#FacesInThings, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Pareidolia
July 22, 2019
What is Pareidolia? You’ve probably encountered photos on Twitter or Instagram of an inanimate object with a comically (or perhaps eerily) human-like face. Maybe you follow the #facesinthings hashtag or subreddit. More than being good for just a laugh, this phenomenon has a name, and some interesting science behind it. The word pareidolia comes from Greek, and directly translates to “wrong shape.” It doesn’t exclusively apply to faces and can in fact describe anytime one object is mistaken for another by the human eye and brain. It is demonstrated when a person sees shapes or objects in the clouds, hears […]