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.
