Why do we care about the colour of the dress?

An optical illusion has proved divisive on social media. But our varying perceptions mean we will find it hard to come to an agreement

It is rare, other than on Oscars night, that the world holds its collective breath discussing dresses and their colours. But, if social media is to be believed, the optical illusion of a multicoloured dress divides us sharply into those who can only see gold-and-white and those for whom the dress is clearly black-and-blue.

We are always fascinated by optical illusions, by the tricks that the visual system plays with our perception, and this reminds us that for most of the time we unflinchingly rely on visual cues to navigate our world.

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