Q. Who sees better in the dark? Boys or girls?
A. I’m sorry that there really isn’t a definitive answer mainly because the research done in this area doesn’t look specifically at gender differences in night vision. As far as differences in eyes go, we know that more males are subject to color blindness, or actually color deficiency. The explanation for that from an evolutionary perspective is that a color blind hunter, who sees fewer colors, is not distracted by the natural camouflage of many animals’ coats. That hunter is better able to see the animal in the wild whereas a person with full color vision sees all the colors and has a harder time seeing the animal. If you don’t see a full complement of colors, you might be able to see better at night because night vision depends on being able to see black and white, not colors. You may have noticed that you can see things at night in your peripheral vision, but if you stare in that direction, the object disappears. The reason is that your focused vision is mostly color and your peripheral vision is almost entirely black and white. While most individuals with color blindness are men, only about 10% of males have the condition which would not make for a statistical difference in night vision between males and females. The final answer to this question is that there isn’t an answer because there doesn’t seem to be research specifically in this area. If anyone knows of a study, please let me know.