The blue and black (or gold and white) dress that sweeped the internet last week revealed just how differently two people can see the world.

But it's not just about lighting conditions or optical illusions - evidence is mounting that until we have a way to describe something, we may not see its there.

Ancient languages, for instance, didn't have a word for blue and scientists believe as a result our ancestors didn't notice the colour even existed.

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Evidence is mounting that until we have a way to describe something, we may not see its there. Ancient languages, for instance, didn't have a word for blue and scientists believe as a result our ancestors didn't notice the colour even existed

According to Business Insider's Kevin Loria, in 'The Odyssey,' Greek poet Homer famously describes the 'wine-dark sea.'

In 1858 William Gladstone, who later became the British prime minister, counted the colour references in the Homer's Odyssey and found blue wasn't mentioned at all.

Black is mentioned nearly 200 times and white about 100. Red, meanwhile, is mentioned fewer than 15 times, and yellow and green fewer than 10.

It wasn't just the Greeks. Blue also doesn't appear in the Koran, ancient Chinese stories, and an ancient Hebrew version of the Bible, according to a German philologist named Lazarus Geiger.

Can you see which green square is a different shade? It is the second one of the top left. While we may not be able to distinguish it, the Himba tribe - who have a number of different words for green - can see it instantly

Several years ago, researchers showed some of the Himba tribe a circle with 11 green squares and one blue. The study found they could not pick out which one was different from the others, or took much longer to make sense of it

Egyptians, who were the only culture that could produce blue dyes, were the first ancient civilisation to have a word for the colour blue.

Once this product spread, other civilisations picked up on the colour, which doesn't readily appear in nature.

Today, there remain tribes who don't have a colour for blue, such as the Himba people in Namibia.

Several years ago, researchers showed some of the Himba tribe a circle with 11 green squares and one blue.

The study found they could not pick out which one was different from the others, or took much longer to make sense of it.

However, the same tribe has many different words for green. When they were shown squares with one green a different shade, they could pick it out immediately.

Another study focused on how Russian speakers have separate words for light blue (goluboy) and dark blue (siniy).

Language lessons: On the left, you can see the number of English names for colour hues, and the right shows how there are much fewer names for colours in Chinese. In English, the most popular base colours are blue, pink and green, while in China red, blue and green are more prominent

MIT recruited 50 people from the Boston area in Massachusetts, half of whom were native Russian speakers.

They found they were 10 per cent faster at distinguishing between light (goluboy) blues and dark (siniy) blues than at discriminating between blues within the same shade category.

A separate study last year seemed to confirm that while colours may be the same around the world, the language in which they are described has an impact on how they are perceived.

In English, the most popular base colours are blue, pink and green, while in China red, blue and green are more prominent.

A data scientist wanted to put this theory to the test and, in doing so, created a graphic that reveals how few ways there are in certain Eastern cultures to talk about colours, compared to the West.

PEOPLE TRAINED TO 'SEE' LETTERS AS COLOURS SEE AN INCREASE IN IQ The University of Sussex has devised a training programme to see if adults without synaesthesia can develop the key hallmarks of the condition Synaesthetes, including singers Pharrell Williams and Lady Gaga, report an overlap in their senses; they see smells, taste colours or feel sounds. The neurological condition, which can affect as many as one in 23 people, has long been linked with creativity. And now scientists believe the condition correlates to an increase in intelligence - and they claim people can even be taught to experience it. The University of Sussex has devised a nine-week training programme to see if adults without synaesthesia can develop the key hallmarks of the condition. They found, in a sample study of 14, that the participants were able to develop strong letter-colour associations to pass all the standard tests for synaesthesia. Most experienced sensations such as letters seeming 'coloured' or having individual personas, for instance, 'x is boring', 'w is calm'. One of the most surprising outcomes of the study was that those who underwent the training also saw their IQ jump by an average of 12 points, compared to a control group that didn't undergo training. Advertisement

Muyueh Lee from Taipei designed the infographic to show the range of names for colours and hues on Wikipedia, in English and then in Chinese.

His method is biased as there are more Wikipedia users that are English speakers, but it does reveal the importance of certain colours in both languages.

In Chinese, most popular base colours are 紅 (red), 藍 (blue) and 綠 (green). Colours can also relate to objects like salmon, stone and pine tree.

This may be telling as red in Chinese cultures symbolises good fortune and joy. It remains a popular colour in the country and is affiliated with the current government.

By comparison, popular English colours are blue, green and pink, with some colours based on objects.

This graphic shows the number of different words for each colour shade in Chinese. One of the most popular colours is red, which symbolises good fortune and joy in Chinese culture