Panorama of the World: Pareidolia

The psychological phenomenon of Pareidolia, according to which the brain responds to visual stimulation by perceiving a familiar pattern that does not exist in practice, is very common.

Common examples are captured images of animals, faces, or objects in cloud configurations. Rocks may mimic familiar shapes created by their processes of formation and decay.

People with a hobby can collect small pieces of concrete or pebbles resembling bones, skulls, oysters, turtles, and so on, which resemble the source both in size and shape.

The act of imagination make it possible to to separate undefined images, such as walls and surfaces stained with different stains, or made from a mixture of different types of materials, to well understood forms. We turn them to familiar objects, such as human figures with strange expressions, landscapes, impressive clothes, and any other well known image.

In most cases people interpret random images, or patterns of light and shadow, like faces. Research has found that objects perceived as faces trigger an early activation of the brain region that specializes in object recognition, and the brain does so in the same way that ordinary faces do, whereas other ordinary objects do not activate the same reaction. The activation even occurs at a slightly higher speed than the response to images of real faces.

In the brain, cognitive processes are triggered by any 'face-like' object, and they alert both the emotional state and the identity of the subject, even before the conscious mind begins processing or even receiving the information. This powerful and sophisticated ability to process information is at the core of the brain, and therefore subconscious. The information becomes knowledge even before it is pass on to the rest of the brain for detailed processing.

Facial recognition software is very successful because of the great diversity of human faces. You can recognize faces with tiny details. The area of the brain responsible for identifying the faces is one of the most developed.

This feature also helps the brain to easily transform inanimate objects into simulated faces.

Because the face recognition area is one of the most developed parts of the brain, The process of identifying and separating the faces is so well developed, that it seems to be operated without questions. We can walk in a strange city we have never been to, look for a moment at a face staring out of the crowd, and identify him. The ability to recognize faces is a wonder of the human brain, and people are so good at it that the feeling is that we do it effortlessly.

The area of the brain that is responsible for facial recognition continues to develop and functions better after adolescence, into our adulthood. This is a discovery of the brain structure, which is an important news for scientists, on a subject that is still hidden under the surface.

Although the appearances of faces in food, hairstyles and pictures are a subject of laughter, there is a very important truth behind the phenomenon. We are prone to seeing faces in every corner of the visual world. These experiences express the enormous impact imagination has on our perception.

What is there inside human beings that just pop up in front of our eyes at every opportunity? Many websites are decorated with pictures of human faces in fences, electricity poles, sidewalks, cracks in the wall, and so on. Studies reveal a very complex picture in which psychology, evolution and even spirituality play a central role. In many cases the faces we see are composed of basic geometrical shapes. But even the most dim images evoke faces. No matter how vague and random the patterns are, somehow, the brain manages to produce within them the contours of a human face.

We tend to believe that our eyes represent a reliable picture of reality, but in reality the eyes are merely means of transmitting light waves. The organ who makes up the picture is the brain, and the brain has its own pattern of action. One of the ways in which the brain arranges images is by creating a prediction of what appears, based on our past experience. It throws the existing expectations on everything we look at and intertwines them with the meaning it produces. In this way the brain can create a clear meaning even from a blurry image or poor visibility. On the other hand, this method makes our vision so subjective that in a sense we see what we want to see.

In face recognition, apart from the visual part of the brain, other parts of memory and planning also work. As a result, a unique part of the brain, which responds especially when stimulating human faces, is activated. It gives us the feeling that we are looking at thinking and feeling things, that we see "real" faces. People follow the "gaze" of objects just as we are used to following the gaze of people, and are tempted to look and see what makes them react so.

One possible answer to this riddle is that we see so many real human faces in everyday life that we expect to see them everywhere. From childhood, this is the most common stimulus we encounter. Another answer, for evolutionary reasons, human survival depends on other people, whether or not we need help from them. One must understand other people and decipher their behavior at high speed, so it is possible that the brain is wired to identify other people at every opportunity. The accidental error of "fake" face recognition in a tree trunk is not as serious as failing to recognize a real face hiding in the bushes.

A similar mechanism may work in the opposite direction. The brain tries to cast its human qualities on things that are not necessarily human according to the accepted definitions. In an attempt to deal with the uncertainty of the world, man 'facialize' various phenomena and seeks his reflection in nature.

One of the most prominent examples is the 'faces' of cars, with the human contours that come from the lights and the grill. Everywhere in the world, locals associate the same human expressions with cars. A car with round headlights and a small grill, for example, is described as feminine. On the other hand, straight lights and a wide grill are considered masculine. There is a need for the brain to locate biological information in the form of facial expressions, wherever it can. It is amazing to see how we perceive the modern environment through such ancient mechanisms.

The face recognition feature in objects can have a ractical influence on our lives. If the car has a 'threatening look', it may provoke aggressiveness among other drivers. Signs of "eye-examiners" reduced cases of theft by more than half.

The success of each process stems from the level of connection between the process and its purpose and ultimate goal. When the human brain wants to recognize a person's face, it can do so by finding a common denominator, and by comparing complex patterns. The brain quickly maps the patterns to the problem it faces and prioritizes the various comparisons.

Facial wisdom - Personology is a familiar subject of study. Its basis was intuition, and with the development of research it became an exact science. Our facial features represent character traits inherent in man and allow us to see the person behind the mask.

The use of facial wisdom is evident in almost every aspect of life: the family communication, the workplace, and more. The theory of Personology presents an impressive and accurate analysis of the personality structure, The tools are reliable and they testify to the human skills, the pattern of its importance, its creation, and the mental barriers it contains.

Personology studies also lead to body language analysis, interpersonal communication, obsessive disorders, skin problems, and complementary medicine such as iridology and reflexology.