I've long found it curious that members here have distinctly different opinions on the colour balance of different binoculars, (Zeiss in paticular). Add in the popular view that women are often better at distinguishing colours than men and it got me wondering if there was an underlying reason.
Initially most scientific studies I found appeared to show that outside the classic types of colour blindness which affect about 8%of men and 1% of women there was very little if any gender difference. Virtually all these studies used a anomaloscope for the investigation. It's an instrument first devised by Lord Rayleigh in 1881 to identify those with the classic types of colour blindness from 'normal' vision. Studies going back at least 30 years show it is fairly insensitive to the variation within the 'normal' population and many alternatives have been reported which claim to distinguish differences that would be otherwise missed.
It was in the 1980s that the evolving genetic techniques began to reveal the heterogeneity of the components that make up out photo sensitive sells in the retina. In particular it was noted that roughly half the population had one amino acid at position 180 on the L-optis (red pigment) and the other half a different one. This caused a small but significant shift in the absorption peak of the pigment, but less than that for the most common form of red/green colour blindness. Although anomaloscope studies generally failed to show a functional difference in colour sensitivity, other tests claim to do so. It means that about 50% of men have a slightly different red/green sensitivity to the other 50%.
I stressed men because the genetic information is carried on the X chromosome it means that men have a single copy of the gene and express one variant or the other. Women have two X-chromosomes and can have have two copies of one form, two copies of the other, or one of each. As a consequence the studies show that a higher proportion of women have slightly better colour sensitivity on average.
Beyond this it gets increasingly complicated. There is also a comparable amino acid substitution on the M-opsin (green pigment). One study found that the best performing individuals In tests had the genes for both variants on each opsin. That means that while men will normaly have one each or the blue green and red receptors a small proportion of women have a blue, two red green annd two red receptors. Other amino acid substution have been identified that probably contribute to the story.
It is quite clear that at the genetic and physiological level, men vary in their colour sensitivity, not only from each other but also distinctly from a proportion of women. However as Calvin and Paddy point out, other factors like "training" will also pray a role, as will aging and disease, so things are not clear cut. However if your wife/girlfriend says her handbag doesn't go with her shoes it's probably best not to argue.
David
PS. 18yo Highland Park juggles with 18yo Ardbeg and McCallan for top spot for me, but JW red label is more my budget. :-C
