Primate Theory

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This theory was first proposed by Thomas Young in 1802 and later modified by Hermann von Helmholtz in 1852 (Zanker, 2010, p. 48), becoming known as the Young-Helmholtz theory of Trichromatic Color Vision. The main principle behind this theory is related to the three different types of cones. This theory points out that the eye responds to three primary colors, i.e. red, green and blue, and so is based on the observation of additive color mixing which form all the other colors through superposition of colored spotlights (See Figure 3.1 ) (Zanker, 2010, p. 48). Moreover, the theory assumes that three different images of whatever is seen are formed by the three sets of photoreceptors individually (one is red, one is blue and one is green respectively), …show more content…

Different theories try to explain this phenomenon, with a traditional belief that color vision has evolved for finding food in the forest, due to the capacity of discriminating red-green colors (Surridge, Osorio, & Mundy, 2003, p. 198). However, Changizi et al. (2006, p. 1) has been investigating another theory according to which color vision in primates “was selected for discriminating the spectral modulations on the skin of conspecifics” for other reasons than just finding the correct food supplies, such as discriminating emotional states or socio-sexual signals. In their investigation, the researchers found out that there are two skin spectral modulation to which trichromats are sensitive, but dichromats are not (Changizi, Zhang, & Shimojo, 2006, p. …show more content…

Color vision helps people recognize different colors and distinguish possible difference in their hue and saturation, offering information about the world through a nonlinguistic code (Neitz & Neitz, 2000, p. 691). Colors give an understanding of situations that humans could maybe not perceived otherwise. For example, a person with extremely red eyes can end up suffering of various diseases, such as conjunctivitis, which can lead to blindness if not treated. This is not to say that color vision is not an advantage in very basic situations as well: colors can be used in order to figure out whether food is general is spoiled or still good for

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