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.
An anecdote - some years ago I entered a room that was dark except for moonlight coming in a window. The drapes were partially covering the window, and the drapes were semi sheer, and they had a number of folds. So the patch of moonlight on the floor was a quite intricate pattern of light and shadow of varying degrees of brightness and density.
And, I first saw this patch of light out of the corner of an eye. My mind/brain instantly (as in really fast) provided me with a positive identification of the object over there in the corner. It was a spider about two or three feet in diameter. And not just a 'sort of vague' impression, either. The mind's eye image supplied by my pattern recognizer was 3D and very realistic.
But as soon as I turned to look directly at it, this 'positive ID' (and the accompanying adrenaline rush that was just beginning) gave way to reality. The ID changed, a little less rapidly now, to 'just semi-random light spots and shadow'. It did not look very much like a spider, and I could not rekindle that image even by looking at it from an eye-corner.
I remember understanding that I had just experienced an instinct-driven pattern-recognition-event that turned out to be erroneous. I smiled and went on about my business. But it took several minutes for that little pulse of adrenaline to be completely metabolized.
Kind of cool.
LB
