It’s cool to see pareidolia take form before us without being staged. Our brain loves to find familiar shapes, and that is why it’s common to ‘see things.’ No, we’re not talking about the visions of a sixth sense. Pareidolia is when your brain associates something you see with a shape that you are familiar with.
For example, when three holes are arranged in a way, you might see a face on fruits or other surfaces. Taking pictures from a certain angle can also produce this effect and even cause uproars from time to time.
You see things – but that’s not bad by any stretch. It just means your brain is trying to figure out the visual cues sent to the brain to help you familiarize yourself with a sight. Although it ends up giving you the creeps, pareidolia is just one among many phenomena that continue to impress scientists.
“I have this trunk knot on a tree in my backyard that I always thought looked like a regency era couple kissing. Today, I decided to bring them to life.”