Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 28, 2026

Assessment of Oxidative Damage in the Primary Mouse Ocular Surface Cells/Stem Cells in Response to Ultraviolet-C (UV-C) Damage
Published on: February 15, 2020
Color naming and the phototoxic effects of sunlight on the eye
Delwin T Lindsey1, Angela M Brown
1Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Mansfield 44906, USA. lindsey.43@osu.edu
Abstract:
Many languages have no basic color term for "blue." Instead, they call short-wavelength stimuli "green" or "dark". We show that this cultural, linguistic phenomenon could result from accelerated aging of the eye because of high, chronic exposure to ultraviolet-B (UV-B) in sunlight (e.g., phototoxic lens brunescence). Reviewing 203 world languages, we found a significant relationship between UV dosage and color naming: In low-UV localities, languages generally have the word "blue"; in high-UV areas, languages without "blue" prevail. Furthermore, speakers of these non-"blue" languages often show blue-yellow color vision deficiency. We tested our phototoxicity hypothesis in a color-naming experiment, using computerized, colorimetric simulations of Munsell colors as viewed through clear and brunescent lenses. As predicted, our young subjects used "blue" as in English when the simulated lens was clear, but named colors as in tropical languages when the lens was dense. Our within-subjects design precludes a cultural explanation for this result.
Related Concept Videos
Photoreceptors and Visual Pathways
Pigmentation
Melanin occurs in two primary forms: eumelanin that provides black and brown pigment and pheomelanin that provides red color. Dark-skinned individuals produce more melanin than those with pale...
Color Vision
Photoreceptors and Plant Responses to Light
Mutations
Chromosomal Alterations Are Large-Scale Mutations
While point mutations are changes in a single nucleotide in...
Anatomy of the Eyeball

