Johns Hopkins ophthalmologist explains the science behind The Dress

By Hub staff report

Published Feb 27, 2015

Blue and black, or white and gold? That is the question, apparently.

Yes, we are still talking about The Dress, if you can believe it (even though we are secretly convinced that the white/gold camp is just having a laugh at our expense—it's clearly blue and black).

To (ahem) shed some light on this great color caper, we turned to Neil Miller, an ophthalmologist at the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute (HT @HopkinsMedicine). His answer:

"It has to do with the individual's color perception. Presumably, the cones—the photoreceptors in the retina—that see the primary colors (red, blue, and green) either are functioning differently in different individuals or the information that gets to the area of the brain that interprets color (V4) is interpreted differently by different individuals.

"What is interesting in either regard is that apparently people see the dress either as black/blue or white/gold—nothing in between. Thus, there must be a very consistent difference between these two groups, whether at the retinal level or at the level of the cerebral cortex."

So there you have it—it's all in the eye of the beholder, which means we're all correct! Go us!

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