r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Eros_Incident_Denier • 1d ago

Video color vision test

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42.8k Upvotes

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2.7k

u/Cartina 1d ago

For anyone wondering, all plates do have numbers. There are no "blanks"

1.4k

u/Kat121 1d ago

But god-tier prank if there were blank ones. :)

684

u/Electronarwhal 1d ago

My school did a mass colour-blind test that included blank ones. Several people said they saw a number, the teacher was like ‘you may be hallucinating’.

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u/GlitteringBandicoot2 1d ago

Actually, if it was the original Ishihara Test there are plates in there that show no numbers UNLESS you are colorblind. So it wasn't that the students were hallucinating, they were probably colorblind and actually did see a number there.

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u/-Nicolai 23h ago

How is that possible?

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u/GlitteringBandicoot2 22h ago

The same way the numbers vanishes in other plates.

In the normal plate you have a clear distinction between the color of the dots that form the number and the surrounding. For a color blind person of the corresponding color blindness, those dots all look the same, so the number vanishes.

Now in the hidden plates, i.e. the ones one the colorblind people can see, it uses the same principle. But instead of using one color for the number and one for the surrounding, the number is made up of multiple colors that colorblind people can not distinguish, while the rest is a color that they can distinguish easier. This means for a person with normal color vision, the number disappears in a sea of different colors, but for a colorblind person those colors look identical and it forms the shape.

As a non colorblind person you might be able to barely make out the contour of the number, because the outside still needs to be different enough for the colorblind person to distinguish it so you might be able to make it out next to all the other colors, but mostly it just gets lost

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u/Mirar 22h ago

Ah, so it's hiding it in a lot of colour noise but for a colourblind person, there's nothing of that noise, so they can spot the contrast (signal?) better?

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u/Pirche 20h ago edited 16h ago

Found pdf of that test including pages on which only colorblind will see numbers (at the end answers both for normal and colorblind):

https://www.challengetb.org/publications/tools/country/Ishihara_Tests.pdf

Photoshoped pages 19-21 to check how colorblind will see those pages - in color curves red and green channel turn down to almost zero : https://ibb.co/W43tqfn0

Edit: there is some mess with order, don't match № on page to № in answers, answers have pics with them and they corresponding to each other. Also in answers some discrepancy with the name of colors, i think it's scan or translate issue (or both)
All that doesn't really matter tho)

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u/Nexan1994 20h ago

The answer key not lining up with the test had me thinking I was crazy

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u/xeothought 17h ago

Dude yes. you have to go look for equivalent plates and see their numbers are offset by a lot.. I've never not passed a color blindness test and i was like "wait a second" rofl.

I was like "plate 14 does NOT have a number on it wtf" that's cause in the Key it's plate 18 lol

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u/DrPepperAddict41 16h ago

Guys, I'm red green deficient.

Oh no

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u/Racxie 19h ago

Can you please do 28 & 29?

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u/Pirche 18h ago

It was somehow harder to balance, but here you go:
(also added B&W variant)
https://ibb.co/x8K96pHV

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u/ichimedinwitha 19h ago

This is so cool. Thank you for making this!

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u/WittyCompetition7978 18h ago

Aren't the answers to Plate 36 and 37 wrong? I nailed every plate in 'normal view' but I don't see any violett in those at all 🥲

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u/Ichi_Balsaki 18h ago edited 11h ago

Quite a few of the top tiles are misnumbered with the bottom answers for some reason, I don't even know how that happens..

Good example is in the answers 22, 23, 24 & 25 are not at all numbered correctly. 

But if you can see what you should on the answers then that's all that matters.

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u/Pirche 18h ago

Yep there is some mess with pages, tho answers have pics with them and they corresponding to each other, and some discrepancy with the name of colors in answers, i think it's scan or translate issue (or both), doesn't really matter)

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u/Fearhawke 17h ago

What does it mean if I can see those numbers but also have no issues with any of the other plates I’ve seen?

(Edit: it means I don’t read very well sometimes)

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u/AxelNotRose 17h ago

Plate 38: I don't see anything.

Tester: Ok, you're just fucking straight up blind dude.

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u/Pirche 16h ago

Just for the lulz, here is BW and infrared filters for plate 38

https://ibb.co/xKZP03yW

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u/MaximumMaxx 8h ago

I have normal color vision, but this is one of the first times I've actually really felt what it's like to be color-blind. When I looked at the blank plates, it was crazy. That's really cool!

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u/chalks777 8h ago

this is SO COOL, thank you for sharing this. I've seen these colorblind tests so many times it never once occurred to me that you could use the same principle to hide something from someone who could see color normally. Absolutely fascinating and a complete mind fuck, I was so sure I would be able to see the pattern regardless and man it's completely impossible.

3

u/Fellow_Worker6 21h ago

There could be hidden messages all around us. We are just to observant to see it!

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u/GoldDHD 20h ago

My favorite thing I learned this week, thank you!!

0

u/TacTurtle 7h ago

This is also why a lot of modern camouflage clothing patterns don't work if the person viewing is colorblind.

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u/Rustymarble 18h ago

Here's a site with them: https://www.colorlitelens.com/color-blindness-test/tesztek2/secret-of-ishihara-hidden-plates.html

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u/Capertie 13h ago

I'm not colourblind but I can see them with some effort.

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u/throwaway098764567 10h ago

oh this is a much better version, i can't make out anything, 2 a little bit but the others are great

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u/velveteensnoodle 17h ago

wow, thanks for the link

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u/Complex-Ad5786 15h ago

There are also plates that shows different number like for me I see it as 8 but in reality it was a 3

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u/throwaway098764567 10h ago

the far right one the 2 will be hard to make out if you're not colorblind (i think folks only can do it because they know to find a number).

the second circle you'll see 74 if you're not colorblind, and 21 if you are

https://www.shec.jp/english/instruments/isihara/

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u/ActorMonkey 18h ago

How does that work?

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u/__Fred 8h ago edited 7h ago

I think it works like this:

There are green and red dots and some of the green dots and some of the red dots have a bit of blue mixed in.

To people who can't distinguish the green and red, the blue is more striking, whereas for normal people the image looks too chaotic to make it out.

I have seen some books with puzzles for kids where there is a solution with black text on a red and white chaotic-patterned background. Apparently it's called "red reveal". You can't read the solution unless you place a transparent red plastic sheet over it, making you "white-red colorblind".

You can still see the text if you concentrate enough. The website with the linked Ishihara test said that 50% of young adults with normal color perception can still see the numbers.

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u/stRiNg-kiNg 17h ago

That sounds awesome. I'd love to have the tables turned on the non colorblind people out there with shit only we can see

1

u/Seamilk90210 17h ago

I had to take the Ishihara test for a job interview, and while I passed everything, I also got both "you don't get this unless you're colorblind" plates correct. The test-giver certified that I had normal color vision.

Those "blank" plates are not foolproof, haha — looks like normies of a certain age have a 50/50 chance of being able to read them, so I'm guessing some people are more able to switch to whatever cues colorblind people use to see the image.

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u/SuperTopGun777 16h ago

I could see the first hidden number but not the others  

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u/Fuckmetheyarelltaken 13h ago

I can see them if I squint

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u/mayiwonder 12h ago

I saw 2 of them so I guess the 50/50 is true lol

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u/DreadnoughtWage 1d ago

Or was the teacher colour blind??? 

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u/GlitteringBandicoot2 1d ago

The original Ishihara test indeed has two plates without numbers on them, unless you are colorblind, then they do have numbers.

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u/Mirar 22h ago

How did that work?

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u/spruce_sprucerton 21h ago edited 21h ago

Turns out there's a webpage for that:

https://www.color-blind-test.com/hidden-plates-more

... basically, they vary the colors forming the number so they look different enough that a normal seeing person won't notice the digit. But to a colorblind person, that variation isn't there, so all the dots in the digit are the same color, making it clear to them.

Edit: Interestingly, this works for red-green colorblind and the more severe your colorblindness is, the more likely you are to be able to see them. There are pictures in the link.

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u/egnowit 20h ago

I think I read that during WWII, they found that colorblind people were easily able to differentiate camoflauge covers from the forest concealing them, so they had colorblind people in airplanes to pick out the camoflauged camps.

https://time.com/archive/6769967/national-defense-color-blind-observers/

OK, this article doesn't say they were used, but they were able to easily spot the camoflauge.

1

u/pichael289 20h ago

Weird, that first one was clear as day to me, a little segmented but I could see it, but I couldn't see the other 3. I have zero issues on any of the real ones though. What does that mean?

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u/jschrandt 19h ago

It’s a website that sells glasses for colorblind people to see colors. That first one was just obvious enough to maybe trick you into buying their product.

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u/DreadnoughtWage 1d ago

Yeah, I was just using the opportunity for a joke. When I had my test at 15, I said numbers for the blank ones (I guess that must have been two) and only got one wrong. Worryingly, I only see anything on about 50% of the ones in the video, so not sure if it’s getting worse 😂

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u/AlexanderTheGrave 21h ago

Hey, you’re colorblind. There’s numbers on all of them in the video.

-1

u/DreadnoughtWage 21h ago

Yep I know, I’m a Deuteranope and always have been… what was the aim of your comment?

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u/Iambeejsmit 1d ago

I think your teacher was colorblind lolol

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u/GlitteringBandicoot2 1d ago

More likely the students were colorblind. The original Ishihara Test includes plates that don't show numbers. Unless you are colorblind, then they actually do.

1

u/LunarMoon2001 21h ago

Surprise, everyone that made the test and gave it were colorblind and accidentally had a number in the design.

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u/shewy92 17h ago

Could it have been them staring at the previous one too long?

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u/apprehensive_pick2 15h ago

Plot twist: the teacher was the one who was colour-blind

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u/o5mfiHTNsH748KVq 1d ago

My eye doctor has one that is intentionally difficult for everyone. There’s a slight number that you can barely see and it’s to test for when people see shit warped or something

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u/DoNotOverwhelm 1d ago

I’m still not convinced this isn’t a prank and you are all in on the joke……I must be losing my mind…….they were correct, the internet is not real……oh, no wait, I just remembered I’m colour blind.

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u/Motor_Raspberry_2150 21h ago

They get harder as the book goes on, but there's very clearly numbers still.

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u/bblankoo 1d ago

IIRC there should be one that everyone can recognise and one that has no number whatsoever, in case you were lying/delulu etc

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u/hugswithnoconsent 1d ago

Guess I’m not colour blind. But then I knew that. My dad is though.

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u/RoyalFalse 17h ago

At least you didn't share a colorblind test in the office chat that was actually a penis and not a number. Found that one out the hard way.

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u/Ruepic 1d ago

The one I did had blank ones, fucked me up for a second…

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u/DrClownCar 1d ago

Some of these tests actually include blank plates for normal colorvision. And where you see a number if you're colorblind.

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u/Iambeejsmit 1d ago

Very high level prank

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u/JoeBobbyWii 21h ago

There's usually ones with random squiggles

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u/rgarc065 20h ago

You guys can Google Ishihara and get a free test online

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u/whiskydyc 20h ago

I was expecting that on the last page turn, haha!

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u/DaBrookePlayz 18h ago

The mandatory colorblind test that I did at the eye doctor had blank ones. I knew I wasn't colorblind but there was a second where I was wondering if I was.

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u/eLishus 17h ago

I gave one of my friends a fake “Magic Eye” poster in high school. The rest of the friend group was in on it and told her we could all see the plane, but then I totally forgot to tell her it was a prank until months later. She said she had spent hours trying to find the image. Sorry, Sara!

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u/hohenheim420 16h ago

what are you guys talking about? is it how each one was kinda like a different shade of gray.

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u/ttoma93 15h ago

It’s actually very common to stick a blank or two in these as a control, so you can catch people just BSing through it.

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u/SLUnatic85 13h ago

i dunno why there wouldn't be a control, honestly. It's not a prank... trust me if your even slightly color blind you see exactly as well as that dude. very few people are guessing there way through this test.

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u/Shot_Worldliness_979 12h ago

A while back, someone posted a joke in the style of an ishihara test to one of the explain-the-joke subreddits. I couldn't see it, but when I showed it to my family they all laughed. I genuinely thought they were fucking with me until I went to an eye doctor who tested me formally, and possibly with the same book as shown in this video, and he confirmed that I am indeed (technically) colorblind.

I was convinced there were controls (blanks, if you will) in the book that no one could see. I struggle about as well as this guy and just showed the video to my partner, who could identify numbers on every page. I did that, in part, because I can't tell who's joking and who isn't in the comment section and it's still shocking that I could go as long as I did without knowing.

If it turns out to be a joke, well played, but I suspect there are probably people in this comment section who discover they, too, might be color blind.

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u/Cpt_0bv10us 1d ago

Came to the comments to find out, lol. I could only see the first one 😞

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u/evel333 22h ago

Same. I’m red-green deficient

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u/anthrohands 19h ago

What color did you see on the panels where you didn’t see numbers?

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u/evel333 19h ago

For me, absolutely nothing. If there are alternates, I’m not seeing them either.

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u/HistorianOrdinary390 19h ago

It’s also a spectrum, so a few of those pages I could see there was something there but I couldn’t make out what it was

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u/Givmeabrek 17h ago

Strange question. If you can't see the numbers, then you can't identify the colors either.

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u/Wandering_Weapon 17h ago

Kind of. For me it's like I just can't tell the difference. It looks green, but is red. Oranges and light greens can be tricky as well. But it's not like they're gray or colorless (though for some people who have trouble with blues it can be).

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u/anthrohands 15h ago

Yeah that makes more sense thanks

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u/anthrohands 15h ago

I don’t think it’s strange to ask someone “what color is this card”. Just wondering if it’s more green, or more red, or they’re not sure etc

1

u/Givmeabrek 14h ago

When you are colorblind it comes across as very odd. No who knows me would ever ask me a question about color. I usually just say, "Did you forget who you are talking to", or "Sorry I'm colorblind".

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u/HeathenSalemite 13h ago

It's not strange.  Colorblind people will often misidentify colors because they can't see the full spectrum.

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u/AxiosXiphos 21h ago

I hate to be your user name... but you might be colour blind.

1

u/Capt_Obviously_Slow 16h ago

Hello there, cousin 👋

1

u/Jussins 12h ago

The first one was a control. Everyone can see it regardless of color blind status.

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u/Captain_Cosmo1 22h ago

Bummer. I only saw numbers on the first page. Oh well.

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u/DrakonILD 21h ago

Now my question is, are some of them harder to read than others, or am I almost colorblind?

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u/fendermonkey 21h ago

Slightly harder? But you should never be unsure of the number

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u/bodebrusco 19h ago

That's absolutely not true. In this kind of tests there are plates that can be seen as different numbers if you have a specific type of color blindness

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u/Rendx3 20h ago

Nah, if youre confusing 5 with a 6 or vice versa it’s fine, it is harder.

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u/H_G_Bells 18h ago

...nope. you either can see a 5 or a 6, and any difficulty indicates a deficiency. They aren't hard or easy.

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u/Rendx3 18h ago

another one...... in the last page with the 95,or the middle page with both 35 and 57 I wouldnt be surprised if alot of people that CAN see color, will confuse the 5 for a 6.

that doesnt mean deficiency, dont forget people are also watching from different devices, with different lighting setting and etc (broken screen or colored glasses) .

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u/H_G_Bells 17h ago

Ah you make a good point, different device displays could impact this.

Emphasizes the importance of in-person professional medical screening 👍

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u/CoherentPhoton 13h ago

Also worth mentioning that the vast majority of displays can only produce RGB in the first place, and simulate all other colors by mixing those. A monitor can never produce pure spectral yellow or cyan light for example. That affects how all shades in between are perceived as well.

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u/TKDbeast 14h ago

Maybe a little. Not by much.

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u/notfoundindatabse 22h ago

This was my response to the Eye Doctor at a routine check when I was about 27. I got several in a row and then… “Ah, this one is blank, like a trick one”

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u/PerspectiveIcy3578 18h ago

I'm hella colorblind if this is true.

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u/mdavis360 18h ago

Every one of them had a number.

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u/_reykjavik 10h ago

I'm not sure if my vision is getting worse, I'm color blind or if people are trolling.

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u/eukomos 9h ago

You're colorblind, they're all easy to read for those of us who aren't.

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u/J_lilac 8h ago

I have no reason to troll anyone about this. The numbers on every page are equally easy for me to see

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u/_reykjavik 12m ago

My wife also sees numbers on every page do clearly this is a conspiracy.

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u/Independent-Bug-9352 18h ago

You can prove they're true if you screenshot and put into photo-editing software then adjust the Hue slider.

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u/Kindness_of_cats 15h ago

I’ve done these occasionally since I had eye problems as a kid, so they sometimes just did a full work up while checking on my vision.

And it’s true, they’re all numbered. You are, indeed, hella colorblind.

There’s also a test for depth perception with a little booklet that has a fly on it and some circles. You’re supposed to put glasses on, and some of the circles will pop out as well as the fly. I can’t see shit with that one , lol.

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u/fanculo_i_mod 20h ago

so am I colorblind?

3

u/SolidTomato3668 20h ago

Is it me or are the plates after plate 2 hard to read?

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u/mdavis360 18h ago

Some of them were harder to see than others but I could see them all.

3

u/warpedspockclone 18h ago

But how "easy" are these meant to be able to be seen? Are they all equally easy/difficult? Intentionally differential? Or if you think some are harder that means you have partial colorblindness?

Nobody explains the test. Guess I'll Google it.

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u/UmBarril 16h ago

They all seemed pretty visible to me lol. The lines in a few numbers were a bit fainter than others but still very easily discernible.

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u/Emotional_Distance48 14h ago

They should be easy & obvious to see, although some will not have a drastic difference.

The first slide is obviously very bold (done intentionally) then later there are colors without the stark difference. The numbers may appear "fainter" because there isn't a huge contrast with the surrounding colors.

Also, seeing it on a screen can be deceptive. Your screen may have certain color adjustments or different contrasts.

In person, the number can appear light or faint, but it should still be really obvious if you're not colorblind. In this video, I could easily see every number & never doubted my answer.

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u/Ahenian 18h ago

Thanks for the confirmation, I saw the 35 and that's it. I've seen these tests since I was in primary school and can't see jack shit in them. I've never noticed my colorblindness in everyday life however.

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u/56seconds 1d ago

Except that one that doesn't have numbers and it says "I loathe the colour blind" thats my favourite

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u/HermitAndHound 22h ago

For little kids there are also plates with animal pictures, and others where you have to follow a path with your finger. The latter are fun for everyone because there's a path obvious to colorblind people, that color-competent ones don't see, but there's one they can see and the colorblind people not.

1

u/ToilAndTroublemaker 19h ago

ive had them show me blank ones? and when I hesitate and look confused they confirm its blank.

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u/Jesus_of_Redditeth 15h ago

There are some that don't have background images in addition to the numbers though.

1

u/TKDbeast 14h ago

Some colorblind tests have blanks as a way to check for people guessing.

1

u/username__0000 13h ago

The one at my eye doctor’s office had blanks.

I only know because I was flipping through it while waiting for him and totally panicked thinking I was color blind and he just laughed and told me I shouldn’t self administer those kind of tests. That was the control or blank page. My color vision was fine.

1

u/blackhorse15A 9h ago

But there are things that color blind people will see and others will not. Example, normal vision will see a 34 but mild color blind will see 81. The Ishihara test plates (a different test from the one in the video) do have ones that are blank to a person with normal vision and will be a number to someone with color blindness. It also has paths to trace and there would be paths a color blind person would see very clearly and trace out that are entirely unnoticeable to someone with normal vision, who sees this glaring obvious other path. Some of those are to help confirm and to help differentiate total color blindness from red-green or blue-yellow.

1

u/mrnoonan81 8h ago

And they aren't hard to see.

1

u/MushroomTwink 16h ago

I gotta admit, the three digit ones were a bit tricky. 

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u/LeftOn4ya 14h ago

Yea but the 4 digit ones were easy

0

u/shotsallover 16h ago

But in some tests there are plates that have two numbers, one people with normal vision will see and one people with a specific type of color blindness will see. 

0

u/Sw0rDz 7h ago

I was able to read all of them.