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Thursday 14 June 2018

Vision (eyesight): Do Women See Colours Better Than Men? If So, Why?


Well, this is a fact.

Women distinguish colours better than men. It has a biological reason.

The rear part of our eyeball’s membrane contains approx 7 million cone cells, which are responsible for distinguishing different colours. The information about colour cells in contained in women's ‘X chromosomes’.

Women have two X chromosomes where we men have one X and one Y chromosome.

This is why women can distinguish more colours and shades.

men's and women's eyes are set up differently. Cones are what allow us to see colour. Rods allow us to see shapes. Women, in general, have more cones than men. Men, in general, have more rods than women.
This makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint. Women would have dealt more with gathering food like berries. A nice ability to have would be the ability to discern the difference between all the "red" berries. The difference between them could be a meal or poisoning your family. As such, women who have better colour vision live to pass on their genes.
Men, on the other hand, need to quickly tell the shape of whatever is in front of them. Especially in the dark when colours don't help. Men with fewer rods couldn't discern shapes quickly, and they likely died early. That means men with more rods pass on their genes. But again, that's just what I remember from school.
More recent studies point to how our brains process information. Men and women with the same cone setups still perceive colours differently. This isn't fully understood. Although researchers speculate it has to do with our body chemistries. Men having extra testosterone, women having extra estrogen, etc. More research to come I imagine.

Credit -  .Quora

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