tend to merge. Not for Ms. Y who tells that she easily sees the borderline "from any distance"; if any merging occurs, then, at great distances, the fence merges with blue objects. Also she lacks Fency (and her favoured Turquoises) in TV's and of course cannot mix it in computers. She tells that European colour photography (or colour prints) rather use Grassy while Japanese ones rather Fency. On a national holyday she detected difference between the national Red-White-Green flags on neighbouring houses: one was Red-White-Grassy, the other Red-White-Fency. (The law defining the national flag needs 2/3 majority so it will be difficult to upgrade it). She was rather hilarious when discovering that on the signboard of a bio shop the desirable plants & herbs were painted with Fency. She reports that all the Plant Kingdom, with one sure and one possible exception, uses Grassy. This is rather natural, being the plant chlorophylle a definite spectrum. The sure exception (according to her) is Blue-Green Algae (or maybe some moss?). And look: blue-green algae aka Cyanophytae, of course contain clorophylle, but also a special chromatine, phycocyan, and for trichromats the result is a blue-green chromatoplasm. Hence the very name; and the Classical Greek "cyanos" when does not mean simply undefined "blue", means blue-green. (True, you must read and reread Aristotle's De Anima until understanding this; De Coloribus is not sufficiently detailed.)

So clorophylle green should be a good marker to discuss around with my mother, sister-in-law and cousins. I'll investigate over the Easter parties and give you a words next week.

Edited by Gingitsune
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Seriously awesome and totally unsurprising.

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I had a chat with my identical twin sister, she said she remember arguing with our father over the color of the sky, in the tones of blue, turquoise and aqua, there may be something to it.

Also, I gave a look at my real life Madagascar Dracaena versus google image, colors are always off. Some are closer than others, but there is always a hint of yellow missing. I need to do test with my father, as we share the same trichromate X.

I'll see my cousins over the weekend for a sugar shack party, I'll investigate more.

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I have this, to a minor degree. Optomatrist says that I have more rods and cones than most people. Sure is handy in the dark.

This seem to have a fluorescent glow, some things more than others.

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How about this one :) can anybody not see the number?

post-120625-0-15819400-1459864064_thumb.

Edited by Nnicolette
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