Why Do We See Faces That Aren’t Real?

<p>Seeing faces, animals and other things that aren&rsquo;t there is called&nbsp;<em>pareidolia</em>. The propensity probably goes way back. It&rsquo;s thought to have played a role in ancient imaginings of Orion the Hunter and other constellations. Further back, some 40,000 years ago, early human artists saw shapes on cave walls that inspired paintings of animals, according to research&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/cambridge-archaeological-journal/article/conversations-with-caves-the-role-of-pareidolia-in-the-upper-palaeolithic-figurative-art-of-las-monedas-and-la-pasiega-cantabria-spain/861B17AABF3C270628A681B1E23770F0" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">published in September 2023</a>.</p> <p>Even&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5584612/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">monkeys do pareidolia</a>, lingering over images of inanimate objects in which humans had spotted illusory faces.</p> <p><strong>Learn More</strong></p>