Striking individual differences in color perception uncovered by ‘the dress’ photograph

• Published in: Current biology Vol. 25; no. 13; pp. R545 - R546
• Main Authors: Lafer-Sousa, Rosa, Hermann, Katherine L., Conway, Bevil R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 29.06.2015
• Subjects: Age Factors; Color Perception - physiology; Cues; Female; Humans; Individuality; Internet; Lighting - standards; Male; Photography - standards; Recognition (Psychology) - physiology; Sex Factors
• ISSN: 0960-9822; 1879-0445; 1879-0445
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2015.04.053

‘The dress’ is a peculiar photograph: by themselves the dress’ pixels are brown and blue, colors associated with natural illuminants [1], but popular accounts (#TheDress) suggest the dress appears either white/gold or blue/black [2]. Could the purported categorical perception arise because the original social-media question was an alternative-forced-choice? In a free-response survey (N = 1401), we found that most people, including those naïve to the image, reported white/gold or blue/black, but some said blue/brown. Reports of white/gold over blue/black were higher among older people and women. On re-test, some subjects reported a switch in perception, showing the image can be multistable. In a language-independent measure of perception, we asked subjects to identify the dress’ colors from a complete color gamut. The results showed three peaks corresponding to the main descriptive categories, providing additional evidence that the brain resolves the image into one of three stable percepts. We hypothesize that these reflect different internal priors: some people favor a cool illuminant (blue sky), discount shorter wavelengths, and perceive white/gold; others favor a warm illuminant (incandescent light), discount longer wavelengths, and see blue/black. The remaining subjects may assume a neutral illuminant, and see blue/brown. We show that by introducing overt cues to the illumination, we can flip the dress color. Lafer-Sousa et al. document striking individual differences in color perception of The Dress photograph in over 1400 subjects, and provide insight into the underlying perceptual mechanisms. In particular, both descriptive reports and color-matching data support the idea that the brain resolves the colors of the dress into one of three stable percepts.