Color Range in Pentachromats
According to Jay Neitz, a visual spectrum researcher at the University of Washington, the three common types of cones in the human retina — long, medium, and short — can each distinguish approximately 100 intensities of light throughout their continuum of sensitivity within the visual spectrum. The visual cortex in the occipital lobe of the cerebrum can multiplex these varying intensities which allows a typical human to distinguish approximately one million discrete hues. Theoretically, a pentachromat, assuming the same spectral resolution of 100 intensities for each of five cone cell types and the same cognitive combinatorial capacity, may be capable of distinguishing up to 10 billion colors. However, most animals with possible pentachromatic vision have significantly simpler brain structures than the human optical system and in actuality will probably not be able to "combine and multiply" individual colors to create new shades and hues to create such a large range of colors.
Read more about this topic: Pentachromacy
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