Pareidolia is the perception of recognisable image patterns in random arrangements of shapes and lines. Common examples include seeing animals, faces, or objects in clouds.

The word comes from two elements of Ancient Greek:

Para (παρά): “beside” or “alongside,” but in this context it carries the idea of something faulty, incorrect, or illusory (as in paranoia).

Eidolon (εἴδωλον): meaning “image,” “figure,” or “phantom.”

So, etymologically, pareidolia means something like “incorrect image” or “illusory vision.”

The term was first used in 1866 by the German psychiatrist Karl Ludwig Kahlbaum in his article Die Sinnesdelirien (“Sensory Deliriums”). It was later popularized by the philosopher and psychiatrist Karl Jaspers in 1913 in his classic work General Psychopathology, where he distinguished pareidolias from true hallucinations.

Is it a normal phenomenon? Yes, completely normal. It even occurs in some animals.

Image: digital collage I’ve printed using the cyanotype technique

#pareidolia #clouds #illusion #perception #cyanotype