REVEALING ITS TRUE COLOURS: SCIENCE BEHIND THE DRESS

REVEALING ITS TRUE COLOURS: SCIENCE BEHIND THE DRESS:-

True colours: This photograph of Cecelia Bleasdale in 'the dress', left, with daughter Grace Johnston and son-in-law Keir Johnston, reveals that the frock is royal blue with a black lace trim

Andrew Lotery, Professor of Ophthalmology in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Southampton, told MailOnline that the difference in perception could be due to lighting conditions, the device the image is being viewed on and even a person’s age and gender.

He explained that everyone has different combinations of the genes that create the sense of colour for red, green and blue and because these genes are on the X chromosome, women tend to have more variations.

As a result, women have a more dynamic range of colour so may be more susceptible and sensitive to specific colours. This may explain why women flip between seeing the different colours, and men typically don’t.

He added that some people have more than one ‘dose’ of a blue colour gene, as an example, so they will see higher or lower levels of this colour, too.

Additionally, as people get older their perception of colour changes.

The lens of the eye gradually yellows with age and this exposes more blue, continued Professor Lotery.

This will influence how deep or strong a colour appears and could explain why older people may see the blues and blacks rather than the whites and golds.

He gave the example that painters such as Monet and Rembrandt painted scenes when they were younger that were predominantly one colour, but the same scenes featured more red when painted later in life.

Elsewhere, Professor Lotery said: ‘The occipital lobe is responsible for actually processing the vision and there may be an element of optical illusion to [the photo of the dress].’

Many work by contrasting images and colours, and this contrast could explain the differences seen on the dress.

‘It’s quite a striking contrast between the black and the blue’ continued Professor Lotery.

‘For example, it could be that if the lighting conditions slightly changed, the person viewing the image is getting more stimulus on the blue photo receptor, for example, than the red.

‘On the balance of stimulating one a subtle change in angle could make it flip. This includes the type of room, the monitor, the lighting and so on.

Plus, if your brain is focusing specifically on the differences your vision may be on the cusp of colour recognition and this could cause the differences.’

Other conditions, such as the development of cataracts, changes the way people see the colour blue, and that could play a role too.