Seeing the face of the Virgin, Jesus, Elvis or any prominent character is not a matter of madness or magic: it is a completely normal mental process . This is the conclusion of a recent investigation by the University of Toronto (Canada) and several associated centers located in China published in the journal Cortex .
Until now, people who said they saw faces on objects as varied as toast or a cloud, were usually made fun of. But this phenomenon, which has been known for centuries, known as pareidolia, is very normal and responds to physical causes . What was unknown were the neural mechanisms that cause it.
Thanks to this study, which has analyzed brain scans and the behavioral responses of people who see faces and letters on objects, it has been discovered that pareidolia is not a brain or imagination abnormality but a joint function of the frontal cortex and the posterior visual cortex . This joint work helps to generate expectations by sending signals that improve the interpretation stimuli of the world around us, helping to form these images, which are non-existent for most.
"Our results suggest that it is common for people to see non-existent features because human brains are uniquely wired to recognize faces, so even when there is only a slight suggestion of facial features, the brain automatically interprets them as a face." says Kang Lee, study leader.
