White gold dress how to see blue. What color is the dress? Scientific explanation. Dress blue or white

Most likely, everyone remembers that very dress that set the entire Internet on edge. People heatedly discussed and argued about what color it was - white-gold or blue-black. Now researchers have decided to approach this issue from a scientific point of view.

What did scientists find out?

Research by scientists has led to conclusions that indicate that the difference in human perception of color largely depends on how the human brain generally perceives colors in daylight. It has long been known that the shapes and colors of an object can be viewed completely differently by two people. However, it was the dress that became one of the most dramatic and sensational examples. And now, through research into the colors in this dress, it has become clear that the answer to the famous question of whether all people see colors the same is not necessarily yes.

Color Constancy

In one study, scientists asked nearly 1,500 people to look at a photograph of a dress they had never seen before and say what color it was. Fifty-seven percent of those surveyed said it was blue-black, thirty percent said the color of the dress was white and gold, 11 percent described it as blue-brown, and 2 percent chose a different answer. Some subjects reported that they saw completely different colors when they looked at the photo a second time later. Differences in the perception of color occur because the brain makes an idea of ​​lighting, adjusting the colors so that the same object looks the same in any light. This property is known as color constancy. People who saw the white-gold color thought the dress was illuminated by bright daylight, so their brains ignored the shorter blue wavelengths. Those who saw the blue-black color assumed that the dress was illuminated by warm artificial light. Interestingly, older people were more likely to have seen the white and gold dress. The reason for this may be the fact that older people are more active during the day, while younger people begin their activity in the late afternoon.

Daylight vs artificial light

Another group of researchers had fifteen volunteers look at the dress, but it was displayed on a high-definition screen under controlled lighting and precise screen settings. Instead of seeing standard dress colors, subjects reported seeing a range of shades. Moreover, if the brightness of the light increased, they saw a white dress, and if it decreased, they saw a blue one. The researchers found that people most often reported seeing the same colors that can be found in daylight, which is typically bluish at midday and yellowish in the late afternoon. Thus, this phenomenon would not be possible if the dress were, for example, red. It was the blue and yellow (gold) colors that created such a hype around this dress; otherwise no one would have paid attention to it.

New color property

The third study was conducted on 87 college students who were also asked to report the color of their dress. About the same number of people said they saw blue-black and white-gold. The researchers then inverted the image so that the light stripes were pure gold and the dark stripes were pure blue. And in a follow-up study, 95 percent of participants reported seeing light yellow stripes. Thus, a new property of color was discovered, which concerns the perception of blue and yellow colors. People are more likely to perceive a color as white or gray if the amount of blue in it changes. However, this is not as noticeable in other colors such as yellow, red or green.

Is the dress blue or gold? There are heated discussions on the Internet about color.

People around the world are arguing over the real color of the dress, a photo of which has gone viral on the social network Tumblr. And the main culprit of this phenomenon is the Scottish singer Kathleen McNeil, who posted the photo on her account.

I remember in February 2015, a friend showed me a photo of a dress on her smartphone and asked the question: “What color is it?”, at that moment I thought - why would she ask me, because her color vision is fine. At that moment I saw it blue-black (and I still see it in that color if I come across a photo phenomenon on the Internet). And imagine my surprise when she said that she saw only a white and gold dress. It was then that I started asking everyone about the color of the dress, I was interested in finding like-minded people.

As it turned out, even world celebrities decided to play this fun game. It was interesting to see how everyone saw the dress, to compare it with themselves and roughly figure out what opinions there are more on this matter, which team you belong to.

In the original, the dress is blue with black lace. Designer Roman Originals made it in this color. But what makes people see him differently than he really is?

Scientists and doctors have dispelled the controversy and explained the reason why people think it is one color or another.

The explanation lies in the anatomical structure of the eye, namely the retina of our eye, which consists of the so-called rods and cones. These retinal elements transmit signals in their own way. For example, cones are responsible for color perception, and rods recognize a light signal. Rods respond well to shadows, twilight, darkness, and help the human eye adapt to darkness. Thus, we can conclude that we perceive the world more with rods than with cones. More details about the effect in the video below.

This is why people see different colored dresses, because the retina of each person is unique and contains a different number of rods and cones, therefore, some have more rods and some have more cones.

There is no need to be afraid, the fact that each of us sees differently, this does not mean that you have problems with the nervous system or have poor eyesight. As you know, the brain receives signals from the surrounding world through vision. By analyzing the received signal, our thinking triggers the transformation mechanism, which is why it turns out that depending on how much an object is shaded, its color is distorted.

Also, one of the theories of the dress phenomenon states that the reason lies in the reflection of light from the object. Color is determined by the wavelength of reflected light, and the brain focuses on these light waves and converts it into color. In the photograph of the dress, in addition to the dress itself, there are many objects that surround it, and plus the background of the photograph itself gives an optical illusion. Our brain, processing all the colors in a photograph, cannot immediately give a definite answer, since the colors hang down and interrupt each other.

For many scientists who have devoted decades to color research, this example is the most revealing.

The unusual clue to the photograph of the blue-black or white-and-gold dress was also put forward based on a study of human volunteers. And what’s surprising is that a person who belongs to the “lark” type of person sees the dress exclusively in white and gold, and the “owl” type – in black and blue.

No matter how many theories have been put forward on this matter, every person has the right to their own vision of this photo. This once again confirms that each of us is unique.

Do you believe what you see? Especially for you - pictures that deceive the eyes and the brain.

What color is this dress?

This dress (by the way, what color is it?) blew up the Internet and in a matter of hours divided the world into two camps. For those who have spent the last few days in a coma, here's a quick rundown of what happened. The author of the photo posted it on Tumblr with the question “What color is this dress?” However, it was not possible to obtain a unanimous answer: some see in this photo a blue dress with black lace inserts, brightly illuminated by warm electric light, others claim that the dress is white, the inserts are golden, and the dress itself is in the shadows.

The dress became a meme in no time and has already become endlessly boring to everyone. Ultimately, however, this illusion is just a demonstration of one of many ways to fool imperfect human vision. We've collected 16 more optical illusions that will make you not believe your eyes.

Shadow illusion on a chessboard: squares A and B are actually the same color!

"Neon" color spread: Neon lines make us think that the central area of ​​the picture is colored light blue. In fact, the background is the same white everywhere.

Troxler Effect: If you stare at a red dot without blinking long enough, the green circle will disappear.

White's illusion: the gray stripes under the letters A and B are actually the same color!

Apparent movement: Due to the contrast of colors and shapes, we think that the figures are moving, but the image is completely static.

Flickering grid: if you look at the picture, you will think that black dots appear and disappear at the intersections. In reality, all the dots are white.

Watercolor Illusion: The light colored lines on the inside of the figure make the orange appear to fade into white, but this is an illusion.

Tile illusion: The horizontal lines are straight and parallel to each other, but the human eye sees them as running at an angle.

Purple Fighter: A more impressive demonstration of the Troxler effect. If you look steadily at the black cross, the motionless purple circles disappear, leaving only the moving green circle.

Spinning Ballerina: Does the girl spin clockwise or counterclockwise? It depends on which leg your brain considers the fulcrum.

Zellner Illusion: In this picture, the long lines appear to be non-parallel because the short lines are at an angle to each other. However, in reality they are parallel.

The author of the riddle of what color the dress is is Scottish folk singer Kathleen McNeil, also known under the nickname Swiked. In February 2015, she published a photo of the same dress on social networks, asking subscribers what colors they saw in the photo. The fact is that Kathleen's close friends were going to celebrate the wedding, and the bride's mother sent her a photo of the dress she bought for the celebration. But when the girl showed the resulting photo to her future husband, they suddenly began arguing about the color of the dress, blue or white.

The online publication showed that such different perceptions of the photo among Kathleen’s friends are not the exception, but the norm. A heated debate on the topic of “white or blue” flared up immediately, and the photo “flyed” first across social networks and then through the media. A few days later, the whole world was discussing the dress, which everyone sees in a different color, and the original photo received more than 35 million views.

It quickly became clear that the difference in color perception does not depend on the quality of the monitor, its calibration or lighting: when several people looked at the same screen at the same time, they named different colors. Moreover, some people admitted that they see the dress either as white and gold or as black and blue.

What color is the dress actually - black or gold?

During online polls, the majority of users considered the “controversial” dress to be white and gold (on various resources, the number of votes for this option ranged from 60 to 82%). But the “hive mind” was wrong: in fact, the outfit turned out to be bright blue, and the lace trim was black. This was clearly visible in photographs from the celebration, as well as photographs without color correction, which were posted on social networks later.

Experts in computer image analysis came to the same conclusion even before the publication of the final answer to the riddle. If you look at the encoding of fragments of the “controversial” image, it turns out that all the pixels of the main fabric of the dress correspond to different shades of blue.

There was no white and gold dress in the range of the manufacturer of the sensational outfit, although the Roman Originals brand sewed this model in various colors. By the way, the controversy surrounding the dress, which everyone saw differently, brought the company enormous financial success: after the publication of the photo, buyers bought up all the dresses on sale in one day.

Why do people see a dress in different colors?

The secret of the woman's dress in the photo turned out to be quite simple. When sending a photo to her daughter, the mother slightly processed the photo, which is why the color balance (in particular, white balance) was upset. And this turned the picture into an “optical trap.”

The fact is that the way the human eye perceives a particular shade of color largely depends on the environment. This effect is clearly visible when viewing pictures with optical illusions, when geometric figures that are absolutely identical in color, size and shape can look larger or smaller, brighter or paler against different backgrounds, or change colors and shades. In ordinary life, the human brain constantly “corrects” the perception of color depending on the time of day and lighting conditions. This process can be compared to adjusting the white balance in a camera.

The secret of the dress is that the color correction made the background tones unnatural. It was impossible to unambiguously determine the lighting situation based on the illuminated background, therefore, depending on the characteristics of the perception of a particular person, the correction was in the direction of “shading” or “brightening”. Those who saw the dress as white subconsciously perceived the photograph as a photograph taken in low light conditions (it is known that white, when in the shadows, turns bluish, and all colors become darker), and as a result mentally “lightened” the tones of the fabric. For those who perceived the dress as blue and black, the opposite process occurred - all colors “shifted” to darker ones.

You can see this effect by working with the brightness of the original photo in Photoshop: different settings will help you see both the blue and the gold dress - regardless of how it initially appeared.

The phenomenon of blue and white dresses from the point of view of scientists

The question of why a dress is seen differently has also attracted the attention of neurophysiologists. They also concluded that it was an "optical trap" caused by distortion of the background colors, and used photography to conduct further research. For example, neuroscientist Bevil Conway from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology conducted experiments with 1,500 volunteers and found that the perception of the color of a dress was highly dependent on a person's gender and age. Young men more often see a blue dress in the picture, women of all ages and older men see a white dress.

In addition, researchers associate the choice of answer to the question “what kind of dress is this” with a person’s life rhythms. From their point of view, people who are active in the afternoon are accustomed to making “adjustments” for the bluish-lilac evening light and end up seeing the dress as white. And those who work a lot under artificial lighting “filter out” yellow tones and end up seeing a dress not gold, but blue and black.

When choosing women's dresses on KUPIVIP.RU, you will find the most fashionable options in any color without any optical illusions!

A serious controversy broke out on social networks over a photo of a dress posted on Tumblr. Meanwhile, scientists tried to explain why for some the dress is blue-black, and for others it is white and gold.

What color is the dress: blue or white?

A dispute has flared up on the Internet about the color of the dress, a photograph of which appeared on the blog of Scottish resident Caitlin McNeil, writes MK. The problem is that three quarters of voters think that the dress is white and gold, the rest - that the dress is blue or even changes its color.

So, on February 25, a girl under the nickname Swiked published a photo of a dress on Tumblr and asked her friends a question about what color it was.

"Guys, help me, this is intkbbee Is the dress white and gold or blue and black? Me and my friends can't agree and we're going crazy."

After a couple of hours, millions of people were divided into two camps: some claimed that the outfit was blue and black, while others said it was white and gold. But even after the girl confirmed that it was indeed blue with black stripes, the online debate did not calm down...

A photograph of a strange dress, posted the day before by the BuzzFeed portal, literally blew up the Internet, turning the topic into a media virus.

In the photo: is the dress blue or white with gold?

Scientists are interested in a dress that changes color

Meanwhile, neuroscientist from Washington State University (USA) Jane Nitz tried to explain why for some people the dress is blue-black, and for others it is white and gold.

The expert claims that the whole point is in the work of the brain, which figures out what color light is reflected from an object and separates this color from the one it considers “real”.

"Our visual system is supposed to throw out information about lighting and extract information about the color that is actually reflected," Neitz said.

It is noted that the specialist has studied color perception for 30 years. She noted that differences in the perception of dress color are the most significant in her practice.

Different people either ignore the blue hues, seeing the image as white and gold, or ignore the yellow hues, seeing the blue and black dress.

There is also an opinion. So, in what color range various objects are perceived depends on what is more in the retina of a particular person - rods or cones, and on the kind of light that illuminates the object.

Meanwhile, Randolph-Macon College psychology professor Cedar Riener explained that people make judgments based on how they perceive the light in a photograph differently: “Some people decide that the photo shows a blue-black dress that is well-lit (or less reflective). Others think it's a less lit white and gold outfit (it's in the shadows but more reflective)."

John Borghi, who studies cognitive neurobiology at Rockefeller University, spoke about the dependence of what a person sees in the picture on the set of his impressions and expectations, as well as on the level of attention and even eye movements, reports TSN. For example, the idea of ​​the color of a dress can be influenced by what a person looked at before.

In the photo: the real color of the much-discussed dress is blue and black

What color do celebrities think they wear?

Celebrities' opinions were also divided, reports Super.Ru. Armenian Kim Kardashian sees the dress as white and gold, and Kanye West as black and blue. Dima Bilan - white with a slight cornflower blue tint and mustard. Yana Rudkovskaya - black with lavender color. Alena Vodonaeva - lilac with mustard color. Vyacheslav Manucharov - blue and gold. Alesya Kafelnikova - white and gold. Andrey Malakhov - white and gold. Evgeni Plushenko - black and blue. Irina Dubtsova - white and gold. Alena Doletskaya - amethyst blue and chocolate. Nikolay Baskov - white and gold. Julianne Moore - white and gold. Taylor Swift - black and blue. Ksenia Borodina - white with mustard color. Lolita - black with turquoise color. Joseph Prigogine - gold and silver. Valeria - gold and silver.

Internet users' opinions about the dress were divided: the dress got its own hashtag #TheDress. However, the author of the photo had to admit that the dress is actually blue and black. That is, the published image was processed.

But while non-trivial disputes continue online about what color the dress is, the TSN.ua editors have collected the funniest comments from Internet users on social networks.