data is to be believed , color blue .
c. a. thorstenson drafted the manuscript , and a. d. pazda and a. j. elliot provided substantive revisions .
testing and data collection were performed by c. a. thorstenson and a. d. pazda developed the study concept and contributed to the study design .
a recent study ’s lead author christopher thorstenson said in a statement for the association for psychological science .
“ color is such an important part of our experience , ” says lead author christopher thorstenson , a psychologist at the university of rochester .
there ’s a reason , he says , that common descriptive phrases of the world include “ colorless , ” “ gray , ” and “ feeling blue ” by sad people , and “ bright ” and “ colorful ” by happier folks .
more : this may be why you ’re seeing the dress as white and gold psychologists have long known that emotions “ feeling blue ” might be more than just a metaphor .
abstract past research has shown that emotion can influence low - level visual processes , including color perception , that may play a role in higher - order vision .
feeling sad can keep us from seeing in certain colors , as though we live in dorothy ’s kansas .