University of São Paulo study shows human brain translates visual stimuli that it is unable to resolve into facial images

The psychological phenomenon of seeing faces in inanimate objects is called pareidolia. It is responsible for “solving” visual puzzles, by uniting the playfulness of imagination with science, and has its relationship with evolution, also being identified in the defense and socialization mechanisms of other species of mammals.

The brain works from stimuli, whether these are visual, olfactory or auditory, which lead to certain perceptual constructions and, from these, images are formed. Pareidolia results from visual stimulation and stems from the need to “solve” visual puzzles.

Professor Marcelo Fernandes Costa, from the Department of Experimental Psychology at the Faculty of Psychology at USP, explains that the phenomenon occurs in this way: “Our perception will solve things, it does this all the time. This is an active and involuntary function that our brain has”, he adds.

This information processing, which generates the phenomenon of pareidolia, occurs in the so-called fusiform area of ​​the brain, a region dedicated to the processing of nervous stimuli. The familiarity that human beings have with faces and the existence of a basic pattern of faces are also factors that facilitate their identification in everyday objects.

Another factor highlighted by the professor is our brain’s aversion to sensory gaps, which force assimilation to an already known object. He explains: “When we are faced with a visual stimulus that we cannot resolve, our brain seeks perceptual processing in important brain systems”.

evolutionary relationship
For humans, visual processing is also a sociability and defense mechanism, as pareidolia causes the identification of faces, even unreal ones. Thus, it is not wrong to think of such a psychological mechanism as an evolutionary inheritance.

The issue of identifying similar arose with the premise of avoiding potential predators. “The phenomenon of pareidolia, apparently, has been following evolution, mainly in species with greater cortical volume”, adds Costa. But not only humans, but primates and felines have this characteristic of accurate identification. The teacher concludes, emphasizing that, currently, the phenomenon may even be a social mechanism, but that its importance lies in the ability to resolve abstract stimuli, in order to form a coherent perception of the physical world.