Yesterday’s eclipse images were disturbing, so I decided to have a session with my psychotherapist, ChatGPT.
WLBOTT: I wanted to ask you about a psychological phenomena. The human brain tries to make faces out of patterns. Is there a word for this?
ChatGPT: Yes, the phenomenon you’re referring to is called “pareidolia.” Pareidolia is the tendency of the human brain to perceive familiar patterns, such as faces or other recognizable objects, in random or ambiguous stimuli. It’s a form of pattern recognition, and it often leads people to see faces in things like clouds, rock formations, or even inanimate objects.
Many interesting examples….
The Devil’s Head
Detail….
WLBOTT Wonders: Why don’t we see Richard Dawkins in a tortilla?
[note that this article is over 10 years old, so Mr. Dawkins may have since appeared, although Google image search is a little thin on the topic.]
[It’s also a little thin for Mr. Hitchens.]
Semi-sequitur: What?
Master of Pareidolia: Giuseppe Arcimboldo
