For some people, the ordinary things in life transform into the extraordinary with a dash of imagination. Join us as we delve into these quirky, imaginative sights from around the globe. From bags resembling frogs to curvy carrots, the Bored Panda team has compiled some of the most beautiful examples of pareidolia. Pandas, get ready to see the world through a whole new set of eyes! In a 2020 study published in the journal Psychological Science, the authors mentioned, “The human brain has evolved to rapidly detect the presence of other people in our environment and to make inferences about qualities such as their personal identity, emotional state, and direction of attention on the basis of specific sensory cues.” Imagine walking along a dimly lit street late at night, and you notice a figure standing under the streetlamp. Instantly, your mind would start to assess their posture and facial expressions. Based on these sensory cues, one could infer that there is a person over there. However, when you go closer, you realize that it is nothing more than just a shadow made by a tree branch. Later, NASA explained how some data had gone missing when the spacecraft transmitted the image to Earth. They mentioned, “Bit errors comprise part of one of the ’eyes’ and ’nostrils’ on the eroded rock that resembles a human face near the center of the image. Shadows in the rock formation give the illusion of a nose and mouth.” On the front of these notes, patterns in Queen Elizabeth II’s hair looked like a grinning face. This got so much attention that the design was modified in 1956 so that it did not have this effect anymore. According to his writings, Leonardo da Vinci described pareidolia as something that could be useful to artists. He noted, “If you look at any walls spotted with various stains or with a mixture of different kinds of stones, if you are about to invent some scene, you will be able to see in them a resemblance to various different landscapes adorned with mountains, rivers, rocks, trees, plains, wide valleys, and various groups of hills. You will also be able to see diverse combats and figures in quick movement, strange expressions of faces, outlandish costumes, and an infinite number of things, which you can then reduce into separate and well-conceived forms.” After the auction featuring more than 70 offers, the presidential poultry was ultimately sold for an astounding £5,000 (approximately $6,479 today). Follow Bored Panda on Google News! Follow us on Flipboard.com/@boredpanda! Please use high-res photos without watermarks Ooops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.
