The image of a simple dress on a hanger went viral in 2015, with thousands of internet users trying to figure out whether the dress was black with blue stripes or white with gold stripes. Once the owner came forward to settle the question (it was confirmed by the retailer as blue and black), many puzzled over the reason for such drastic differences in colour perception. New research suggests that people’s perception of the dress color was influenced by their belief whether the dress was in a natural shadow or under artificial light. Those who saw the dress as hanging in artificial light saw it as black and blue. Study authors say that, since the original image is overexposed, it’s difficult to judge the light source; therefore, the brain makes its own assumption about the illumination source to judge the colour of an object.
Author:
Pascal Wallisch
Corresponding author:
Pascal Wallisch, Department of Psychology, New York University, Email: pascal.wallisch@nyu.edu
Original paper published in the Journal of Vision on April 7, 2017.
