Many people have experienced pareidolia without realizing it. For instance, if you spot a cloud that resembles an animal or see religious figures on a piece of toast, you are experiencing pareidolia, which scientists are working to understand.
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Numerous theories attempt to explain this phenomenon, but the central idea is that the brain instinctively assigns meaning whenever possible. It seeks patterns to interpret what it observes. Additionally, a specific part of the temporal lobe in the cortex is responsible for facial recognition, a crucial ability that helps differentiate between friends and potential threats. From an evolutionary perspective, this skill can also aid in recognizing camouflaged predators in the wild.
Another factor contributing to pareidolia is confirmation bias. If someone is actively looking for cloud shapes resembling objects, they are more likely to find them. Similarly, a person making toast may not notice a face of a religious figure until someone else points it out.
Motion Pareidolia
Also known as kinetic pareidolia, this occurs when individuals perceive patterns or images in visual stimuli, mistakenly sensing movement where there is none. This phenomenon often arises when “your eyes play tricks on you,” such as noticing movement in your peripheral vision. In these cases, your brain is attempting to fill in the gaps in your visual perception. This effect is more pronounced when someone is sleep-deprived or in dim lighting.
Primed to See Fac
Kang Lee, a professor of applied psychology and human development at the University of Toronto, has spent years researching how individuals of all ages process faces. He found that the brain tends to absorb information before we consciously “see” it, often seeking facial imagery.
“The inferior frontal gyrus is an intriguing area related to generating ideas and instructing the visual cortex to recognize them. If the idea is a face, the brain will perceive it as such,” Lee explains. “If the idea is Jesus, the cortex is likely to see Jesus. If it’s Elvis, then it will see Elvis.”