How do we see the color yellow if we only have red, green and blue cones?

kplinds

Signalling from red and green cones at the same time causes us to perceive yellow. Dec 01 03, 4:31 PM

TheAlphaWolf

oh... I was thinking that maybe BLUE and green... Dec 01 03, 4:38 PM

lothruin

Alpha, I think you're incorrect assumption was based on the confusion between pigment and light primaries. Red, green and blue are the light primaries, and they and their secondaries are not related to pigment primaries and secondaries at all. Dec 01 03, 7:50 PM

Gnomon

The red cones react most strongly to red light, but will also react to colours close to red in the spectrum, so the yellow light will stimulate them a little. Similarly, yellow light will stimulate the green cones a little. So pure yellow light will produce a tell-tale signal of some red and some green. Our brain interprets this as yellow. The brain can also be fooled by looking at a mixture of red and green light. While red and green lights do not actually mix physically, the mixture will stimulate the eye in the same way as yellow light, so our brain interprets it as yellow as well. Dec 02 03, 9:37 AM

TheAlphaWolf

You're right lothruin I did forget that pigments' primary colors are different from light colors... but if the cells are detecting light... oh this is so confusing. I get what you mean gonomon. and I tried mixing red and green light and it does look yellow! (with christmas lights believe it or not) Dec 02 03, 8:11 PM

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