Studies suggest humans are born with an ability to recognize faces in the most abstract patterns. Problem lies when you can't stop seeing them, in dreams or in the dark. #iseefaces
"A more speculative view, according to other researchers, is that a similar mechanism could explain human spirituality. The idea is that the brain, being hard-wired to understand people and their motivations, tries to look for human-like intention in everything around us – be it a thunderstorm, a plague or a terrifying and abstract concept like death. In a bid to make sense of our fears, we therefore begin to personify them, filling the world with gods and demons. Intriguingly, Tapani Riekki at the University of Helsinki in Finland and colleagues have found that religious people are more likely to see faces in ambiguous photo than atheists. Whether this is true or not, the strength of our expectations can at least explain why some see the Mother of God in a piece of toast, whereas I see the Queen of Pop." - David Robson, 2014
