Pareidolia – Pictures from Mars, BTS lyrics and more

Pareidolia is the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern. The scientific explanation for some people is pareidolia, or the human ability to see shapes or make pictures out of randomness.

How often have you seen a face or shape in a piece of wood or any other substance? It’s the tendency for the human mind to impose a meaningful interpretation on nebulous stimulus, so that one sees an object, pattern, or meaning where there is none. 

Common examples are perceived images of animals, faces, or objects in cloud formations, seeing faces in inanimate objects, or lunar pareidolia like the Man in the Moon or the Moon rabbit. The concept of pareidolia may extend to include hidden messages in recorded music played in reverse or at higher or lower than normal speeds, and hearing voices (mainly indistinct) or music in random noise.

Here’s one I ran across today. It’s from NASA’s Curiosity Rover.  

“Some of you have noticed this image I took on Mars. Sure, it may look like a tiny door, but really, it’s a natural geologic feature! It may just *look* like a door because your mind is trying to make sense of the unknown.”

This reminded me of the other day on Twitter when someone brought up interpretations of well-known BTS lyrics. Again, the brain needs to make sense of what it hears, and the results are often hysterical.

Here’s a prime example from YouTube.