![]() It is perhaps one of the most famous photos ever taken. Some people claimed, and still claim, it as evidence of an ancient civilisation on the red planet. While Mission Control quickly determined the ‘face’ was a Martian rock formation known as a Mesa, covered by unusual shadows, the image generated enormous interest. In 1976, NASA’s Viking 1 lander was in orbit around Mars, surveying the planet, when it came across an incredible sight: what appeared to be a giant sculpture of a human head, staring back into space! It is experienced by nearly everyone, and on a regular basis.Ī few examples have even become famous, in their own right. What is established is how common Facial Pareidolia is, in humans. Although the idea is not universally accepted. Other studies have shown that primates, our closest relatives, also experience Facial Pareidolia, which provides some support to the theory. ![]() So if you’ve evolved to be very good at detecting faces, this might then lead to false positives, where you sometimes see faces that aren’t really there.’Īnd so we see a grater that looks like it is happy, and a halved capsicum that looks like it is not. It’s also important in detecting predators. ‘There is an evolutionary advantage to being really good or efficient at detecting faces, it’s important to us socially. Both sets of images triggered neural activity in the same parts of the brain. Palmer led a study in 2020 that monitored brain activity in people who looked at actual human faces, and various objects that resembled faces. Examples of facial pareidolia in everyday objectsĭr Colin Palmer, of the University of NSW, thinks this provides the explanation for Facial Pareidolia. Early humans who did this well were more likely to be socially accepted, successful, and eventually mate. ![]() The importance of observing facial expressions was wired into our ancestors. A big focus was on the face, a complicated instrument that can convey an array of emotions and other information. – Dr Colin Palmer, University of New South WalesĮarly humans watched one another carefully, to better understand each other. We also need to recognise who that person is, and read information from their face, like whether they are paying attention to us, and whether they are happy or upset.’ ‘Face perception isn’t just about noticing the presence of a face. We are highly expressive, communicating our emotional state and needs through a variety of methods.īody language, and facial expressions, are important even more so in the millennia before written and verbal communication. Humans are social animals, we live and congregate in groups. The development of this trait is also not completely understood, but may have provided an evolutionary advantage. Perhaps the best known example is the Man in the Moon. This trait is known as Apophenia, and its explanation is not fully known.Ī subtype of this phenomenon is Facial Pareidolia, which denotes seeing human faces in inanimate objects the plug socket that looks like a smiley face, the piece of toast that looks like Jesus. Look up at the sky and you might see a cloud that looks like a rabbit look at a set of statistics and you might find connections that only you perceive. ![]() Present us with a random collection of objects, shapes, images, or numbers and letters, and our brain may turn them into something else. Human beings are great finders of patterns. It has been observed in other primates, and even in Artificial Intelligence. Facial Pareidolia is the tendency of humans to see faces in random shapes and objects.
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