Silencing of the Dress

[Evienne]

So now that I'm back from Sking and my brother's Ariana Grande concert, I checked the replies at my last asked question on "What Color is the Dress" (https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,183822.0.html). Found it very much fun to see how others see it. But what I also found was an email from my former art teacher who found a very cool article that finally answers the question as to why we are seeing it so differently. There's a neat little color test here to show you how you see colors for yourself and all the sciency cones stuff. Try it out. Learn your title:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/25-people-have-4th-cone-see-colors-p-prof-diana-derval

I learned that the reason I see it the way I do is cuz I'm in the 25% of people given a 4th cone in my eye to be able to see the dress as it truly is. I am a tetrachromat with seeing 36/39 of the colors. Find it odd though not seeing the last 3 colors. I know where they are due to thickness but can't see the separation of them. Very odd feeling. And also realized I don't own any yellow. Guess this is why :p

[DriftingCrow]

Interesting. I saw 39 colors: "You see between 33 and 39 colors: you are a tetrachromat, like bees, and have 4 types of cones (in the purple/blue, green, red plus yellow area). You are irritated by yellow, so this color will be nowhere to be found in your wardrobe. 25% of the population is tetrachromat." <-- I don't own much yellow but do have a mustard yellow blazer that I like. I usually just don't wear yellow because it looks bad against my skin.

[Jill F]

39 colors here, and I don't ever wear yellow.  I also don't wear red, orange, brown nor most shades of green.  Why?  They all look terrible on me.  I like black, white, purple, teal, and blue.

[Ms Grace]

Mmmm....teal.........

[Tysilio]

Unfortunately, neither the test nor the information at that link is accurate. There's an article debunking it at snopes.com:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/tetrachromacy.asp

One of the problems with it is that computer monitors don't provide enough color resolution for such tests to work.

And as if that weren't bad enough:
"Additionally, the claim that 25% of people are tetrachromats is inaccurate. While Jay Neitz, a color vision researcher at the Medical College of Wisconsin, estimated that half of the female population has a fourth cone in their eyes, only a small number of those people can actually see additional colors.

"Neitz told the Pittsburgh Post Gazette in 2006 that only about 2% of the female population are tetrachromats. Newcastle University neuroscientist Gabriele Jordan said that the number may be higher (about 12%), but in 20 years of research she has only been able to confirm the condition in one person..."

The article also says that tetrachromacy is sex-linked: it requires two X chromosomes, so you XY ladies are out of luck, I'm afraid.

[Jill F]

Unfortunately, neither the test nor the information at that link is accurate. There's an article debunking it at snopes.com:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/tetrachromacy.asp

One of the problems with it is that computer monitors don't provide enough color resolution for such tests to work.

And as if that weren't bad enough:
"Additionally, the claim that 25% of people are tetrachromats is inaccurate. While Jay Neitz, a color vision researcher at the Medical College of Wisconsin, estimated that half of the female population has a fourth cone in their eyes, only a small number of those people can actually see additional colors.

"Neitz told the Pittsburgh Post Gazette in 2006 that only about 2% of the female population are tetrachromats. Newcastle University neuroscientist Gabriele Jordan said that the number may be higher (about 12%), but in 20 years of research she has only been able to confirm the condition in one person..."

The article also says that tetrachromacy is sex-linked: it requires two X chromosomes, so you XY ladies are out of luck, I'm afraid.

Never did get a karyotype test done, but if I counted 39 colors, does that mean I'm necessarily XXY? 

[Tysilio]

Nope. The main takeaway from the Snopes article is that the test itself is inaccurate. It's constructed in such a way that the majority of people report seeing more than 33 colors -- and many of them are cis men, who never have this condition.

(And what the heck is "neuromarketing," anyway? I suspect it's more marketing than neuro, and mostly a way for "Professor Derval" to market herself...  )

[Evienne]

Unfortunately, neither the test nor the information at that link is accurate. There's an article debunking it at snopes.com:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/tetrachromacy.asp

One of the problems with it is that computer monitors don't provide enough color resolution for such tests to work.

And as if that weren't bad enough:
"Additionally, the claim that 25% of people are tetrachromats is inaccurate. While Jay Neitz, a color vision researcher at the Medical College of Wisconsin, estimated that half of the female population has a fourth cone in their eyes, only a small number of those people can actually see additional colors.

"Neitz told the Pittsburgh Post Gazette in 2006 that only about 2% of the female population are tetrachromats. Newcastle University neuroscientist Gabriele Jordan said that the number may be higher (about 12%), but in 20 years of research she has only been able to confirm the condition in one person..."

The article also says that tetrachromacy is sex-linked: it requires two X chromosomes, so you XY ladies are out of luck, I'm afraid.

Well that's very interesting. Thanks for posting that. Even I have learned something new ^^

[serenityfaith]

So now that I'm back from Sking and my brother's Ariana Grande concert, I checked the replies at my last asked question on "What Color is the Dress" (https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,183822.0.html). Found it very much fun to see how others see it. But what I also found was an email from my former art teacher who found a very cool article that finally answers the question as to why we are seeing it so differently. There's a neat little color test here to show you how you see colors for yourself and all the sciency cones stuff. Try it out. Learn your title:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/25-people-have-4th-cone-see-colors-p-prof-diana-derval

I learned that the reason I see it the way I do is cuz I'm in the 25% of people given a 4th cone in my eye to be able to see the dress as it truly is. I am a tetrachromat with seeing 36/39 of the colors. Find it odd though not seeing the last 3 colors. I know where they are due to thickness but can't see the separation of them. Very odd feeling. And also realized I don't own any yellow. Guess this is why :p

Im like you, I saw 37. And I hate yellow with a passion! I knew there was a deeper reason other than "I just dont like it" it really does bother me! How strange that yellow is a common dislike with tetrachromats...

[jessical]

If you download the photo and get photoshop to identify the colors you will find that some of the bars are identical.  One of the bars is not one color but a mix of many.  Maybe at one time there was an accurate image, but what we see is likely not the original and was the product of file conversion and reformatting that happens on websites.  The other issue is that this test is highly dependent on your screen.  Not just the quality, but how it tries to display colors.

[LordKAT]

I got a whole 27 colors, couldn't see most of the bars tho.