OPINIONA Pair of Crocs to
Match the Dress
Casting new light on viral illusionsI
n 2015 the picture of a white-and-gold dress
(or was it black-and-blue?) divided humankind in
two irreconcilable factions while revolutionizing
scientists’ understanding of color perception. It was
a brand-new category of illusion, in which different
people perceived the same image in diametrically
opposing ways. The two sections were locked in
their respective perceptions. Try as they might,
neither blue/black nor white/gold adherents could
make themselves see the garment as the other
side did.
Similarly baffling Internet sensations followed:
a dresser that people saw as either white/pink or
blue/gray, a sneaker that looked pink/white or
green/gray to different observers, and an Adidas
jacket that was either blue/white or brown/black
depending on whom you asked.
Despite their differences, a common feature
of these described images is that they were
flukes, revealed by happenstance. The serendipity
of their discoveries raised the question of wheth-Susana Martinez-Conde and Stephen Macknik are professors
of ophthalmology at the State University of New York and the
organizers of the Best Illusion of the Year Contest. They have
co-authored Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals
about Our Everyday Deceptions and Champions of Illusion: The Science
behind Mind-Boggling Images and Mystifying Brain Puzzles.ILLUSIONS
PASCAL WALLISCH