My pareidolia knows no bounds.

Meanwhile, I'll start putting together Zip Monster's defintion.

The only citation Zip Monster gave us was the use of the word prefaced by "or" like this:

<i>This last is called by Dr. Kahlbaum, changing hallucination, partial hallucination, perception of secondary images, or pareidolia.</i>

Then the next paragraph elaborates a little, and the last paragraph says this:

<i>The subject is discussed by Dr. Kahlbaum in a very full and interesting manner, and illustrated with well-chosen cases; and whether his views be accepted entirely or not, we must regard them as calculated to throw light upon many of the characteristic phenomena of insanity.</i> It ends there and moves on to another topic.

So let me propose this:

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<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> German Psychological Literature

=============================================================================
Now, I know we don't want to write out that whole name every time, so maybe Zip or someone else might think of a one word name that fits the bill, like they did for art works of various periods.


rd

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Larry Burford</i>
<br />BTW, I see no significant difference between these definitions. Does anyone?

LB
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

I see the three definitions delineated this way:

Pareidolia (Ger.Psych.Lit): You're pretty much straight-up crazy.

Pareidolia (Rev 1): You're not crazy after all, but rather have become aware of the capacity of enhanced sensory awareness.

Pareidolia (Ressler): You have tapped into the essence of being.

rd

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


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<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

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<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

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Larry Burford</i>
<br />Pareidolia(rev 1, but also by any other - even unofficial - definition I am aware of) seems to me to be a specific case of the larger phenomenon of pattern recognition error in wetware computational systems. It probably also can/does happen in computational systems based on other construction techniques, but I have not studied that area.

LB
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Larry, did you see the link to the article I posted a few pages back on Computer Pareidolia (Rev 1)?

rd

Zip Monster,

If you feel this definition (original) is not right, please feel free to post your own version. If you do, we will most likely delete this one, so you can use the name 'original' for your version if you so choose.