In work published in the scientific journal ‘Nature’, colour vision scientist Jay Neitz from the University of Washington injected a virus into monkeys’ eyes which enabled them to see red as well as green and yellow.

Remarkably the group of squirrel monkeys were able to make sense of the new information despite their brains not being genetically programmed to respond to red signals.

The result was that just four months later the monkeys could see in full colour for the first time.

As well as allowing colour-blind humans to tell red from green, the innovative technique could restore sight to the blind. 

Sufferers of age-related macular degeneration  -  the most common cause of blindness in the elderly  -  are among the millions who could eventually benefit. 

Importantly, the monkeys were injected with a human gene, suggesting the same technique would work on people.

The 2009 findings prompted researchers to investigate what the monkeys were actually seeing and they concluded that there were no predetermined perceptions ascribed to each wavelength.

The scientists now believe that although people’s brains tend to behave in the similarly when they are born neurons are not configured to respond to colour in a default way.

Other research shows different perceptions of colours do not change our emotional response to the same shades.

They found that people’s reactions to the colour ‘blue’ tends to have a calming effect due to the shorter wavelengths of light hitting the retina.

While longer wavelengths (yellow, orange and red) can make us more alert.

Neitz said: ‘I would say recent experiments lead us down a road to the idea that we don’t all see the same colours.’

While another color vision scientist, Joseph Carroll of the Medical College of Wisconsin, told the website Life’s Little Mysteries: ’I think we can say for certain that people don’t see the same colors.’

Elite.