Blue-black or white-gold? Early stage processing and the color of 'the dress'

Abstract

In Feb 2015 an image of a dress posted on Tumblr triggered an internet phenomenon: Is the Dress blue and black (BB) or white and gold (WG)? Many claim BB and others insistWG while the true colors are BB. The prevailing theory is that assumptions about the illuminant govern perception of the Dress withWG due to bluish lighting and BB due to yellowish. Our purpose was to determine if early stage optical, retinal and/or neural factors also impact perception of the Dress.