Dress color debate: Why we see it differently?

A social media debate has sparked over the color of a dress which looks different to different people.

In a particular photo, it can appear to be white and gold or blue and black.

Since it hit Tumblr on February 25, the image has started an internet schism that may never be healed. Some people see the dress as gold and white, while others see it as blue and black.

The real color of the dress is royal blue with black lace.

According to specialists, light enters the eye through the lens – different wavelengths corresponding to different colors. The light hits the retina in the back of the eye where pigments fire up neural connections to the visual cortex, the part of the brain that processes those signals into an image.

Our retinas have specialized cells called rods, which are used for night vision, and cones, which deal with color. Cones come in three types: red, blue, and green, but each of us has very different ratios of these types.