Colors can appear different depending on what they're near and the memory and past experiences of the beholder, Dr. Lisa Lystad, a neuro-opthalmologist at Cleveland Clinic’s Cole Eye Institute.
For instance, people who live in snow all year round above the Arctic Circle have several names for different colors of snow, but to most of us, snow is just snow. She said she has a turquoise purse that some of her friends swear is green and others are sure is blue.
Cataracts, colorblindness and eye disease can also alter colors for the beholder. Monet's famous water lily pond painting is thought to have been painted when he was developing cataracts, Lystad said.
But your perception of the dress doesn't mean you have an eye problem, she said.
\"Vision just barely starts in the eye,\" Lystad said. \"Your brain is what gives names to the colors.\"
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swiked.tumblr.com
PHOTO: A photo of a dress posted to Tumblr has created a debate on social media about the actual color of the garment.
David Calkins, a professor at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and director of research at the Vanderbilt Eye Institute, said setting international color standards for everything from wires to fruits to paint pigments was a huge challenge before the digital age.
\"There's no way for me to verify the color that your brain perceives versus the color that my brain perceives,\" he said. \"What I call magenta, you might call violet. What I call burgundy, you might call purple.\"
And now that the digital age is here, there are subtle differences between how something can appear to you on a television screen versus a computer monitor versus a cell phone, Calkins said.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/Health/ap_britain_dress_dummies_jc_150227_4x3t_384.jpg\")
Rui Vieira/AP Photo
PHOTO: Shop manager Debbie Armstrong adjusts a two tone dress in a window display of a shop in Lichfield, England on Feb. 27, 2015.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/Health/ap_britain_dress_display_jc_150227_4x3t_384.jpg\")
Joe Giddens/PA/AP
PHOTO: The two-tone dress, left, alongside an ivory and black version, made by Roman Originals, that has sparked a global debate on Twitter over what color it is on display in Birmingham, England on Feb. 27, 2015.
