Ever heard of Pareidolia?
I have always seen random patterns emerge in meaningless data. I take pride in seeing what most people miss or overlook. Its a part of me that helps me create fantasies and stories on the go. Make the monotonous and boring, exciting and fun. The animals in tree barks or roots or the shape-shifting that happens in clouds-its always held my fascination. I came across some interesting facts on researching this topic.
Scientifically recognising something meaningful in random patterns is called Pareidolia. The interesting Rorschach inkblot test (where you are asked to explain what you see in an ink blot) uses this psychological phenomenon to attempt to gain an insight into a persons mental state. However the validity of this test is highly debated. The hysteria behind satanic messages when some rock songs are played in reversal is due to auditory pareidolia (Some words on reversal sound like another word-phonetic reversal)
The famous Led Zepplin song-Stairway to heaven is an example of this phenomenon.
Related to Pareidolia is apophenia. Apophenia is trying to find meaning where it is not present. For instance when one sees Jesus on a toast and starts to worship it or observe a mangled face in a cloud and believe it to be a bad omen. There is scientific evidence to the statement-There are no ghosts, its your hyperactive imagination! A study by Fyfe et al. 2008 states that perceiving meaning in randomness and, more particularly, attributing mental states where none are indicated, may be important factors in the formation of paranormal and delusional beliefs.
This psychological phenomenon of seeing shapes has long been used even in divination. Molybdomancy is a divination technique with its roots in ancient Greece. Metal like tin or lead is molten and dropped in water. The shapes it makes is then interpreted as the omen for the future or held in candle light and the shadow it makes is then interpreted. Pareidolia is supposed to have helped early societies bring order in chaos.
These are some of the images I captured on a trek.
Scientifically recognising something meaningful in random patterns is called Pareidolia. The interesting Rorschach inkblot test (where you are asked to explain what you see in an ink blot) uses this psychological phenomenon to attempt to gain an insight into a persons mental state. However the validity of this test is highly debated. The hysteria behind satanic messages when some rock songs are played in reversal is due to auditory pareidolia (Some words on reversal sound like another word-phonetic reversal)
The famous Led Zepplin song-Stairway to heaven is an example of this phenomenon.
Related to Pareidolia is apophenia. Apophenia is trying to find meaning where it is not present. For instance when one sees Jesus on a toast and starts to worship it or observe a mangled face in a cloud and believe it to be a bad omen. There is scientific evidence to the statement-There are no ghosts, its your hyperactive imagination! A study by Fyfe et al. 2008 states that perceiving meaning in randomness and, more particularly, attributing mental states where none are indicated, may be important factors in the formation of paranormal and delusional beliefs.
This psychological phenomenon of seeing shapes has long been used even in divination. Molybdomancy is a divination technique with its roots in ancient Greece. Metal like tin or lead is molten and dropped in water. The shapes it makes is then interpreted as the omen for the future or held in candle light and the shadow it makes is then interpreted. Pareidolia is supposed to have helped early societies bring order in chaos.
These are some of the images I captured on a trek.
A tribal mask on the rock face
A dragon's head on the tree
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| The face and trunk of an elephant on a tree |
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