Which are the colors of the dress? Review of an atypical optic illusion.

OBJECTIVE

In 2015 the picture of a dress went viral on social media. A significant proportion of the population saw it as golden and white (G&W), while another significant proportion saw it as blue and black (B&B). The aim of this article is to review the related literature.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Bibliographic search conducted in Pubmed and Google. The algorithm used was: (color OR colour) AND (dress OR #thedress). The search was limited to the years 2015-2017. No language restrictions were used. The references of the located articles were used to widen the search.

RESULTS

The search algorithm retrieved 23 articles related to the topic. Most of the works have been published in journals in the field of perception. Most works address the topic from the point of view of chromatic constancy. Genetic factors seem to have a low weight in the way the dress is perceived. There are few studies on the potential influence of ocular factors.

CONCLUSION

This illusion has gained little attention in ophthalmology journals. Although colour constancy is certainly involved, there is still no theory available to explain the dichotomous character of this optical illusion.