Pareidolia

Today, I found out that I apparently have the psychological phenomenon known as pareidolia.  It is the ability of your mind to respond to a stimulus, such as an image or a sound, by perceiving a familiar pattern where none exists.  In other words, I see faces in things.

I have always known I had a propensity to see faces in the swirls of the paint on the wall or ceiling, in the bathroom tiles, in the steam patterns on the glass during my shower, in the folds of fabric, or pretty much anywhere there is a change of textures.  I see animals, humans, and sometimes creatures that don’t even exist!  I just thought I had an overactive imagination, but apparently, it’s an actual phenomenon.

Studies have shown that people who are highly empathetic or perceptive of moods and mental states in others, have a greater chance to have pareidolia.  This is because these people are processing a greater amount of information about a perceived friend or enemy to determine if they should engage or flee.  All of this pre-processing occurs before the cognitive mind even has a chance to consciously process the data.  It’s an adaptive defense mechanism!

So, I’m perceiving patterns in objects before my mind even has a chance to tell me that it’s just paint, or steam, or fabric.  Despite the fact that I have a potential “psychosis,” it’s still pretty cool.