Question
What is the name of the more primal (earlier evolved) color receptors in our eyes? What colors were they sensitive to?
Ask by Vaughan Sherman. in the United States
Mar 11,2025
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Answer
The earliest color receptors in our eyes are the short-wavelength sensitive cones (S-cones) and middle-wavelength sensitive cones (M-cones). S-cones respond to blue light, while M-cones respond to green light.
Solution
The retina has two main types of light‐sensitive cells: rods and cones. Only the cones are involved in color vision. Mammals originally evolved with a dichromatic cone system consisting of two types of cones:
1. **Short-wavelength sensitive cones (S-cones):**
These cones have an absorption peak around \(\sim420\)–\(\sim440\) nm and are most responsive to blue light.
2. **Middle-wavelength sensitive cones (M-cones):**
These have an absorption peak around \(\sim530\) nm and are most sensitive to green light.
In early mammalian evolution, these two cone types provided a basic (dichromatic) color vision system. Later in primate evolution, a third type of cone (the long-wavelength sensitive cone, or L-cone), sensitive primarily to red light, evolved via a gene duplication event. Thus, the more primal color receptors were the S- and M-cones, which were sensitive to blue and green wavelengths respectively.
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The more primal color receptors in our eyes are called "cones," specifically the short-wavelength cones (S-cones), which are sensitive primarily to blue light. These early evolved cones allowed our ancestors to better navigate their environments, as distinguishing different light wavelengths aided in foraging for food and detecting predators in the dense forests where early humans lived. Later evolved cones, like the medium (M) and long (L) wavelength cones, broadened our color vision to encompass green and red hues, respectively. This advancement in color perception helped humans adapt and thrive in diverse surroundings, making our world a more vibrant place to experience!
