The Brain's Difference in Color Perception: Do You See Pink and White or Gray and Mint?

This baffling photo showed up on my Facebook feed last night and since then, everyone has been arguing.

Screen capture from my Facebook feed with original post by Mandy Robinson.

I see pink and white and I can never unsee those colors. Ray, my partner, on the other hand is firm with his perception that he's seeing mint green and gray.

I shared the photo on my feed and I got a handful of responses. The first eight were so sure they see what Ray sees and told me I had bad eyes. I'm wearing prescription lenses with correction on both eyes.

The next few responses were all in support of me. Friends were telling me they see what I see. I'd like to take a trend on those responses but I realized I had people with both 20-20 vision and people who like me wear correction lenses who either perceive pink and white or mint green and gray.

Two years ago, we were also taken aback by something with a similar dilemma, the white and gold or blue and black dress.

Original photo taken by Grace Johnston (Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_dress)

There must be a more scientific explanation as to why people perceive these colors differently. Since the viral dress photo was posted three years ago, neurologists have been studying why there is this difference in our visual perception.

One explanation that I have grasped is the parameter that leads our perception into visual interpretation. Obviously, both photos were taken in, literally, bad light. Our brain can either tell us the color of the object based on its reflectance, the color that we perceive it to be based on the actual light it reflects. Another way to interpret colors is based on the illumination around the object which, depending on the intensity, may cause a bit of a distortion.

There are, however, various other factors that could influence the way we see the colors. I have noticed that everytime the photo shows up on my Facebook feed, when I haven't fully scrolled to see the entire photo, my eyes would see the gray and mint green for only a split second. It then abruptly changes to pink and white and I can no longer force my eyes to perceive the gray and mint green combination.

A simpler version of the same dilemma of difference in color perception. (Source: http://brainden.com/color-illusions.htm)

For the dress, I would initially perceive the white and gold shades for most of the light spectrum and then only see the blue and black when my screen is at its lowest possible brightness.

Screen capture from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_dress

Another explanation is the color constancy or the chromatic adaptation, where our brain adjusts to the intensity of the illuminating factor such as light bulbs, candle flame, or moonlight, in order to still properly interpret the color of the object being illuminated. However, based on the Purkinje effect (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purkinje_effect) when there is low light, the sensitivity of the human eye shifts to the blue end of the color spectrum therefore giving us the perception that the colors appear more to be blue or green than yellow or orange.

The visible light spectrum (Source: https://www.thoughtco.com/understand-the-visible-spectrum-608329)

So what's the real score? Original authors of the viral posts have confirmed that the shoe is pink and white while the dress is actually black and blue.

Photo shows plane A and plane B next to each other shows that they are the same color. (Edited by @xaydtrips)



Photo shows the dress under different illumination next to each other shows that they are the same color. (Edited by @xaydtrips)

Got anymore brain teasers to share? Comment below and let's have a bit of brain fun.

Cheers,
Xayd