Pareidolia - RYBN · Pareidolia can be related to obsessive–compulsive disorder, as seen in the...

A satellite photo of a mesain Cydonia, often calledthe Face on Mars. Laterimagery from other anglesdid not show the illusion.

PareidoliaFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pareidolia (/pærɨˈdoʊliə/ parr-i-DOH-lee-ə) is apsychological phenomenon involving a stimulus(an image or a sound) wherein the mind perceivesa familiar pattern where none actually exists.

Common examples are perceived images ofanimals, faces, or objects in cloud formations, the"man in the moon", the "moon rabbit", and hiddenmessages within recorded music played in reverseor at higher- or lower-than-normal speeds.

Pareidolia is the visual or auditory form ofapophenia, which is the perception of patternswithin random data. Combined with apopheniaand hierophany (manifestation of the sacred),pareidolia may have helped ancient societiesorganize chaos and make the world intelligible.[1][2]

Contents

1 Etymology2 Explanations3 Mimetoliths4 Projective tests5 Art6 Religious7 Computer vision8 Related phenomena9 Examples10 See also11 References12 External links

Etymology

The word is derived from the Greek words para (παρά, "beside, alongside,instead [of]", in this context meaning something faulty or wrong) and the nouneidōlon (εἴδωλον "image, form, shape", the diminutive of eidos).

Pareidolia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia

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Explanations

Pareidolia can cause people to interpret random images, or patterns of lightand shadow, as faces.[3]A 2009 magnetoencephalography study found thatobjects perceived as faces evoke an early (165 ms) activation of the fusiformface area at a time and location similar to that evoked by faces — whereasother common objects do not evoke such activation. This activation is similar toa slightly faster time (130 ms) that is seen for images of real faces. The authorssuggest that face perception evoked by face-like objects is a relatively earlyprocess, and not a late cognitive reinterpretation phenomenon.[4] An fMRIstudy in 2011 similarly showed that repeated presentation of novel visualshapes that were interpreted as meaningful led to decreased fMRI responsesfor real objects. These results indicate that the interpretation of ambiguousstimuli depends upon processes similar to those elicited by known objects.[5]

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 bythe "face-like" object, which alert the observer to both the emotional state andidentity of the subject – even before the conscious mind begins to process – oreven receive – the information. The "stick figure face", despite its simplicity,conveys mood information (in this case, disappointment or mild unhappiness).It would be just as simple to draw a stick figure face that would be perceived(by most people) as hostile and aggressive. This robust and subtle capability ishypothesized to be the result of eons of natural selection favoring people mostable to quickly identify the mental state, for example, of threatening people,thus providing the individual an opportunity to flee or attack pre-emptively. Inother words, processing this information subcortically (and thereforesubconsciously) – before it is passed on to the rest of the brain for detailedprocessing – accelerates judgment and decision making when alacrity isparamount.[6] This ability, though highly specialized for the processing andrecognition of human emotions, also functions to determine the demeanor ofwildlife.[7]

Mimetoliths

Rocks may come to mimic recognizable forms through the random processes offormation, weathering, and erosion. Most often, the size scale of the rock islarger than the object it resembles, such as a cliff profile resembling a humanface. Well-meaning people with a new interest in fossils can pick up chertnodules, concretions or pebbles resembling bones, skulls, turtle shells,dinosaur eggs, etc., in both size and shape.

From the late 1970s through the early 1980s, Japanese researcher ChonosukeOkamura self-published a famous series of reports titled "Original Report of theOkamura Fossil Laboratory" in which he described tiny inclusions in polishedlimestone from the Silurian period (425 mya) as being preserved fossil remainsof tiny humans, gorillas, dogs, dragons, dinosaurs, and other organisms, all ofthem only millimeters long, leading him to claim "There have been no changes


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The Jurist by GiuseppeArcimboldo, 1566. Whatappears to be its face isactually a collection of food.

in the bodies of mankind since the Silurian period... except for a growth instature from 3.5 mm to 1,700 mm."[8][9] Okamura's research earned him an IgNobel Prize (a parody of the Nobel Prizes) in biodiversity.[10] See List of IgNobel Prize winners (1996).[11]

Projective tests

Main article: Rorschach inkblot test

The Rorschach inkblot test uses pareidolia in an attempt to gain insight into aperson's mental state. The Rorschach is a projective test, as it intentionallyelicits the thoughts or feelings of respondents which are "projected" onto theambiguous inkblot images. Projection in this instance is a form of "directedpareidolia".[12]

Art

In his notebooks, Leonardo da Vinci wrote ofpareidolia as a device for painters, writing "ifyou look at any walls spotted with various stainsor with a mixture of different kinds of stones, ifyou are about to invent some scene you will beable to see in it a resemblance to variousdifferent landscapes adorned with mountains,rivers, rocks, trees, plains, wide valleys, andvarious groups of hills. You will also be able tosee divers combats and figures in quickmovement, and strange expressions of faces,and outlandish costumes, and an infinitenumber of things which you can then reduceinto separate and well conceived forms."[13]

Religious

Further information: Perceptions of religiousimagery in natural phenomena

There have been many instances of perceptionsof religious imagery and themes, especially the faces of religious figures, inordinary phenomena. Many involve images of Jesus,[12] the Virgin Mary,[14] theword Allah,[15] or other religious phenomena: in September 2007 in Singapore,for example, a callus on a tree resembled a monkey, leading believers to payhomage to the "Monkey god" (either Sun Wukong or Hanuman) in the monkeytree phenomenon.[16]

Publicity surrounding sightings of religious figures and other surprising imagesin ordinary objects has spawned a market for such items on online auctions like


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When passed through the DeepDreamprogram, an image of pies on a marketstall shows eyes and the faces of dogs

eBay. One famous instance was a grilled cheese sandwich with the VirginMary's face.[17]

Computer vision

Pareidolia also arises in computervision, specifically in imagerecognition programs, which canspuriously detect features. In the caseof an artificial neural network, higherlevel features correspond to morerecognizable features, and enhancingthese features bring out what thecomputer sees. These reflect thetraining set of images that thenetwork has "seen" previously.

Striking visuals can be produced inthis way, notably in the DeepDreamsoftware, which falsely detects andthen exaggerates features such aseyes and faces in any image.

Related phenomena

Various European ancient divination practices involved the interpretation ofshadows cast by objects. For example, in molybdomancy, a random shapeproduced by pouring molten tin into cold water is interpreted by the shadow itcasts in candlelight.

In 1971 Konstantīns Raudive wrote Breakthrough, detailing what he believedwas the discovery of electronic voice phenomenon (EVP). EVP has beendescribed as auditory pareidolia.[12]

Allegations of backmasking in popular music, in which a message is claimed tohave been recorded backward onto a track meant to be played forward, havealso been described as auditory pareidolia.[12][18]

Pareidolia can be related to obsessive–compulsive disorder, as seen in the caseof a 38-year-old married white woman with a history of OCD, who reportedvisualizing faces of witches and gorillas out of floor tiles.[19]

Examples


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The RomanianSphinx in BucegiMountains

Human face onPedra da Gavea inRio de Janeiro,Brazil, known as"Head of theEmperor"

The Old Man ofthe Mountain inFranconia, NewHampshire

The "Grimacinghuman face" of redshale (Cians,MercantourNational Park)

The famous profileof Stac Levenishisland (St Kildaarchipelago,Scotland)

Baba Yaga at theBayanaul NationalPark inKazakhstan

Smiley face inGalle Crater onMars

Hoburgsgubben"The Old Man ofHoburgen" alimestoneformation on theisland Gotland inSweden

“Elephant Rock”on Heimaey,Iceland

See also


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ApopheniaAsterismClustering illusionConfabulationCultural biasFace perception, for thecognitive processFooled by RandomnessGhosts as an artifact ofpareidoliaImages of JesusJiong a Chinese characterwhich resembles face ofdepressive emotionMondegreenPathetic fallacyParanoiac-critical methodPerceptions of religiousimagery in natural phenomenaPsychological projectionSimulacrumStreet light interferencephenomenonSynchronicity

Other natural examples

Ayu-DagBadlands GuardianGalešnjakHeikeganiHorsehead NebulaManicouagan ReservoirOld Man of the MountainPedra da GáveaRunamoSleeping Giant (Ontario)

References

Bustamante, Patricio; Yao, Fay; Bustamante, Daniela (2010). "The worship to themountains: a study of the creation myths of the chinese culture".

1.

Bustamante, Patricio; Yao, Fay; Bustamante, Daniela (2010). "Search for meanings:from pleistocene art to the worship of the mountains in early China.Methodological tools for Mimesis".

2.

Sagan, Carl (1995). The Demon-Haunted World – Science as a Candle in the Dark.New York: Random House. ISBN 0-394-53512-X.

3.

Hadjikhani, Nouchine; Kveraga, Kestutis; Naik, Paulami; Ahlfors, Seppo P. (2009)."Early (M170) activation of face-specific cortex by face-like objects". NeuroReport20 (4): 403–7. doi:10.1097/WNR.0b013e328325a8e1. PMC 2713437.PMID 19218867.

4.

Voss, J. L.; Federmeier, K. D.; Paller, K. A. (2012). "The Potato Chip Really DoesLook Like Elvis! Neural Hallmarks of Conceptual Processing Associated withFinding Novel Shapes Subjectively Meaningful". Cerebral Cortex 22 (10):2354–64. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhr315. PMC 3432238. PMID 22079921.

5.

Svoboda, Elizabeth (2007-02-13). "Facial Recognition – Brain – Faces, FacesEverywhere". The New York Times (The New York Times). Retrieved July 3, 2010.

6.

"Dog Tips – Emotions in Canines and Humans". Partnership for Animal Welfare.Retrieved July 3, 2010.

7.


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Wikimedia Commonshas media related toPareidolias.

Spamer, E. "Chonosuke Okamura, Visionary". Philadelphia: Academy of NaturalSciences. archived at Improbable Research (http://improbable.com/).

8.

Berenbaum, May (2009). The earwig's tail: a modern bestiary of multi-leggedlegends. Harvard University Press. pp. 72–73. ISBN 0-674-03540-2.

9.

Abrahams, Marc (2004-03-16). "Tiny tall tales: Marc Abrahams uncovers theminute, but astonishing, evidence of our fossilised past". The Guardian (London).

10.

Conner, Susan; Kitchen, Linda (2002). Science's most wanted: the top 10 book ofoutrageous innovators, deadly disasters, and shocking discoveries. Most Wanted.Brassey's. p. 93. ISBN 1-57488-481-6.

11.

Zusne, Leonard; Jones, Warren H (1989). Anomalistic Psychology: A Study ofMagical Thinking. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. pp. 77–79. ISBN 0-8058-0508-7.Retrieved 2007-04-06.

12.

Da Vinci, Leonardo (1923). John, R; Don Read, J, eds. "Note-Books Arranged AndRendered Into English". Empire State Book Co.

13.

"In New Jersey, a Knot in a Tree Trunk Draws the Faithful and the Skeptical", TheNew York Times, July 23, 2012.

14.

Ibrahim, Yahaya (2011-01-02). "In Maiduguri, a tree with engraved name of Godturns spot to a Mecca of sorts". Sunday Trust (Media Trust Limited, Abuja).Archived from the original on 2012-11-04. Retrieved 2012-03-21.

15.

Ng, Hui Hui (13 September 2007). "Monkey See, Monkey Do?". The New Paper.pp. 12–13. Archived from the original on 2007-10-14.

16.

" 'Virgin Mary' toast fetches $28,000". BBC News. 23 November 2004. Retrieved2006-10-27.

17.

Vokey, John R.; Read, J. Don (1985). "Subliminal messages: Between the devil andthe media". American Psychologist 40 (11): 1231–9.doi:10.1037/0003-066X.40.11.1231. PMID 4083611.

18.

Fontenelle, Leonardo F. (2008). "Pareidolias in obsessive-compulsive disorder:Neglected symptoms that may respond to serotonin reuptake inhibitors".Neurocase 14 (5): 414–8. doi:10.1080/13554790802422138. PMID 18850462.

19.

External links

Cloud pareidolia(http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/33-creepiest-clouds-on-earth/1515) 33 examples of meteorologicalpareidolia.Skepdic.com (http://skepdic.com/pareidol.html) Skeptic's Dictionarydefinition of pareidoliaThe Stone Face: Fragments of An Earlier World(http://www.mnmuseumofthems.org/Faces/intro.html)Feb. 13, 2007, article in The New York Times about cognitive science offace recognition (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/13/health/psychology/13face.html)Snopes.com (http://www.snopes.com/rumors/wtcface.asp) Faces of 'Satan'seen in World Trade Center smokeNPR: Teapot on billboard looks like Hitler (http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/05/29/187054424/tempest-over-a-teapot-jc-penney-


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removes-hitler-billboard)Google faces (http://www.onformative.com/lab/googlefaces/)

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Categories: Cognitive biases Perception Forteana 20th-century neologismsVisual perception Optical illusions Auditory illusions Coincidence

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