Pareidolia

PAREIDOLIA

Pareidolia is the tendency for incorrect perception of a stimulus as an object, pattern or meaning known to the observer, such as seeing shapes in clouds, seeing faces in inanimate objects or abstract patterns, or hearing hidden messages in music. Pareidolia can be considered a subcategory of apophenia.

Common examples are perceived images of animals, faces, or objects in cloud formations, the Man in the Moon, the Moon rabbit, and other lunar pareidolia. The concept of pareidolia may extend to include hidden messages in recorded music played in reverse or at higher- or lower-than-normal speeds, and hearing indistinct voices in random noise such as that produced by air conditioners or fans.

Pareidolia was at one time considered a symptom of human psychosis, but it is now seen as a normal human tendency.

Pareidolia is not confined to humans. Scientists have for years taught computers to use visual clues to "see" faces and other images.

Pareidolia can cause people to interpret random images, or patterns of light and shadow, as faces.

A 2009 magnetoencephalography

study found that objects perceived as faces evoke an early (165 ms) activation of the fusiform face area at a time and location similar to that evoked by faces, whereas other common objects do not evoke such activation. This activation is similar to a slightly faster time (130 ms) that is seen for images of real faces. The authors suggest that face perception evoked by face-like objects is a relatively early process, and not a late cognitive reinterpretation phenomenon.

A functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study in 2011 similarly showed that repeated presentation of novel visual shapes that were interpreted as meaningful led to decreased fMRI responses for real objects. These results indicate that the interpretation of ambiguous stimuli depends upon processes similar to those elicited by known objects.

These studies help to explain why people identify a few circles and a line as a "face" so quickly and without hesitation.  Cognitive processes are activated by the "face-like" object, which alert the observer to both the emotional state and identity of the subject, even before the conscious mind begins to process or even receive the information. A "stick figure face", despite its simplicity, can convey mood information, and be drawn to indicate emotions such as happiness or anger. This robust and subtle capability is hypothesized to be the result of eons of natural selection favoring people most able to quickly identify the mental state, for example, of threatening people, thus providing the individual an opportunity to flee or attack pre-emptively. In other words, processing this information subcortically – therefore subconsciously – before it is passed on to the rest of the brain for detailed processing accelerates judgment and decision making when a fast reaction is needed.

This ability, though highly specialized for the processing and recognition of human emotions, also functions to determine the demeanor of wildlife.

Pareidolia can be considered a subcategory of apophenia.

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