(Image source from: OMG! The mystery behind this dress revealed})

It seems the mystery behind the varied colours of a controversial or surprising dress is revealed by the scientists of the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

A few months ago, a dress was in the news because of its changing colours feature, for some people the dress was appeared in ‘Black and Blue’ and some others it is viewed as ‘White and Gold’ at the same time.

The scientists conducted a survey over the appearances of the dress. Around 1,400 individuals have participated in the survey, among them 300 people answered that they have not seen the dress before. Researchers have found that people who perceived it as white and gold might have just been exposed to natural daylight, while those who saw a ‘black and blue’ garment might be spending most of their time in artificial light.

According to Neuroscientist Bevil Conway, ‘The Dress’ phenomenon marked the greatest extent of varied perceptions on colours by individuals.

The images of the dress went online like a virus after Caitlin McNeill, a 21-year-old singer, had posted a picture on her blog of a dress that was blue and black, but was being seen as white and gold by some people in February. Celebrities like Taylor Swift boosted the discussion over the dress colours.

The researchers, led by Mr. Conway, asked people to identify the colours they saw on ‘The Dress’. From where the team primarily categorised the colours as blue/black, white/gold and blue/brown.

“It could have been the case that you had a continuum of perceived colours, but if you plot the colours people picked, you see two main clumps falling into the two categories for what words people used to describe the colours of ‘The Dress’,” Mr. Conway said.

In the same study, researchers found that older people and women were more likely to conclude as white and gold, while younger people were more likely to say it was black and blue. Scientists believe that these perceptions may correspond to the type of light that individuals’ brains expect to be in their environment.

The study which was published in the journal Current Biology, also described that the colour recognition capacity is different from one to other.

However, the report could not be a final conclusion on the mystery of the dress, since the materials might have affected the people’s vision.

-Kannamsai