Black and blue or white and gold? That is the question that took the world by storm back in February after two friends from Scotland posted a picture of a dress online seeking an answer because they disagreed on its color. But it seems no one else can agree either; some of us see "The Dress" as black and blue, while others see it as white and gold. Now, three new studies published in the journal Current Biology attempt to explain why. "Most of us are familiar with optical illusions. There are pictures in which two different shapes may emerge - the famous face and vase picture, for example - or ones that appear to move when you stare at them long enough. But why has the picture of The Dress attracted so much attention? According to Bevil Conway, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Wellesley College, MA, The Dress represents the first time that a single image could be seen as completely different colors by so many different people. ""It caught fire because it was a case in which color wasn't doing what we expect,"" she adds. Conway and colleagues decided to conduct a study to demonstrate just how differently we perceive the colors of ""The Dress"" to be. The team surveyed 1,401 individuals, of whom 300 had never before seen the picture of The Dress. Upon being shown the picture, each participant was asked to identify the colors they saw."

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