My pareidolia knows no bounds.

Remember that the pictures you see on a monitor are really flickering really fast when seen by a camera. This could interfere with the face detection/recognition algorithm.

You may want to print some of Neil's images before you try this experiment.

We have three officially registered definitions, repeated here for convenience.

* 1 ****************************************************
<b><u>Reference:</b></u> encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/

<b><u>Definition:</b></u>

Pareidolia (/pr#616;#712;do#650;li#601;/ parr-i-doh-lee-#601;) is a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) being perceived as significant, a form of apophenia. Common examples include seeing images of animals or faces in clouds, the man in the moon or the Moon rabbit, and hearing hidden messages on records when played in reverse.

The word comes from the Greek words para (#960;#945;#961;#940;, "beside, alongside, instead") in this context meaning something faulty, wrong, instead of; and the noun eid#333;lon (#949;#7988;#948;#969;#955;#959;#957; "image, form, shape") the diminutive of eidos. Pareidolia is a type of apophenia, seeing patterns in random data.

<b><u>Name:</b></u> modern
NOTE - formerly named 'rev 1', changed on 12/20/2013


* 2 ****************************************************
<b><u>Reference:</b></u>
Fred Ressler: www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pareidolia

<b><u>Definition:</b></u>

Pareidolia--

Pareidolia is the phenomena of seeing faces/figures/forms in patterns; as opposed to where one normally sees faces/figures/forms (on animals including people/landscapes etc.)

Pareidolia is seeing what appears to the individual to be a representation of a face, figure, or form in the clouds, wood grain, marble, smoke, shadows, or any non-homogeneous area. It can also be an auditory phenomenon as in hearing white noise or a record played backward that sounds to the individual like words or a melody that isn't actually there.

<b><u>Name:</b></u> Ressler

*3 ****************************************************
<b><u>Reference:</b></u>
The Journal of Mental Science, Volume 13, Pg. 238 (Apr 1867); books.google.com/books?id=66g8AAAAYAAJ&p...areidolia%22&f=false

<b><u>Definition:</b></u>

Pareidolia--

Pareidolia is the manifestation of a mental condition causing, changing hallucination, partial hallucination, and/or perceptions of secondary images.


<b><u>Name:</b></u> original
NOTE: alt name suggestion - German Psychological Literature
NOTE: this definition from the early days was brought to our attention by member Zip Monster, and has led to some 'spirited' discussions

<b>[rderosa quoting from photoreview.com] "False detections. These are becoming less common as algorithms are refined."</b>

Perhaps definitions that refer to pareidolia(most defs) as being 'psychological in nature' are now obsolete?

<b>[shando] "... pictures you see on a monitor are really flickering really fast ..."</b>

It would be an easy way for a camera's AI engine to filter out one class of 'images of a face'. But again, if a manufacturer is going to do this, <u>I want a switch</u>.

So now I recognize one non-trivial difference between modern and Ressler.

Ressler makes no mention of psychological or mental factors. It defines pareidolia as a simple pattern recognition process that produces a erroneous result, that can apparently be performed by both biological and mechanical systems.

Larry. i wouldn't call the result "erroneous." The pattern is seen without error as a pattern. Many times the same pattern can be seen by others even though each of us sees differently.