I remember I was walking the dog in a natural environment near my hometown when I suddenly shocked. About 10 meters in front of me I saw something which looked like a human body in a plastic bag! It took quite a few seconds before I dared to walk up to it. When I stood in front of the plastic bag, a sigh escaped me. The ‘human body’ turned out to be just a bag of garbage! It seemed to be that my mind was playing tricks with me while I was completely awake.
Apparently, I am not the only one who is fooled by the mind. It is in the nature of human beings to create a link between existing information and new data. And sometimes the link is not made correctly: you think you see a human being or a beast while actually it is not. In terms of evolutionary, this is a really useful tool in the brain. Thousands of years ago, it was crucial to recognize patterns which could mean danger, for example the silhouette of a wolf or a bear. There is a nice Scrabble-word for the phenomenon of seeing something which looks like a human being when actually it is not. This phenomenon is called ‘Pareidolia’. Below one can see one of the most famous examples of Pareidolia. Do you recognize a human face in it? Some people actually believe that it is the face of Jesus Christ, but you all know better now… ;)
Face on mars
Wanna see some other illusions? Check this website: http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/
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