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Hues and cry
本文选自《自然》杂志上一篇名为“Hues and cry”的文章，是对前段时间引起热议的“蓝黑vs白金”事件的解读，文章援引的例子之多，可谓是贯通古今，论证充分。
A blue dress divided the Internet----and put the science of visual perception in the spotlight.
I ①The influence on science and the arts of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe----poet,playwright, novelist, proto-scientist, philosopher and general all-round egghead----is profound. ②His view about the physiological nature of colors, however, have never really caught on, in part because he proposed that colors are more an invention of the mind than a physical reality. ③One thing, however, rings true: the appearance of objects is not objective, but a conversation between the observer and observed.
II ①Neuroscientists have long recognized that the perception of color and shade depends strongly on context. ②Illusions exist, for example, in which one can be utterly convinced that black is white, depending on the surrounding patterns or the conditions in which an object is lit. ③But it is also true that all other things being equal, the perception of color differs between people.
III ①One editor of this journal, for example, once owned a car that was, in his opinion, quite clearly green. ②It remained green in all conceivable circumstances of context, shade and illumination other than complete darkness. ③Except, however, that everyone else was equally convinced that it was blue----including the vehicle-licensing authority. ④The car was not only blue----it was officially blue.
IV ①Recently, the Internet was deluged with strongly held opinion about color, specifically of a dress. ②The dress was advertised as being blue and black. ③But if illuminated in a certain way, the dress appeared white and gold. ④People were absolutely convinced of its color combination, one way or the other. ⑤The web exploded with chromatic debate after various celebrities bruited their opinions on Twitter. ⑥A straw poll of Nature’s editors (including the owner of the blue car) was roughly split down the middle, and convictions were strong----one way or the other.
V ①The explanation for the illusion lies in the color of the light in which the dress was photographed. ②The brain of people who read the overall ambience as too blue willovercompensate, seeing the dress as white and gold. ③Others, whose visual systems read that the lighting was not blue enough, saw the dress as blue and black.
VI①Wired magazine hosted a full discussion on the effect, and the consternation in that publication’s office seemed to reflect the brouhaha that briefly reigned in the otherwise serene halls of Nature. ②(The wheels of this international weekly journal of science briefly ground to a halt as so:” I can’t read any more manuscripts until I find out WHY? ”)
VII ①On being told of the illusion, some people—but not all—could just about force themselves to see the dress as black and blue rather than white and gold. ②The picture is a clear demonstration that color perception varies between individuals, and according to the conditions of illumination. ③Such perception is distinct from the genetic conditions that predispose people to the various syndromes known as color blindness.
VIII ①Had the ghost of Goethe been watching ‘dressgate’, he might have allowed himself a rueful smile, given the brickbats thrown in his direction by his scientific critics even in his own time, who, he said, “forgot that science arose from poetry, and did not see that when times change the tow can meet again on a higher level as friends.”
【翻译】
色调与喊声
一件蓝色的裙子将互联网分为两个阵营，视觉感知成为了人们关注的焦点。
作为一个诗人、剧作家、小说家、哥德对科学和艺术的影响是很深刻的。他关于颜色的生理属性的观点却从来没有引起注意，一部分是因为他提出，颜色是思维干预的结果，而不是客观的现实。其中一件事情听起来像是真的：物体的外表并不是客观的，而是观察者和被观察物对话的结果。
神经科学家很久以前就意识到，对颜色和浓淡的感知取决于背景。幻觉会存在，例如，当一个人完全确信黑就是白时，依据的是物体身处其中的环境模式或者条件。但是，事实是，当其他条件都相同时，对颜色的感知仍会因人而异。
例如，这本期刊的一位编辑曾经拥有一部他认为是绿色的车。它在所有可以设想的场合里都是绿的，不管是在阴影中、光亮下或者完全黑暗里。除了一种情况：其他的每个人都确信这是蓝色的车——包括车辆执照当局。这辆车不仅仅是蓝色的---它被官方承认是蓝色的。
最近，互联网到处都是坚定的关于颜色的意见，具体来说是关于一件裙子的。这件裙子被宣扬为蓝黑色的，但如果以某种方式用灯照亮，裙子似乎是白色和金色的。人们都非常确信它的颜色搭配，不管是哪一派。网上辩论激烈，特别是在各色名人在推特上传播他们的观点之后。一项关于《自然》编辑的民意调查(包括那位蓝车车主)显示支持倾向为一半一半，不管是哪一派的，他们都对自己那方深信不疑。
对这一错觉的解释关键在于裙子被拍摄时灯光的颜色上。人们的大脑在读取综合的氛围格调时，如果觉得太蓝会矫枉过正，将裙子看做白色和金色。其他人，他们的视觉系统读取灯光不够蓝，看到的裙子就会是蓝色和黑色的。
互联网杂志主持了一场关于这个效果的讨论，在出版社办公室的惊恐似乎反映了《自然》走廊里的喧哗，在其他时候这个办公室都是一片宁静的。(这个国际性科学周刊顿时停工，有人喊道：“在我弄清楚为什么之前我再也读不进任何稿件了。”)
被告知这个幻觉以后，部分的人——并不是全体，会强迫自己去把裙子看做蓝色黑色而不是白色和金色。这个图片清晰地展示颜色感知会因人而异，并且因照明条件而异。这种感知与另一种基因条件截然不同，那被认为是色盲——容易诱发人们各种综合症。
如果歌德的灵魂也在关注“裙子事件”，他也许会露出沮丧的笑容，在他的年代，他因为科学见解使得自己面对公众的辱骂。他说过：“忘记科学由诗歌激发而产生，看不到这一切，当时间变化，他们能在更高的层次成为朋友。”
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发表于 2016-7-25 13:39:02