The dress was a blue and black dress that caused a global debate on social media in 2015. People saw it differently depending on the lighting and other factors, revealing how colour perception varies among individuals. Rather than seeing the color of the dress itself as either white or blue with gold or black trim, the participants reported seeing a spectrum of shades from light blue to dark blue, with yellow.
A simple candid photograph of a dress ended up revealing differences in the way people perceive colours, with many unable to see the dress in its original black and blue. Blue and black or white and gold? A decade later, it turns out the ultra. Remember, the dress is actually blue and black, though most people saw it as white and gold, at least at first.
The dress illusion is a rare example of how people can perceive colors differently depending on their environment and brain processing. Learn how vision science explains the blue. As promo images show, the dress is unequivocally blue and black, but the photo itself became one of the most famous optical illusions of all.
How people see the dress as black and blue or gold and white depends on how they assume it is illuminated. Neuroscientists reveal that morning people are more likely to see white and gold, while night owls see black and blue. The brain of observers who assume The Dress is sunlit will subtract gold from the image and consequently see it as blue and black.
A viral debate over the color of a dress is caused by a color constancy illusion. Learn how our brains perceive and correct colors based on lighting, shading, and ambiguity.
