“Whereas the Oxy-Iso gives the colorblind a new enhanced red-green sense, useful among other things for emotions and health on the skin of others, our Oxy-Amp technology enhances the perception of emotions and health for all of those with normal color vision,” Changizi said.
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5 Comments
Add CommentI'm not sure why the researchers would focus on the ability to see color having an effect on recognizing subtle social cues rather than being able to see blood on either prey or tribe members - or differentiating viable food sources. The evolutionary desirability of one would seem to greatly precede the other.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"For years the leading hypothesis was that color vision evolved to help us spot nutritious fruits and vegetation in the forest. But in 2006, evolutionary neurobiologist Mark Changizi and colleagues proposed that color vision evolved to perceive oxygenation and hemoglobin variations in skin in order to detect social cues, emotions and the states of our friends or enemies" I have a problem with these either/or hypothesis. Is it not possible that both benefits would drive evolution of colour vision? Is it not also possible that emotional expression and fruit ripening evolved to give cues to those with colour vision? The real world seems too complex for these black and white conclusions.
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Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI suspect that the use of colour vision to detect social cues is rather limited to a few primates. Since colour vision is not limited to primates, I think the theory is without merit.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI too, think the answer is complex and not an either/or scenario. I also wonder about the impact on people with full spectrum vision after long term use.
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