The actual dress:
So, why does it appear white and gold to many, if not most, people? The answer comes in both the lighting and in the over exposure of the image. For many, because of the poor lighting in the image, their brain corrects the image to appear to be light blue (or white) alternated with gold or tan lace. This is the effect of inherently ambiguous visual stimuli, as explained by Pacal Wallisch in, “Illumination assumptions account for individual differences in the perceptual interpretation of a profoundly ambiguous stimulus in the color domain: “The dress””, Journal of Vision,17 (4): 5. doi:10.1167/17.4.5 (June 2017).
This Optical Illusion May Improve Your Vision
In researching this article I ran across an article in the Daily Mail, reporting on some research that viewing a moving spiral (like the type used in old hypnotism movies) can improve vision. I can’t say whether it works or not, but what do you think?
STEP 1. Take the Eye Test
First take this simple eye test to see how far down in the chart you can read before staring at the illusion. Sit about 10 feet away from your screen and see how far down you can read. For example, if you can read down to the
STEP 2. Stare at this rotating spiral for 30 seconds
STEP 3. Take the Eye Test Again
Take the vision test again. Did you improve?
Did you enjoy these explanations of optical illusions? If you have any others you’d like me to post, send them over or leave a comment below.
More optical illusions to come…
Cool! At first glance I thought the dress was white and gold but then after I knew it was blue and black, it actually changed my vision of it to blue and black! I suppose we can’t always trust what our eyes see.
When I look longer, the white, starts to look light blue.