Gold and white or blue and black, trending on Twitter

What would be interesting is whether there's any pattern amongst the 25% who see blue and black? For example, are they majority male? What percentage of them are colour blind or have weak colour perception? What are their backgrounds - for example, your colour perception might be perfectly normal but not trained up, and thus poorer than that of an artist or interior designer, or photographer etc.

As for post #7 - I see dark brown with a yellow tinge - think like roasted coffee brown under a warm light, and for the other colour, I see what the table below would call "anchusa" or "autumn crocus", but a shade darker - probably with a shade of what the table below calls "eucalptus leaf" or "oat grass". If I had to describe it in absolute colour terms, I'd say it's a blueish-puple or purplish-blue. Unlike the dark brown, which is much more solidly in the category of "brown", this second colour is really neither blue nor purple - it's a cross in between in the colour wheel. If I were colouring this myself, I'd definitely use some measure of pale to medium grey.

However, all of this could be inaccurate because we honestly don't know under what lighting the dress was photographed. I'd have to see the dress in person in sunlight, I think.

 

But that doesn't matter. The issue is what do you see in that image, not what color is the actual dress?

 

So at first I was all like "come on guys, it's black and blue". But then I saw it as white and gold. And then back black and blue. And then switch again. All with the same image. And when I switch the eyes I look through, it changes color again. My eyes are going crazy!

 

That's interesting. It suggests the difference is in our retinal receptors, not necessarily in the brain.

What color do you see with each eye in the little boxes in post #7?

 

Don't forget the additional filters: The overexposure of the original photograph (and the corresponding nonlinear response of the sensors), and imperfect color response of display devices.

 

You're making the same mistake @123456789 and @Mckk made, it's not about the difference between the image and the dress, it's not about the lighting.

The issue here is, pure and simple, people looking at the very same image see different colors.

 

Both eyes saw the colors in the boxes as a dark brown and a light blue, though I often notice a difference in what each eye perceives: my right eye usually sees things more brightly colored, while my left eye seems to see things more in a cool light. But as I was looking at the image again in post #7, I saw it as black and blue, and then, after focusing on the colors in the boxes, it suddenly was white and gold again. I have no idea how I do it.

 

Perhaps then it's a combination of brain and receptors. If the image shifts back and forth, that suggests optical illusion and therefore brain interpretation is at work.

I also have one eye that sees things more brightly than the other eye.

 

Yeah, I think it's both. When I tell myself it's a white and gold dress hanging in a dark corner, it's easier to see. It's just as easy to switch back to black and blue, though.

 

I can't even imagine what it looks like in gold and white.

I think everyone who sees gold and white are just trolls

If you've asked "What do you see, a black and blue dress or a pink and orange dress?" They would've said orange and pink.

 

When I first saw that image I immediately thought "white and gold", and that was before I read about the "white and gold vs. black and blue" discussion.

 

There is some troll material in you genetics, maybe. Do you even know what gold and white looks like?

 

I do. It's just that my gold and white doesn't look the same as yours.

 

When I first looked at this dress there were two other people with me. I saw a distinct blue and black. The black was low contrast and of poor quality but it was black. One of the others saw as I did and the other saw it as a gold/white. I thought for sure the person seeing gold/white was just fooling around. I mean, it is so obviously blue/black. Then I took a screen shot of it to import to Photoshop to have a closer look, opened the shot without manipulation in Photoshop and was gold/white to me. I though PS did something to the image. BUT, when I looked at the dress on the site I had done the screen capture from, the dress appeared gold/white.Very very interesting.

 

My eye color is gold and white.

 

I think that's fascinating @Fitzroy Zeph. I can't make myself see that gold as black. It boggles the mind that people see black.

 

It is the first time I have experienced anything like that. The differences between the two versions are stark. Regardless of which one you see, you can't imagine that it would be possible to see the other.

 

My friend sent me the picture and asked, "What color do you see? This is pissing me off!" I responded, "Blue and Black." She said, "I see gold and white!!" THis being the first time I've heard of the dress I thought she was just joking with me.. It's so obviously blue and black.

The next morning me and my mother were talking about it and she sees it as gold and white. She thought I was messing with her, and we even started to have an argument about how she thought I wouldn't just drop the lie. She finally gave up after she realized I was sincere..

This dress hurts my head.

 

It's just one more example of quantum mechanics hard at work. Each of us created our own reality. White and gold or black and blue.

 

This thing is a statistical mess. It created an observer's superposition of "can't unsee" and what is initially seen is determined randomly I suppose.

 

But you can un-see if you re-condition your vision. Or maybe not. And I doubt it's random. Lots of academics have weighed in with theories on this.

 

I don't dare to loose trust in my conception of blue and black.

 

The actual dress is black and blue. It depends on what lighting you're standing in that changes how the dress looks.

 

To you it's black and blue. To someone else it's gold and white. That's the beauty of consciousness. No one is wrong!