Item — HN Reader

I never joined the discussion about the dress (I was actually removed from technology pretty much until after the whole debate died down, after which I experienced another interesting phenomenon).

But what is fascinating to me is that the day following the debate, I saw the image in Wired [1] and for the life of me could not possibly see black and blue no matter how hard I tried.

I just now read this article, looked at the image at the bottom, then tried to find the original Wired image, and now cannot see white and gold. The influence is so strong that part of me almost thinks it's not the same image.

It sort of reminds me of when I first figured out how to "see" those stereograms, and how once you know how to see one of them, seeing any of them is easy.

[1] http://www.wired.com/2015/02/science-one-agrees-color-dress/

2 comments

I had the same effect. One day I see gold and no matter how I try I can not make it black.

The next day, with the exact same image and background, the parts that were gold are now solid black, and I can not understand how they can possibly be gold.

I can understand how different eyes might see it differently, but how my own vision changed, and so completely, I don't understand.

It's like these images that trick a neural network: http://www.wired.com/2015/01/simple-pictures-state-art-ai-st...

I had an interesting experience with it. When I originally saw it, I could only see the blue-and-black. However, I had the image on the screen when I moved to grab something and went beyond the viewing angle of my screen, and it appeared gold-and-white. I then sat back down, and the dress stayed gold-and-white while the rest of the screen returned to normal. Fun times for the brain.