Colours look brightest!

Life is definitely more vibrant when you are young, not just literally speaking but also otherwise.

Life is definitely more vibrant when you are young, not just literally speaking but also otherwise.

Researchers in Sydney, who are using brain waves to study colour vision in children, say the ability to distinguish between different hues varies with age.

`Colour sensitivity is at its highest at about 25 years,' The Age quoted Catherine Suttle, of the School of Optometry and Vision Science at the University of New South Wales, as saying.

"Then it starts to decline with age," she added.

Electrodes attached to the scalp record brainwaves whose shape, timing and size can all vary as the brain processes different colours.

Dr. Suttle said it was not known why colour vision continued to mature during late childhood but it was probably due to a change in the organisation of the cells that detect colour.

The subsequent decline "happens so slowly I don't think people would necessarily notice it", she said.