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The science behind the dress colour debate: Human brain scientist holds public lectures at HKU to reveal the science and art of visual illusions

12 Mar 2015

What is the colour of this dress? Blue and black? Or white and gold? The dress colour has become the hottest global debate, and divided many families and friends. The question is: why do people perceive colours differently? What is behind to divide people?

The Department of Psychology at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) invited Professor Arthur Shapiro from American University to reveal the science behind this hot debate of visual illusions. Professor Shapiro received his PhD from Columbia University and is a world-famous visual scientist who uses illusion to study human brain functions. His is also the creator of two visual illusion designs that won the Champions for "the Best Illusion of the Year" in 2005 and 2009. Professor Shapiro appeared in various international media talking about the science of the dress colour.

On March 10 and 11, Professor Arthur Shapiro held two public lectures at HKU co-organized by HKU Department of Psychology, Faculty of Science, and Admissions and Academic Liaison Section, Registry. One is designed for local secondary students, and the other is designed for the general public.

He discussed the creation of illusions, where they come from, and how they are made. He showed that research on visual illusions sits at the crossroads of many academic disciplines, including neuroscience, psychology, mathematics, physics, computer science, philosophy and art, and addresses fundamental questions about how the brain works. He also discussed how research on visual illusions can aid in assessing the health of the visual system. During the presentation, Professor Arthur Shapiro had demonstrated many his award winning illusions.

Finally, Professor Shapiro addressed what we know about illusion can tell us why some people see “The Dress” as black and blue while others firmly believe the dress should be white and gold.  Professor Shapiro described how our visual experiences can be explained in terms of interaction between the lighting in the environment, the physiology of the brain, and our perception. In the case of dress colour debate, the lighting is the same but like many other illusions people perceive the world differently. Shapiro showed that such differences are fundamental to how we understand “reality”.

More about Professor Arthur Shapiro: http://www.american.edu/cas/faculty/arthurs.cfm

More on the dress colour debate: http://www.wired.com/2015/02/science-one-agrees-color-dress/

Media enquiry:
HKU Communications and Public Affairs Office Ms Rhea Leung (Tel︰2857 8555/ 9022 7446/ Email: rhea.leung@hku.hk) or HKU Faculty of Science Dr Benny Ng (Tel：54103822；Email：ngbenny@hku.hk)

Human brain scientist Professor Shapiro reveals the science behind the dress colour debate.

Koffa Wall created by Professor Arthur Shapiro.

Green Moon created by Professor Arthur Shapiro.

Professor Shapiro holds two public lectures at HKU.