Pareidolia Seeing beyond appearances
Pareidolia
Pareidolia Seeing beyond appearances
Edited & designed by:
Evelyn Furuta
SAN FRANCISCO Amo Publisher, 2014
This book is a compilation of several contents from various sources. It is the product of a project developed for the class Type Systems at Academy of Art University of Fall 2014.
Published by: Amo Publisher Editor: Evelyn Furuta Designed by: Evelyn Furuta Illustrations by: Evelyn Furuta Cover photo by: Evelyn Furuta Photos: sources on page 82 Special thanks to: Zack Shubkagel
San Francisco, 2014 Amo Publisher
Introduction 6 Chapter 1
Pareidolia 8 What is it? 10
Chapter 3
Why does it happen? 14
Illusion 52
Where are they seen? 16 What can be identified? 22
A visual mislead 54 Some visual tricks 58 A pareidolia cousin 64
Chapter 2
Is pareidolia an illusion 68
Perception 28 An indispensable tool 30 Eyes in action 32 Beyond the eyes 38 In psychology 42 Recognizing faces 48
Chapter 4
Weird cases 70 The man on Mars 72 Naked man orchid 74 TV static 76 Virgin Mary apparition 78 Dried Snapdragon 80
Credits 82
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Introduction Who ever received an e-mail with the image on the left attached, and the challenge was to find as many faces as possible on the whole image? To see faces where actually there is nothing but random shapes is called Pareidolia, which extents further than just faces. Attributing meanings to random images can also be classified as the phenomenon, for example, the animals shapes in the clouds, the religious figures silhouettes, flowers that resemble insects or other animals, and so on. Maybe the name of this phenomenon is unknown to you, but probably you have experienced it which not uncommon as you will verify in this book.
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CHAPTER 1
Parei
idolia
What is it? Most people have never heard of pareidolia. But nearly everyone has experienced it. It is mostly known for the recognition of faces and noises, however there are much more different figures that can be identified. From the Greek para (beside) and eidolon (image, form, shape) it is a psychological phenomenon characterized by misperceptions of vague stimuli, frequently images and sounds, as meaningful and significant. Examples include involuntary interpretations of clouds as faces or animals, and perceptions of hidden messages in songs played backwards.
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“Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon characterized by misperceptions of vague stimuli, frequently images and sounds, as meaningful and significant.�
Apophenia Pareidolia may explain certain visions and holy figures apparitions such as Our Lady silhouette depicted as a shadow on a wall, Saint George riding his horse in the moon, or God’s face rendered in the sunlight reflex on a water surface. It’s “the imagined perception of a pattern or meaning where it does not actually exist”, according to the World English Dictionary. It’s picking a face out of a knotted tree trunk or finding zoo animals in the clouds. Pareidolia is considered an apophenia, the experience of seeing patterns or connections in random or meaningless data.
It is defined as the "unmotivated seeing of connections" accompanied by a "specific experience of an abnormal meaningfulness". From the Greek apo (away from) and phaenein (to show). In contrast to epiphany, apophany does not provide insight into the true nature of reality or its interconnectedness, but is a “process of repetitively and monotonously experiencing abnormal meanings in the entire surrounding experiential field”, which are entirely self-referential, solipsistic and paranoid: “being observed, spoken about, the object of eavesdropping, followed by strangers”.
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If you can see a face on the car, it means you are experiencing a Pareidolia phenomenon!
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Why does it happen? But why do people see faces in what is quite literally nothing more than a stain, a splotch or a strange rock formation? Some of that is our evolutionary heritage, says Dr Nouchine Hadjikhani of Harvard University. Humans are “prewired” to detect faces from birth, she says. “If you take a baby just after a few minutes of life, he will direct his attention toward something that has the general features of a face versus something that has the same elements but in a random order.” And the tendency to pick out familiar figures goes back to the first humans, explains Christopher French of the British Psychological Society. “We’ve evolved brains that think in these
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quick, dirty ways that are usually right, but at times can lead us to systematically be biased.” “A classic example is the Stone Age guy standing there, scratching his beard, wondering whether that rustling in the bushes really is a sabre-toothed tiger. You’re much more likely to survive if you assume it’s a sabre-toothed tiger and get the hell out of there—otherwise you may end up as lunch.” Other experts say pareidolia is a consequence of the brain’s information processing systems. The brain is constantly sifting through random lines, shapes, surfaces and
colours, says Joel Voss, a neuroscientist at
“Humans are ‘prewired’ to detect faces from birth... and the tendency to pick out familiar figures goes back to the first humans.”
Northwestern University. It makes sense of these images by assigning meaning to them— usually by matching them to something stored in long-term knowledge. But sometimes things that are slightly “ambiguous” get matched up with things we can name more easily—resulting in pareidolia. Pareidolia can also be a product of people’s expectations, says neuroscientist Sophie Scott, of University College London. “Being able to see Jesus’s face in toast is telling you more about what’s happening with your expectations, and how you’re interpreting the world based on your expectations, rather than anything that’s necessarily in the toast”.
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Where are they seen?
Anywhere Pareidolia can be found pretty much anywhere. It can be identified in any surface, material, objects. You can see them on card boxes, bags, paintings, nature—such as leaves, flowers, tree trunks, stones, ground, mountains, landscapes—, buildings, cars, airplanes, clothes, hats, clouds, food. In summary, anywhere is a potential place to provide you a pareidolia experience.
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Flowers
Clouds
Boxes Food
Buildings Paintings
Vehicles
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Yup! I am a stone. A head shaped stone though. Isn’t it funny?
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Pareidolia can be found anywhere. Just take a look at your house and you will see lots of it. 22
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What can be identified? Like the infinite surfaces that can place a pareidolia, the type of images you can see varies in a great number as well. As it was said before, it is a psychological phenomenon characterized by misperceptions of vague stimuli, frequently images and sounds, as meaningful and significant. So it can be applied to basically anything. Here are some examples of some relevant categories of images that can be identified through pareidolia.
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Religious figures
Animals shapes
Skulls
Batman Faces
Famous people silhouette 25
People celebrating...
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Wait. Plants? Plants celebrating!
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mimimi... 29
CHAPTER 2
Percep
ption
An indispensable tool The eyes are a very important piece for people to experience the phenomenon of pareidolia because it captures the images, which is the essential element for visual pareidolia. They eye anatomy is a slightly asymmetrical globe, about an inch in diameter. The front part of the eye (the part you see in the mirror) includes: The iris (the pigmented part) The cornea (a clear dome over the iris) The pupil (the black circular opening in the iris that lets light in) The sclera (the white part) The conjunctiva (a thin layer of tissue that covers the front of the eye, except the cornea)
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Just behind the iris and pupil lies the lens, which helps to focus light on the back of the eye. Most of the eye is filled with a clear gel called the vitreous. Light projects through the pupil and the lens to the back of the eye. The inside lining of the eye is covered by special light-sensing cells that are collectively called the retina. The retina converts light into electrical impulses. Behind the eye, the optic nerve carries these impulses to the brain. The macula is a small extra-sensitive area within the retina that gives central vision. It is located in the center of the retina and contains the fovea, a small depression or pit at the center of the macula that gives the clearest vision.
The eye anatomy Cornea
Pupil
Vitreous Humor
a clear dome over
focus light on the
clear gel that fill
nerves that carries
the iris
back of the eye
the eye
these impulses to
Choroid
Optic nerve
the brain
Sclera
Retina layer with a group of light-sensing cells Pigment epitelium
Cone
Photo receptors
Rod cell Ciliary muscles
Bipolar neuron
muscles that push and pull to make the lens change shape Iris the pigmented part Aqueous humor
Ganglion cell Optic nerve fibe
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Eyes in action The human eye is one of the most complex and sophisticated organs in the body. Its unique automatic focusing system outstrips that of any camera, and its light sensitivity is ten million times greater than the best film designed so far! In order to see, your eye must focus light on the retina, convert the light into electrical impulses, and send those impulses to your brain to be interpreted. Focusing the light. When light bounces off an object and reaches the eye, it must be bent so that its rays arrive at the retina in focus.
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Four different surfaces bend the light as it enters the eye: the cornea, the aqueous humor, the lens, and the vitreous humor. When all four of these bend the light appropriately, you see a focused image of the object. The eye can focus objects at different distances because the ciliary muscles push and pull to make the lens change shape. When you look at an object that is far away, the ciliary muscles relax and the lens has a flattened shape. When you look at an object that is close by, the ciliary muscles are contracted and the lens is thickened. This is one of the features that makes the eye superior
to any manmade camera. To adjust a camera lens for the distance of an object, you must move the whole lens forward or back. If our eyes worked the same way, we would need long tubes sticking out of our eyes so the lenses could move back and forth. Instead, they just change shape to adjust for the distance of an object. In addition to focusing the light, your eye can control how much light gets in. The colored part of your eye, called the iris, controls the size of the pupil, the opening that lets light through. In dim light, the iris will cause
your pupil to expand, allowing as much light as
possible into your eye. In bright light, the iris causes the pupil to contract so that less light can enter. Converting the light. What happens when the focused light reaches your retina? It triggers a complex chemical reaction in the light-sensitive rod and cone cells. Rods contain a chemical called rhodopsin, or “visual purple,� and cones contain chemicals called color pigments. These chemicals undergo a transformation that results in electrical impulses being sent to the brain through the optic nerve.
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How vision works 1. Focusing the light
Light bounces
Light rays arrive at
Four different
off an object and
the retina in focus
surfaces bend
reaches the eye
lens
the light as it enters the eye
cornea vitreous humor
aqueous humor
The eye can focus objects at different distances because the ciliary muscles push and pull to make the lens change shape
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When the light reaches
2. Converting the light
the retina, a complex chemical reaction in the light-sensitive rod and cone cells
Electrical impulses
During the process,
The electrical impulses
being sent to the
are interpreted by the
brain through the
brain and the observed
optic nerve
image is built.
the observed light is Light comes
refracted resulting on
in the eye
a upside down image
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Without vision, we could not identify the images that resemble faces or significant figures.
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Beyond the eyes Visual information processing refers to the visual cognitive skills that allow us to process and interpret meaning from the visual information that we gain through our eye sight. Visual perception plays an important role in spelling, mathematics, and reading. Visual perceptual deficits may lead to difficulties in learning, recognizing, and remembering letters and words, learning basic mathematical concepts of size, magnitude, and position, confusing likeness and minor differences, mistaking words with similar beginnings, distinguishing the main idea from insignificant details, and poor handwriting.
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“Perception is visual information processing which refers to the visual cognitive skills that allow us to process and interpret meaning from the visual information that we gain through our eye sight.�
Its processing is subdivided into categories including visual discrimination, visual figure ground, visual closure, visual memory, visual sequential memory, visual form constancy, visual spatial relationships, and visualmotor integration. Visual discrimination is the ability of the person to be aware of the distinctive features of forms including shape, orientation, size, and color. Visual discrimination, figure ground, and closure problems may result in a person confusing words with similar beginnings or endings and even entire words.
Visual figure ground is the ability to distinguish an object from irrelevant background information. Visual closure is the ability to recognize a complete feature from fragmented information. Visual memory is the ability to retain information over an adequate period of time. Obtaining maximum information in the shortest possible time provides for optimal performance and is essential for reading comprehension and spelling. Dysfunctions in visual memory may cause prolonged time in copying assignments, difficulty recognizing the same word
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Look for what is unusual by seeing with different eyes.
on the next page, and difficulty retaining what is seen or heard. Visual sequential memory is the ability to perceive and remember a sequence of objects, letters, words, and other symbols in the same order as originally seen. Visual form constancy is the ability to recognize objects as t hey change size, shape, or orientation. Visual spatial skills refer to the ability to understand directional concepts that organize external visual space. These skills allow an individual to develop spatial concepts, such
as right and left, front and back, and up and down as they relate to their body and to objects in space. A visual spatial deficit may contribute to poor athletic performance, difficulties with rhythmic activities, lack of coordination and balance, clumsiness, reversals of forms and letters, such as ‘b’ and ‘d’ and words such as ‘on’ and ‘no’ and ‘was’ and ‘saw,’ and a tendency to work with one side of body while the other side does not participate.
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In psychology A physician named Hermann Rorschach developed the Rorschach test, one of psychology’s best-known evaluations, around 1920. Rorschach developed the test from a popular game he played as a child. Rorschach grew up in Switzerland. One of the most popular games of his youth was Blotto or Klecksographie, a game requiring players to make up poems or act out charades based on what they see in an inkblot. Rorschach enjoyed the game so much that his classmates nicknamed him “Klecks,” the German word for “inkblot.”
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“when asked what they saw in the inkblots, the patients gave responses much different from his friends.’ He wondered if the inkblots could be used to create profiles of different mental disorders.”
Rorschach’s interest in inkblots continued into adulthood. While studying patients with schizophrenia in medical school, Rorschach observed that, when asked what they saw in the inkblots, the patients gave responses much different from those of his friends. He wondered if the inkblots could be used to create profiles of different mental disorders. Perhaps people with depression interpreted the images differently than those with anxiety or schizophrenia or no mental illness. With his hypothesis established, Rorschach began studying 405 subjects, 117 of whom were
Hermann Rorschach Hermann Rorschach (8 November 1884 – 1 April 1922) was born in Zürich, Switzerland. Freudian psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, he was best known for developing the projective test known as the Rorschach inkblot test which was reportedly designed to reflect unconscious parts of the personality that “project” onto the stimuli.
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not psychiatric patients. Each person was presented with a card and asked, “What might this be?” This was repeated with as many as 15 different cards per subject. Rorschach didn’t analyze what the subjects saw, but rather the characteristics of what they reported, including if they focused on the image as a whole or on a smaller detail, or if they took a long time to provide an answer. For example, one card shows an image often interpreted as depicting two people. If the subject took a long time to respond, he or she might be revealing problems with social interactions. After four years of
research, Rorschach believed that his test could help diagnose mental illness and interpret a patient’s behavior. Rorschach published his findings and ten standard inkblot cards in 1920. The popularity of the test grew, reaching its zenith in the 1950s and 1960s. Modern psychology has questioned the usefulness and accuracy of the test. Psychologists who doubt the test believe it is impossible to score, and that the analysis of responses probably says as much about the psychology of the doctor as it does the patient.
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Recognizing faces We are wizards of pattern recognition. The random smattering of paint on the wall suddenly presents a smiling visage. Psychologists have suggested that this tendency to recognize faces everywhere is an offshoot from our social cognition. It often misfires, but without analyzing the emotions and intentions of others, transmitted through numerous facial muscles, social interactions as we know them would be crippled. When we can’t gauge the intentions and emotions of others, frustration reigns. The invention of text messaging surely has ruined
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“This tendency to recognize faces everywhere is an offshoot from our social cognition.“
many relationships because the communication is bereft of the facial and tonal cues critical to understanding. The recognition of faces is then almost so fundamental to us that it goes unnoticed; automatic in the way that the understanding of words is. But the misfires are the curious by product. When psychologists test our facial detection, nearly 41% of us see eyes, noses, and mouths in purely “noise� images such as a static TV channel). Overall, the scientific literature suggests that seeing faces or facial parts
This figure consisting of three circles and a line is automatically and subconsciously recognized as a "face", despite having only a few basic features of an actual face. This apophenia, the experience of seeing patterns or connections in random or meaningless data, is an example of mechanism the brain uses for facial recognition.
in simple random patterns is commonplace.
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Oh! I see what you mean... 53
CHAPTER 3
Illu
usion
A visual mislead Look at an optical illusion and you may think you’re seeing things—such as a curved line that’s actually straight, or a moving object that’s standing still. You wonder if your eyes are playing tricks on you. It’s not your eyes. An illusion is proof that you don’t always see what you think you do— because of the way your brain and your entire visual system perceive and interpret an image. Visual illusions occur due to properties of the visual areas of the brain as they receive and process information. In other words, your perception of an illusion has more to do with
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how your brain works—and less to do with the optics of your eye. An illusion is “a mismatch between the immediate visual impression and the actual properties of the object,” said Michael Bach, a vision scientist and professor of neurobiophysics at the University of Freiburg Eye Hospital in Freiburg, Germany, who studies illusions and has a large collection of them on a Web site. Everything that enters the senses needs to be interpreted through the brain—and these interpretations occasionally go wrong, Bach
“An illusion is a phenomenon in which our subjective perception doesn’t match the physical reality of the world.”
told ABCNews.com. Illusions, he said, may serve as a test bed to determine whether scientists understand vision correctly. Susana Martinez-Conde, director of the laboratory of visual neuroscience at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Ariz. offered a similar definition. “An illusion is a phenomenon in which our subjective perception doesn’t match the physical reality of the world.”
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An illusion is proof that you don’t always see what you think you do.
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Some visual tricks
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The Café Wall
The Ebbinghaus
The café wall illusion is an optical illusion, first described by Doctor Richard Gregory. He observed this curious effect in the tiles of the wall of a café at the bottom of St Michael’s Hill, Bristol. This optical illusion makes the parallel straight horizontal lines appear to be bent.
The Ebbinghaus illusion is an optical illusion of relative size perception. In the best-known version of the illusion, two circles of identical size are placed near to each other and one is surrounded by large circles while the other is surrounded by small circles; the first central circle then appears smaller than the second central circle.
The Hermann Grid
The Kanizsa Triangle
The Hermann grid illusion is an optical illusion reported by Ludimar Hermann in 1870 while, incidentally, reading John Tyndall’s Sound. The illusion is characterised by “ghostlike” grey blobs perceived at the intersections of a white (or light-colored) grid on a black background. The grey blobs disappear when looking directly at an intersection.
The Kanizsa triangle is an optical illusion first described by the Italian psychologist Gaetano Kanizsa in 1955. In the image above, a white equilateral triangle is perceived, }but in fact none is drawn.
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The White Illusion
Adelson’s Checker Shadow
White’s illusion is an optical illusion illustrating the fact that the same target luminance can elicit different perceptions of brightness in different contexts. Note, that although the gray rectangles are all of equal luminance, the ones seen in the context with the dark stripes appear brighter than the ones seen in the context with the bright stripes.
The image shows what appears to be a black and white checker-board with a cylinder resting on it that casts a shadow diagonally across the middle of the board. The image has been constructed so that “white” squares in the shadow, one of which is labeled “B,” are actually the exact same gray value as “black” squares outside the shadow, one of which is labeled “A.”
The Motion Illusion
The Hering Illusion
One type of motion illusion is a type of optical illusion in which a static image appears to be moving due to the cognitive effects of interacting color contrasts and shape position.
The Hering illusion is an optical illusion discovered by the German physiologist Ewald Hering in 1861. The two vertical lines are both straight, but they look as if they were bowed outwards. The distortion is produced by the lined pattern on the background, that simulates a perspective design, and creates a false impression of depth. 63
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I feel betrayed. 65
A pareidolia cousin Gestalt psychology (German: Gestalt “shape, form”) is a theory of mind of the Berlin School. The central principle of gestalt psychology is that the mind forms a global whole with selforganizing tendencies. This principle maintains that the human mind considers objects in their entirety before, or in parallel with, perception of their individual parts; suggesting the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Gestalt psychology tries to understand the laws of our ability to acquire and maintain meaningful perceptions in an apparently chaotic world.
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“The gestalt effect is the capability of our brain to generate whole forms, particularly with respect to the visual recognition of global figures instead of just collections of simpler and unrelated elements, such as points, lines, curves, etc...”
In the domain of perception, Gestalt psychologists stipulate that perceptions are the products of complex interactions among various stimuli. The gestalt effect is the capability of our brain to generate whole forms, particularly with respect to the visual recognition of global figures instead of just collections of simpler and unrelated elements, such as points, lines, curves, etc... Gestalt approach sought to define principles of perception—seemingly innate mental laws that determined the way objects were perceived. Images can be
divided into figure or ground. The question is what is perceived at first glance: the figure in front, or the background. These laws took several forms, such as the grouping of similar, or proximate, objects together, within this global process. Although gestalt has been criticized for being merely descriptive, it has formed the basis of much further research into the perception of patterns and objects, and of research into behavior, thinking, problem solving and psychopathology.
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Details are awesome! But sometimes, looking at the overall scene can be surprising.
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Is Pareidolia an illusion? In the definition of illusion a few pages before, if you consider it “a mismatch between the immediate visual impression and the actual properties of the object,” according to Michael Bach; or as Susana Martinez-Conde said “a phenomenon in which our subjective perception doesn’t match the physical reality of the world.”, pareidolia might be an illusion. This book showed many examples of pareidolia which the meaningful information could be identified in a collection of blots,
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vague figures representations, light resemblance with objects or religious images, and so on. The image on the right, a Victorian picture of a family, is an example of illusion in which it is possible to identify the face of Jesus; however, in reality it is actually just a combination of visual information where the kid and some background images allowed the perception of a pareidolia phenomenon.
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CHAPTER 4
Weird
cases
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The man on Mars Twenty five years ago something funny happened around Mars. NASA’s spacecraft was circling the planet when it spotted the shadowy likeness of a human face. An enormous head nearly two miles from end to end seemed to be staring back at the cameras from a region of the Red Planet called Cydonia. A few days later NASA unveiled the image for all to see. The caption noted a “huge rock formation... which resembles a human head... formed by shadows giving the illusion of eyes, nose and mouth.” The “Face on Mars” has since become a pop icon. It has starred in a Hollywood film, appeared in books, magazines, radio talk shows. On April 5, 1998, NASA team snapped a picture ten times sharper than the original photos.
Picture ten times sharper than the original photos. This is the real Man on Mars.
Thousands of anxious web surfers were waiting when the image first appeared revealing... a natural landform. There was no alien monument after all. 75
Naked man orchid Orchis italica, commonly known as the naked man orchid or the Italian orchid, is a species of orchid native to the Mediterranean. They are widely popular for their petals looking like naked men. It prefers partial shade and low nutrient soil and flowers in April. Orchids italica grows up to 50 centimetres (20 inches) in height, with bright pink, densely clustered flowers. They are found commonly and widespread in the Mediterranean in large clusters.
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TV static Some say that, if one stares at a TV static interference, it is possible to at some point see the formation of shapes and eventually a face might eventually appear. Some people believe it is the world of the dead trying to communicate with our world. It might not be true. However, for curious people, it could be interesting to give it a try.
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Virgin Mary apariton on glass
Apparition of Virgin Mary on the glass.
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On December 2002, a customer entering the Seminole Finance Corporation building in Clearwater mentioned to employees that she had just seen something extraordinary on the south wall’s exterior reflective-glass windows. Shortly thereafter, she telephoned Ch. 10 with her report and, by that night and for days to come, all the Tampa Bay-area newscasts would lead with the story. And it was not long before AP, CNN, ABC’s World News Tonight, the Today Show, American Journal, and other media had spread the word such that, by the new year, several hundred thousand visitors, some from
other continents, would have occasion to witness in person our startling Christmas time apparition of the Virgin Mary. But I can attest firsthand that “Mary’s” beauty is infinitely more breathtaking in the light of day. Although lacking any facial or other internal detail, from a distance she appears to have perhaps been hand-painted in a rainbow of iridescent hues. And the faithful, and curious, continue to flock to the side of a Clearwater loan office to contemplate, if not a wondrous apparition of Mother Mary, at least a wonderfully enticing manifestation of Mother Nature.
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Dried snapdragon The snapdragon plant is a favorite plant for many gardeners, but not everyone knows about the darker side these plants contain, once the seed pods have been dried out‌ Snapdragon flowers are beautiful when in bloom, but when the seed pods dry, something more sinister appears the dried seed pods clearly resemble tiny skulls. These skulls are oddly human-looking and ancient cultures once thought snapdragons held supernatural powers. The tiny skulls were believed to protect against sorcery, witchcraft, and curses and were even thought to contain anti-aging powers! Snapdragon flower. When it blooms, it is a beautiful flower. However, after it dries, this flower acquires a quite scary visual.
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Credits Content credits Page 10-11 – “Neuropareidolia: diagnostic clues
Page 78-79 – “Tampa Bay Skeptics” – http://www.
Page 17 – Flowers and Vehicles
apropos of visual illusions” – http://www.scielo.br/
tampabayskeptics.org/v9n4rpt.html
“Bored Panda” – http://www.boredpanda.com/do-
scielo.php?pid=S0004-282X2009000600033&scri pt=sci_arttext
Page 80 – “Wait WOW!” – http://www.waitwow.com/ snapdragons-make-cute-flowers-die-turn-skulls/
Page 14-15 – “BBC News Magazine” – http://www. bbc.com/news/magazine-22686500 Page 30 – “WebMD” – http://www.webmd.com/eyehealth/picture-of-the-eyes Page 32-33 – “Home Science Tools” – http://www. hometrainingtools.com/a/eye-and-vision-science-explorations-newsletter Page 38-41 – “Pediatric Vision Develop Center” – http://www.visiontherapy4kids.com/ContentPage. aspx?id=52 Page 42-45 – “Kansapedia” – http://www.kshs.org/ kansapedia/cool-things-inkblot-test/17670 Page 43 – “Wikipedia Hermann_Rorschach” – http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Rorschach
Image credits
Page 20-21 “Bored Panda” – http://www.boredpanda.com/do-
ts/2009-04/1240046142_123910392523.jpg
you-have-pareidolia-post-faces-in-everyday-objects/
Page 12-13
Page 23 – Animals shapes
“Design Dautore Design & Trend Magazine” –
“Cool Clouds for ‘Kids’ of all Ages” – http://pals.
http://designdautore.blogspot.com/2013/06/parei-
agron.iastate.edu/carlson/look_like/index.html
dolia.html#.VFvTgfnF-D4
“Course In Miracles Directory” – http://course-mira-
“Examiner” – http://www.examiner.com/article/
cles.com/clearwater-synchronicity
angel-clouds-devil-queen-s-hair-signs-from-aboveor-just-pareidolia Page 17 – Buildings
Page 17 – Food “Socialphy” – http://www.socialphy.com/posts/
Page 54-55 – “ABC News” – http://abcnews.go.com/
humor-fun/21836/The-Wonderful-World-of-Pareido-
Health/EyeHealth/optical-illusions-eye-brain-agree/
lia-_Faces-in-Odd-Places_.html Page 17 – Boxes
Page 58-61 – “Listverse” – http://listverse.
“Mindcrack Reddit” – http://www.reddit.com/r/
com/2007/09/16/20-amazing-optical-illusions/
mindcrack/comments/2c9gs3/this_garbage_can_
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestalt_psychology Page 73 – “Nasa Science” – http://science.nasa.gov/ science-news/science-at-nasa/2001/ast24may_1/ Page 74 – “Wikipedia Orchis Italica” – http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchis_italica
Page 23 – Religious figures”
Page 17 – Clouds
text.com/2013/09/03/you-already-know-part-i/
Page 64-65 – “Wikipedia Gestalt Psychology” –
dolia.html#.VFvTgfnF-D4
http://i.allday.ru/uploads/pos
“The Flikkt Language Blog” – http://sensitivecon-
story?id=8455573
http://designdautore.blogspot.com/2013/06/parei-
Page 6
and Face-Pareidolia” – http://archive.randi.org/site/ lusion-skep
Page 18-19 “Design Dautore Design & Trend Magazine” –
Page 48-49 – “Inoculated Against Illusion: Skeptics index.php/swift-blog/1910-innoculated-against-il-
you-have-pareidolia-post-faces-in-everyday-objects/
looks_a_bit_like_guude_xpost/ Page 17 – Paintings “Wikimedia” – http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Giuseppe_Arcimboldo_-_ The_Jurist_-_WGA00837.jpg/640px-Giuseppe_Arcimboldo_-_The_Jurist_-_WGA00837.jpg
Page 23 – Skulls “Skull Appreciation Society” – http://skullappreciationsociety.com/tag/snapdragon/ Page 23 – Batman “Bored Panda” – http://www.boredpanda.com/doyou-have-pareidolia-post-faces-in-everyday-objects/ Page 23 – Famous people silhouete “Vishal’s Blog” – http://vishastro.blogspot. com/2013/03/the-monkey-tree-real-or-pareidolia.html Page 23 – Faces “Design Dautore Design & Trend Magazine” – http://designdautore.blogspot.com/2013/06/pareidolia.html#.VFvTgfnF-D4 Page 24-25 “Bored Panda” – http://www.boredpanda.com/doyou-have-pareidolia-post-faces-in-everyday-objects/ Page 26-27 “Bored Panda” – http://www.boredpanda.com/doyou-have-pareidolia-post-faces-in-everyday-objects/
84
Page 27
Page 66-67 – Painting by Oleg Shuplyak
“Mindcrack Reddit” – http://www.reddit.com/r/
“Nathaniel’s tumblr” – http://tumblr.daught.me/
“Optical Sky” – www.opticalspy.com/oleg-shuplyak-
mindcrack/comments/2c9gs3/this_garbage_can_
post/256978419/beaker-wallpaper-1920x1200
gallery.html
looks_a_bit_like_guude_xpost/
Page 31; 34-35
Page 69
“Socialphy” – http://www.socialphy.com/posts/
Illustration by: Evelyn Furuta
“Richard Wiseman” – http://richardwiseman.
humor-fun/21836/The-Wonderful-World-of-Pareido-
wordpress.com/2009/03/18/best-ever-exam-
lia-_Faces-in-Odd-Places_.html
Page 36-37 “Design Dautore Design & Trend Magazine” – http://
ple-of-pareidolia/
designdautore.blogspot.com/2013/06/pareidolia.
Page 72-73
html#.VFvTgfnF-D4
“Nasa Science” – http://science.nasa.gov/sci-
Page 40
ence-news/science-at-nasa/2001/ast24may_1/
“The Flikkt Language Blog” – http://sensitivecontext.com/2013/09/03/you-already-know-part-i/ “Wikimedia” – http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Giuseppe_Arcimboldo_-_
“Flickr Varahus” – https://www.flickr.com/photos/
Page 74-75
The_Jurist_-_WGA00837.jpg/640px-Giuseppe_Ar-
xaviervarahus/11353437565/sizes/o/
http://www.orchis.de/orchis/scripts/fset.
cimboldo_-_The_Jurist_-_WGA00837.jpg
Page 43
php?id=390&bildart=hi
“Wikipedia” – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Her-
Page 76-77
mann_Rorschach
Image by Evelyn Furuta
Page 44
Page 78
“Kansapedia” – http://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/
“Virgin Mary Again” – http://virginmaryagain.
cool-things-inkblot-test/17670
com/?m=200702
Page 46-47
Page 79
“Kansapedia” – http://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/
“Course In Miracles Directory” – http://course-mira-
cool-things-inkblot-test/17670
cles.com/clearwater-synchronicity
Page 50-51
Page 80
“Bored Panda” – http://www.boredpanda.com/do-
http://www.picsflowers.com/flower-pictures/snap-
you-have-pareidolia-post-faces-in-everyday-objects/
dragon_1.html
Page 56-57
Page 81
“Graphics & Communication Blog” – http://cvccde-
“Skull Appreciation Society” – http://skullapprecia-
sign.wordpress.com/2010/01/24/gestalt-percep-
tionsociety.com/tag/snapdragon/
tion-and-optical-illustions/
Chapter openers
“Skull Appreciation Society” – http://skullappreciationsociety.com/tag/snapdragon/ “Vishal’s Blog” – http://vishastro.blogspot. com/2013/03/the-monkey-tree-real-or-pareidolia.html “Cool Clouds for ‘Kids’ of all Ages” – http://pals. agron.iastate.edu/carlson/look_like/index.html “The Conversation” – http://theconversation.com/ holy-grilled-cheese-sandwich-what-is-pareidolia-14170 “Science News and Science Views” – http://cbroganscience.wordpress.com/2013/04/13/notable-cases-of-pareidolia/ “Cristian Bortes” – https://www.flickr.com/photos/ bortescristian/1382539526/ “Save my Boredom” – http://savemyboredom.com/ pareidolia-phenomenon-human-mind/
Page 58-61
“Design Dautore Design & Trend Magazine” –
“Listverse” – http://listverse.
http://designdautore.blogspot.com/2013/06/parei-
“Psychic Power” – http://psychicpowerprojection.blog-
com/2007/09/16/20-amazing-optical-illusions/
dolia.html#.VFvTgfnF-D4
spot.com/2012/11/pareidolia-witch-head-nebula.html
Page 62-63
“Bored Panda” – http://www.boredpanda.com/do-
“Fiboni” – http://www.fiboni.com/2013/09/pareido-
you-have-pareidolia-post-faces-in-everyday-objects/
lia-illusions-at-their-best/
85
Pareidolia Pareidolia Seeing Seeing beyond beyond appearances appearances
HaveHave you you everever experienced experienced a situation a situation that that you you see asee face a face on an onobject? an object? Don’t Don’t worry! worry! You You are not are crazy! not crazy!
Pareid ol i a
While While you you might might not know not know you you this this phenomenon’s phenomenon’s name, name, it is it more is more common common thanthan you you thought thought and and other other people people can can see them see them as well! as well!
This book This book is is not for notsale. for sale.