20 September '17: Faces everywhere

Hello my colourful chums.
When my second-in-command was three-and-a-half, we moved to a new place. As we shut the door for the last time I said: “Are you going to say goodbye to your house?” His answer? “I can’t: it doesn’t have a face.” Fair point. Now he’s older, we can happily play ‘Which cloud looks like Trump?’ or ‘Whose crumpet looks most like SpongeBob?’, spotting visages in inanimate objects. (He saw a face in this gorgeous @susibellamy Stucco fabric, see second pic. Can you see it? I see an animal’s face, he saw a human one) Laugh as you may at people who spot Elvis on a slice of toast but it’s been scientifically proven that this is actually totally normal (the face bit, not the Elvis bit). It even has a name: pareidolia. Research in 2014 discovered that the human brain is actually wired to recognise faces, even when there’s only a slight suggestion of facial features (it’s thought to be important to socialisation and survival). Where’s the quirkiest place you’ve seen an unexpected face?
Martha, The Colour File x

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