Nocturnal colour vision - not as rare as we might think
(2006) In Journal of Experimental Biology 209(5). p.781-788- Abstract
- The dual retina of humans and most vertebrates consists of multiple types of cone for colour vision in bright light and one single type of rod, leaving these animals colour-blind at night. Instead of comparing the signals from different spectral types of photoreceptors, they use one highly sensitive receptor, thus improving the signal-to-noise ratio. However, nocturnal moths and geckos can discriminate colours at extremely dim light intensities when humans are colour-blind, by sacrificing spatial and temporal rather than spectral resolution. The advantages of colour vision are just as obvious at night as they are during the day. Colour vision is much more reliable than achromatic contrast, not only under changing light intensities, but... (More)
- The dual retina of humans and most vertebrates consists of multiple types of cone for colour vision in bright light and one single type of rod, leaving these animals colour-blind at night. Instead of comparing the signals from different spectral types of photoreceptors, they use one highly sensitive receptor, thus improving the signal-to-noise ratio. However, nocturnal moths and geckos can discriminate colours at extremely dim light intensities when humans are colour-blind, by sacrificing spatial and temporal rather than spectral resolution. The advantages of colour vision are just as obvious at night as they are during the day. Colour vision is much more reliable than achromatic contrast, not only under changing light intensities, but also under the colour changes occurring during dusk and dawn. It can be expected that nocturnal animals other than moths and geckos make use of the highly reliable colour signals in dim light. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/414779
- author
- Kelber, Almut LU and Roth, Lina LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2006
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- colour vision, vision, colour constancy, sensitivity, night vision
- in
- Journal of Experimental Biology
- volume
- 209
- issue
- 5
- pages
- 781 - 788
- publisher
- The Company of Biologists Ltd
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:16481567
- wos:000236476100010
- scopus:33645277632
- ISSN
- 1477-9145
- DOI
- 10.1242/jeb.02060
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- d9e79b7d-39c4-4110-8767-7c3e2a7f1931 (old id 414779)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 12:23:26
- date last changed
- 2024-05-08 13:36:20
@article{d9e79b7d-39c4-4110-8767-7c3e2a7f1931,
abstract = {{The dual retina of humans and most vertebrates consists of multiple types of cone for colour vision in bright light and one single type of rod, leaving these animals colour-blind at night. Instead of comparing the signals from different spectral types of photoreceptors, they use one highly sensitive receptor, thus improving the signal-to-noise ratio. However, nocturnal moths and geckos can discriminate colours at extremely dim light intensities when humans are colour-blind, by sacrificing spatial and temporal rather than spectral resolution. The advantages of colour vision are just as obvious at night as they are during the day. Colour vision is much more reliable than achromatic contrast, not only under changing light intensities, but also under the colour changes occurring during dusk and dawn. It can be expected that nocturnal animals other than moths and geckos make use of the highly reliable colour signals in dim light.}},
author = {{Kelber, Almut and Roth, Lina}},
issn = {{1477-9145}},
keywords = {{colour vision; vision; colour constancy; sensitivity; night vision}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{5}},
pages = {{781--788}},
publisher = {{The Company of Biologists Ltd}},
series = {{Journal of Experimental Biology}},
title = {{Nocturnal colour vision - not as rare as we might think}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.02060}},
doi = {{10.1242/jeb.02060}},
volume = {{209}},
year = {{2006}},
}