How on earth do we even see the colour yellow?

Question

You see colour using three different kinds of cones in our eyes, and these cones can be either red, blue, or green. So where does yellow come in? Green consists of yellow and blue – but how would you only see yellow and not the blue that would make it green?

In: Biology

Answer 1

* Each set of the cone cells respond to a range of wavelength.
* Some of those ranges overlap.
* Yellow objects reflect light wavelength at a frequency that triggers both the red and green cells to a certain degree.
* Your brain interpret that response as yellow.

That’s also the way monitors trick you into thinking that the pixel is yellow. The red and green lights are calibrated to give you the same response of cone cells to make your brain interpret that as yellow.