The Squirrel Monkey Experiment
So, while certain colors elicit similar response from human beings, the classification of colors is based on individual and communal perception. To further investigate this concept, scientists conducted a study on two squirrel monkey primates. This specific specie of primate exhibit some form of red-green color blindness—a deficiency that affects many color blind human beings (Bryner, 2009). In the experiment, scientists injected a virus containing the genes for human red photo pigments into the retinas of the primates. Given the similarity between primates and human beings, scientists determined it safe to use human genes. After several months and series of tests, the two squirrel monkeys were able to respond to the color red in pictures (Hughes, 2012). In essence, their brains had adapted to accommodate the new pigment information. What this experiment revealed was that there are no pre-determined perceptions associated with particular wavelengths of color (Wolchover, 2012). The same deduction can be applied to explain how the human brain responds to the wavelengths of light that the retina processes.