Saturday 17 October 2009

Pareidolia: For God and Country

I preach to the choir, so you lot will all be familiar with the phenomenon of Pareidolia. Our brains seem to be hard-wired to recognise face patterns, even when they occur randomly in nature.


Much pareidola is seen around religious figures, Christians claims to see Jesus in a grilled cheese sandwich, and Catholics in particular are good a spotting the Virgin Mary. This made me ponder if we are more likely to spot the things that interest us.


I took the following photograph whilst on a walking holiday in the Lake District this summer, perhaps it’s a little telling of my preferences, but to my eyes the tree in the photo reminded me of something that has fascinated and interested me for years.


6 comments:

Neuroskeptic said...

Got wood?

Henry North London 2.0 said...

Theres just one problem Its Heather Mills, One leg is obviously missing its knee joint so must be false

Craig A. Mullenbach said...

Looks like somebody needs a bit of a trim.

ioscode said...

Hilarious! Man, that was a good laugh.

thebassguy said...

some of mine:

http://thebassguy.com/mrtree1_w.jpg

http://thebassguy.com/may09/expression2bww.jpg

Spoony Quine said...

Nice!

I wonder what else people have 'seen' in trees? This could turn into some sort of book....