By now you’ve heard about #TheDress.
(But if you haven’t, read google.)

You’ve gotten into heated debates about its
shading with coworkers, lovers, and maybe
even your kids — old and young. You’ve
threatened to disown people, fire people, kiss
people — all over the color of a dress.


Do you see the dress as white and gold? Or
blue and black? Or are you an outlier, seeing
blue and gold? And, did the color combo
freakishly change for you midway through
your passionate debate, as it did for many ?


We know for a fact that the dress is blue and
black. But still: There’s one key question that
has not yet been answered:

What Does Your Color “Team” Say About
You?

Does Team Black and Blue, which includes
Taylor Swift, Kanye West, Mindy Kaling, and
Justin Bieber, have a finer perception of
color? Is Team White and Gold, which includes
Kim Kardashian and Julianne Moore, more
sensitive? Does the team you’re on say
something subtle, or not-so, about your
biology?

We’ve spoken to experts and combed through
the Internet analyses to discover what it
could mean if you see white and gold, or
black and blue. Or both. Buckle up.

If #TheDress Looks Blue And Black To
You…

It IS actually blue and black, so good job.
(Photo via Wired)
You’re a rare bird.
According to a Buzzfeed
survey of nearly 3 million
people, only 30 percent see
blue and black. The other 70
percent see white and gold.
Your retina is interpreting
the photo as overexposed.
If you think the dress is being
washed out by bright light,
your brain may perceive the
dress as a darker blue and
black. “You’re probably seeing
the photo as overexposed,
meaning there is too much
light, so the colors in the
dress appear darker to you
after the retina has
compensated,” says Reena
Garg, a doctor at the New
York Eye and Ear Infirmary of
Mount Sinai.

You could have active cones
(in your eyes).

Cones help us see in the
daytime and are color-
sensitive, specifically to red,
green, and blue. In normal
lighting conditions, it is the
activation of a combination of
these cones that allows you to
see a wide range of different
colors. Since you see the dress
as being washed out by bright
light, your cones are in full
effect.

Your brain knows to
compensate for lighting
tricks.

You may be a visual person or
in an artistically driven field,
and you’re used to the types of
illusions that lighting can play.
Since your brain is familiar
with it, you didn’t fall for this
optical trick.

You may be in the fashion
field.

There’s a phenomenon called
“priming” that can make your
brain immune to the dress’s
wily ways. “It could also be
that you’ve seen dresses (or
fabric) with the same texture
or shape before, which could
also affect your perception,”
John Borghi, a cognitive
neuroscientist at Rockefeller
University, told BuzzFeed
News.

You may be red-green color
deficient.

Yahoo Tech’s David Pogue
raised an interesting theory: ”I
think it’s really just a sensitive
test of red-green color
deficiency, which is pretty
common,” Dr. Stephen
McLeod, chairman of UCSF’s
ophthalmology department
told Pogue. “I’ll bet most of
the people calling it black are
men. It’s consistent with cone
deficiency, and red-green
would do it for this hue.” But
while it’s an interesting
hypothesis, don’t take this as a
diagnosis.

If #TheDress Looks White And Gold To
You…

You’re in the majority.
According to the
same Buzzfeed survey, a
whopping 70 percent see white
and gold. Power to the people.
Your retina is interpreting
the photo as underexposed.
If you see the background as
dark, your brain may remove
the blue cast and perceive the
dress as being white and gold.

“You’re probably seeing the
photo as underexposed,

meaning there is too little
light and the colors in the
dress appear lighter to you
after the retina has
compensated,” Garg says.
You could have active rods
(in your eyes).
Rods help us see in the night,
and are sensitive to black and
white shades. They’re most
active in dim lighting
conditions, so they’ve snapped
into formation here, since you
see the dress as set against a
dim background.

You may be better at
perceiving color.

"Some cultures have many
more ways of describing color
than we do,” Lisa Lystad, a
neuro-opthalmologist at
Cleveland Clinic’s Cole Eye
Institute, tells Yahoo Health.
“It’s sort of like if you go to
the Arctic circle and talk about
snow. They have tons of
different kinds of ‘snow,’” she
says. By being able to see
variation in this image, you
may be able to see beyond
what’s obvious.

If You See Other Color Combos Other Than
Blue/Black Or White/Gold…

You’re a serious mystery.
According to a Yahoo Tech
survey, only 6 percent of us
see something other than
blue/black or white/gold.

If #TheDress Changed Colors For You…

Your brain is game to
change.
This means that something
made your perception of the
image adjust. It could be that
you viewed the image in a
different light, or saw it next
to a color that made you read
the colors or ambient light
differently. Good job.

Culled from www.stelladimokokorkus.com/2015/02/the-dress-that-broke-internet-analysis.html?m=1[url]

That dress is white and gold until they bring out the original dress and I see blue and black