monochromacy
Sign in to saveAlso known as monochromatism
Monochromacy (from Greek mono, meaning "one" and chromo, meaning "color") is the ability of organisms to perceive only light intensity without respect to spectral composition. Organisms with monochromacy lack color vision and can only see in shades of grey ranging from black to white. Organisms with monochromacy are called monochromats. Many mammals, such as cetaceans, the owl monkey and the Australian sea lion are monochromats. In humans, monochromacy is one among several other symptoms of severe inherited or acquired diseases, including achromatopsia or blue cone monochromacy, together affec
Key facts
- Medical condition (new).name
- Monochromacy
- Medical condition (new).image
- Neophoca cinerea.JPG
- Medical condition (new).caption
- Monochromacy is a disease state in human vision but is normal in pinnipeds (such as Neophoca cinerea shown here), cetaceans, owl monkeys and some other animals.
- Medical condition (new).field
- Ophthalmology
via Wikipedia infobox
~6 min read
Article
7 sectionsContents
- Humans
- Rod monochromacy
- Cone monochromacy
- Mammals
- See also
- References
- Further reading
Monochromacy (from Greek mono, meaning "one" and chromo, meaning "color") is the ability of organisms to perceive only light intensity without respect to spectral composition. Organisms with monochromacy lack color vision and can only see in shades of grey ranging from black to white. Organisms with monochromacy are called monochromats. Many mammals, such as cetaceans, the owl monkey and the Australian sea lion are monochromats. In humans, monochromacy is one among several other symptoms of severe inherited or acquired diseases, including achromatopsia or blue cone monochromacy, together affecting about 1 in 30,000 people.
==Humans== Human vision relies on a duplex retina, comprising two types of photoreceptor cells. Rods are primarily responsible for dim-light scotopic vision and cones are primarily responsible for day-light photopic vision. For all known vertebrates, scotopic vision is monochromatic, since there is typically only one class of rod cell. However, the presence of multiple cone classes contributing to photopic vision enables color vision during daytime conditions.