You just might, even if you don’t know what it means yet. To some extent, we all enjoy it.
Pareidolia, according to Dictionary.Com is “The imagined perception of a pattern where it does not actually exist.” It originates from the Greek words “para”(something wrong) and eiddon (image, form or shape).
Here are a few examples of pareidolia:
- The man in the moon
- Star constellations with human forms and names
- The Virgin Mary, supposedly seen on a grilled cheese sandwich
- A cinnamon bun in Tennessee that apparently resembled Mother Theresa
- Numerous landforms like Sleeping Lady Mountain in Washington
Often the shape that we imagine is that of a human face. Carl Sagan believed that recognizing faces from afar was a survival tool. This fits into a broader hypothesis that pareidolia is the result of natural selection over the years that favors people who can quickly identify the mental state and/or face of people or animals around them. This in turn provides them with opportunities to trust, flee or attack as needed.
Aside from the survival value of recognizing human or animal images, pareidolia can also provide a form of amusement when outdoors. It gives us yet another reason to look up and engage our senses.
