Now almost two years since the controversy, science may finally explain why people reported such a split in their perceptions of its colour. "If illumination conditions are unclear, your assumptions about the illumination source will matter,"said Dr Wallisch. "The original image was overexposed, rendering the illumination source uncertain. "Shadows are blue, so we mentally subtract the blue light in order to view the image, which then appears in bright colours - gold and white. "This suggests that whatever kind of light one is typically exposed to influences how one perceives colour," Dr Wallisch added.

Source: New Zealand Herald April 07, 2017 21:45 UTC