🌛A fancy name for this phenomenon is pareidolia, which is a type of apothenia, the tendency of our brains to see (or hear) patterns where there are none. The word pareidolia itself, like most other psychological terms, comes from two ancient Greek words: παρά - “near, near; deviation from something" + εἴδωλον - "image".
Seeing faces in clouds or everyday objects is completely normal, as long as you realize that this is nothing more than an optical illusion.
🌛Scientific explanation of the phenomenon
Scientists at the University of Sydney have found that not only do we see faces in everyday objects, our brains even process inanimate objects to express emotions the same way we do for real faces, instead of dismissing them as false detections.
🌛This general mechanism may have evolved as a result of the need to quickly understand whether a person encountered is a friend or foe.
Humans are a very complex social species, and face recognition is very important... You need to understand who is in front of you - a family member, friend or enemy, what are their intentions and emotions? Faces are detected incredibly quickly. The brain seems to do this using a sort of pattern matching procedure. So if it sees an object that appears to have two eyes above its nose and a mouth, then the brain says, "Oh, I see a face." It happens very quickly and sometimes the brain makes mistakes, so something that resembles a face often causes this pattern matching.”
🌛The striking feature of these objects is that not only do they look like people, but they can even convey a sense of individuality or social significance.
Have you ever seen a smile in coffee foam? Or a face in a puddle?
Quick Search
Prices & Services
Letters from 2$
Fast Gift Delivery
2-way Video Chat
5 Membership Levels
View all rates