Pareidolia

[Madison5716]

Just read an interesting article and there was a section on pareidolia which i found interesting.  Never thought of it as a survival feature.

 

"This tendency to see faces in random objects is called pareidolia.  According to The Hidden Brain, it’s an important instinct formed in our brains that when we’re very young — babies who can detect faces have a higher survival rate.  This ability is largely unconscious, and for most people, it fades into the background as they grow older."

 

 

[SWWASAS]

Not so sure about it fading with age.       I see faces on the floor covering in two of my bathrooms.     SInce getting into BF some of them are of BF.     I saw a Through the Wormhole special on the human brain.     Our brain recognizes things based on comparing them with everything we have experienced during our lifetimes.     Sort of like it rapidly flips through a file of photographs comparing what we are seeing at the moment with things we have seen in person or by pictures in the past.      We know that a lion headed our way is not good even though we have never likely seen that living in the US.    Part of the flight or fight process our brain uses every day.   

[Madison5716]

I'd agree with that. Maybe what changes, is how we label those experiences. 

[Incorrigible1]

Hoping the residents of our paranormal section take the time to read this.

[norseman]

4 hours ago, Madison5716 said:

Just read an interesting article and there was a section on pareidolia which i found interesting.  Never thought of it as a survival feature.

 

"This tendency to see faces in random objects is called pareidolia.  According to The Hidden Brain, it’s an important instinct formed in our brains that when we’re very young — babies who can detect faces have a higher survival rate.  This ability is largely unconscious, and for most people, it fades into the background as they grow older."

 

 

I see faces in clouds, rocks and trees. When hunting I see tons of Deer and Elk that with further sun light reveal to be stumps, boulders and brush. In fact this is normal behavior. In the west a large amount of time is spent looking through binoculars at points of interest.

 

Whats not normal is taking a picture, and days later studying the picture and becoming convinced you see Bigfeet in the picture. Almost all of these pictures I look at I’m convinced are just paredolia. I.e. Bigfoot face is gray..... the same color as all the rest of the Fir tree trunks in the photo.

 

So back to hunting.... what tips me off that the tan boulder is really a deer? Most of the time? Movement. Does it move? An ear, a tail, etc. Sometimes sounds. Vocal, hooves, etc.

 

Most people that take pictures and see stuff in them had no such collaborating evidence while taking the picture. I.e. Something was growling or a terrible stench was coming from the bushes so I took a picture.

 

Some animals do attempt to hide from you. Cougar come to mind. They will belly crawl. Obviously Bigfoot must hide too. But it’s pretty hard to say every shadow in a picture is Bigfoot.

 

Nice article!

[Madison5716]

I laughed because of this stump jumped out at me in one of my photos from Saturday! 

 

 

 

Original photo.

Edited January 6, 2020 by Madison5716

[NatFoot]

@norseman

 

Take all of my upvotes!

 

Wish this was pinned for all to read. I'm the same way. I once was 100% convinced I had a buck bedded down just before Dawn not 50 yards from where I had snuck in at dark. Dawn came and it was a log with some branches behind it.

 

My young hunter hands were shaking with buck fever the entire time until....major disappointment!

[Madison5716]

I admit that I side-eyed this at least twice and then got my kid's opinion, and NorthWind's, too. More eyes and opinions are good! 

 

That's one reason why I like that both NorthWind and I take video and photos of the same place. Twice the data, twice the possibilities, twice the scrutiny. 

[SWWASAS]

Pareidolia is a two way street.    You are looking for BF so that stump really jumps out at you.    Then you compare, contrast, do not see any movement and finally convince yourself it was a stump.      But a non bigfooter could see a motionless BF,  who froze because it was caught in the open,   and that person would just assume it is a stump because they have seen lots of them.    I would bet there are as many instances of bigfoot being assumed to be a stump as there are the other way around..  

[Lam90]

We have a big cat sanctuary nearby. They posted a really interesting video illustrating how well animals hide. It showed a grey and white tiger hiding in tan underbrush about ten feet from the camera. Even knowing it was there it was invisible until it moved. Animals’ hiding abilities are extraordinary, especially considering sight is our (human’s) primary sense. You’d think we’d be better at it. 

[BlackRockBigfoot]

There is also such a thing as audio pareidolia, where the human brain interprets random sounds as having a familiar or sought after pattern.  It doesn't get as much attention as visual pareidolia, but it exists.

 

Even more interesting is apophenia, which is the human tendency to attribute meaning to random, unrelated events.  For those of you who watched the Hellier documentaries, you will get what that means.  Everything became a 'synchronicity' once they became fully immersed in the subject matter.

 

Of course, pareidolia and pattern recognition in general is a survival mechanism.  You needed to be able to quickly identify members of your own tribe when misidentification could lead to a swift death.  Pay attention to what your brain is telling you in the woods.  Just be willing to really look closely at video or photographic evidence to determine what you are really seeing.

[zeebob889]

18 hours ago, BlackRockBigfoot said:

There is also such a thing as audio pareidolia, where the human brain interprets random sounds as having a familiar or sought after pattern.  It doesn't get as much attention as visual pareidolia, but it exists.

 

Even more interesting is apophenia, which is the human tendency to attribute meaning to random, unrelated events.  For those of you who watched the Hellier documentaries, you will get what that means.  Everything became a 'synchronicity' once they became fully immersed in the subject matter.

 

Of course, pareidolia and pattern recognition in general is a survival mechanism.  You needed to be able to quickly identify members of your own tribe when misidentification could lead to a swift death.  Pay attention to what your brain is telling you in the woods.  Just be willing to really look closely at video or photographic evidence to determine what you are really seeing.

 

 

There absolutely is, people hear what they want to as much as they see what they want to

[MIB]

1 hour ago, zeebob889 said:

There absolutely is, people hear what they want to as much as they see what they want to

 

Well, sure, pareidolia is a thing but it is not a matter of seeing what you want to or hearing what you want to.   Pareidolia is part of how our brain works.   We match what we see and hear to things we are familiar with looking for the right fit.   It is done in steps .. we refine the match at each step.   Pareidolia is basically stopping the process with an incomplete / inaccurate match.   It usually happens when we don't have enough time to complete the process or when significant detail is obscured.

 

Pareidolia has nothing to do with "want."   Wrong word.  Call that wishful thinking.   Call that delusion.   Do not call it pareidolia. 

 

MIB

[7.62]

19 hours ago, BlackRockBigfoot said:

There is also such a thing as audio pareidolia, where the human brain interprets random sounds as having a familiar or sought after pattern.  It doesn't get as much attention as visual pareidolia, but it exists.

 

Even more interesting is apophenia, which is the human tendency to attribute meaning to random, unrelated events.  For those of you who watched the Hellier documentaries, you will get what that means.  Everything became a 'synchronicity' once they became fully immersed in the subject matter.

 

Of course, pareidolia and pattern recognition in general is a survival mechanism.  You needed to be able to quickly identify members of your own tribe when misidentification could lead to a swift death.  Pay attention to what your brain is telling you in the woods.  Just be willing to really look closely at video or photographic evidence to determine what you are really seeing.

Anyone who has camped out alone near a brook at night can relate with that . One of my favorite trout fishing brooks you just start hearing what sounds like voices sometimes .

[BlackRockBigfoot]

11 minutes ago, 7.62 said:

Anyone who has camped out alone near a brook at night can relate with that . One of my favorite trout fishing brooks you just start hearing what sounds like voices sometimes .

Or....are you actually hearing voices of something that is using the sounds of the brook for cover?  Lol.

 

Pareidolia and other pattern recognition mechanisms were survival traits.  Our ancestors could easily look at a saber-toothed tiger or other predator and easily recognize it as a danger.  However, their fellow bipeds appeared extremely similar at a glance and could either be of the same family or tribe (friend) or from the next tribe over (foe).  Being able to quickly identify facial features and determine the threat level was the difference between life and death.  

 

So, even though these traits often play tricks on your mind, don't entirely discount them.  Don't let them rule your judgement, but don't completely ignore them either.