What colour do you see? Okay, I know this meme is old. Yet, I ponder.
Every morning before I start my day I have a quick look at the health and fitness headlines. This week the following headline caught my eye.
'The dress' went viral back in February 2015. But I'm still stumped. How can two people see the dress like night and day - literally?
In my own immediate family three of us saw it white and gold and the other blue and black. In case you are unfamiliar with the story the dress is actually blue and black. This is not about colour blindness.
What else are we seeing differently? Ever wonder 'what he sees in her, or she sees in him?'
While far from conclusive, the aforementioned research study found that ‘larks’- early to bed, early to rise types - are more likely to see the dress colour in white and gold. While, ‘night owls’ - late to bed, late to arise types - are more likely to see it blue and black.
What a magnificent way to clarify how perceptions matter - how our beliefs can alter what we see. In this case, if we believe there is a shadow we subconsciously remove it and see white and gold, according to the study.
But, the reason the headline actually caught my attention is because, the previous night, my husband had asked me to watch a clip on television. As I watched he asked me “Can you see? You’re not wearing your glasses.” The fascinating part is that I thought I saw everything clearly, until I actually realized I wasn't wearing my glasses.
Could my beliefs about my vision be interfering with my ability to see clearly? After all, there are case studies of people with multiple personality disorder, with one personality dependent on glasses to see and another personality with perfect vision.
Then there was the perplexing phenomenon experienced in a Cambodian community in Long Beach California, in the late 1980s. Refugee Cambodian women who had experienced atrocities by the brutal Khmer Rouge regime, could no longer see despite brain wave tests showing 20/20 vision.
Okay, you're probably now thinking I'm making mountains out of molehills again. Enough for now.
For those of you celebrating this long weekend with family and friends, hope you're wearing your rose-tinted glasses ;)
Originally published April 14th, 2017
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