Pareidolia Matrixing or Simulacrum

  

Like a lot of members here, particularly those whom post in this forum, I'm very much so a believer in the paranormal and in the afterlife and ghosts and so on. Admittedly, I'm only really a believer in this due to my own paranormal experiences (That's another thread for another day), otherwise, more than likely, I'd be as skeptical as the next guy. But this being so, I like to think that I sustain a certain level of skepticism when looking into cases, or when researching and coming across "ghostly pictures" etc. Well, It's what I try do do anyway..

This being so, I have to be honest, It's becoming quite tiresome coming onto threads, ones with promising titles of course, and finding that the content is something actually rather mundane and/or quite easily explainable. And as I have a keen interest in this topic, I'm not going to stop reading paranormal themed threads, instead, I thought I would at least try and start this thread (this is the paranormal studies forum after all) and highlight what I feel is a key mistake a lot of people make.

The mistake being that most seem to believe that they have captured something genuinely paranormal, when in a lot of instances (not all), It's something explainable with one simple word - Pareidolia.

First off, here's a nice explanation Into this "Phenomenon" and the ones like it for clarification into the need to make a thread such as this one.

Paradolia - What is it?

Pareidolia: 

It's where something insignificant is perceived as significant. It typically is a vague, obscure image or sound that is interpreted as being something more. Examples include seeing images of Jesus Christ in burn markings on a piece of toast or seeing the man on the moon. In practice the Rorschach inkblot test uses pareidolia to gain insight into a person's mental state. The ink blots alone are designed to be insignificant images but the responses they illicit in people are representative of the significance that the person's perception places on the images.

Matrixing:

Matrixing is the term the Ghost Hunters use to describe the misidentification of something ordinary as something unusual. It comes into play most often when people take photographs and spot something in the picture they are sure was not there when the photo was taken. Often, it is a face or figure and seems to be human.

Why Does Matrixing Happen?

One explanation is that recognizing other humans, and the faces of parents, is the first skill a baby learns. Pattern recognition of this sort is also a survival tool, giving the earliest humans a way to spot predators in hiding. The skill is so fundamental that, when presented with a random set of patterns the human brain attempts to make sense of what it sees. If it can possibly resolve that random pattern into a familiar object or image, it will.

Simulacrum:

An image; a representation.

An insubstantial, superficial, or vague likeness or semblance.

Let me also quickly state that I'm not and won't ever try to get across that I believe every single picture, or anything of the sort, provided here in this group has been caused from the result of Pareidolia and should be dismissed as nothing paranormal, because that would be stupidity. I just strongly believe the vast majority are caused by this going from what I've seen in the past.

That's why I feel the need to at the very least try and explain it in a thread of It's own. And as well as being a strong believer in the topic of the paranormal, I'm also a strong believer that genuine evidence can and will be posted here. But...: 

To understand what something can be, we must first decipher what It can't be.

Pareidolia - How does it work?

Ok, let me state once more that Pareidolia (A.K.A. Matrixing) is Not a paranormal phenomenon. That's not to say paranormal phenomenon doesn't occur, or that all things that seem paranormal are explainable in this way as that, again, would be false and just plain stupid. But Pareidolia does seem to be an explanation for a lot of what people would consider odd, strange or just "paranormal" in general. Particularly images that are fitting into the description of odd and/or paranormal, IMO.

You see Paradolia is quite a normal thing. It's the sole reason why people can see facial or familiar looking features in every day objects (please see the video below), It's the reason why we can sometimes hear familiar sounds in white noise and EVP's, It's the reason why we can see shapes in clouds and so on..

Pareidolia scientifically is a type of apophenia, which is in itself the art of seeing meaningful patterns or strange connections in random and/or meaningless data, involving the finding of images or sounds in random stimuli.

The most popular kind of this is seeing faces in every day objects (again, see the above video). The Brain has seemingly learnt how to recognize faces from birth and thus be able to memorize and recall the faces of hundreds or thousands of different individuals. The Brain is pretty much one big facial recognition, storage, and recall machine.

The downside to this though is again, the fact that we also see faces in most things that are obviously not faces at all, particularly in the paranormal and even more particularly in images of Orbs where sometimes hundreds of faces can be seen in one single orb. Unfortunately It has nothing to do with spirits being present, instead the mind looking to fill in the blanks and make sense of what it's seeing.

This is how Pareidolia works. Things which aren't exactly facial features being perceived as just that.
This is why we see faces. The Brain has simply learnt to recognize this familiar shape and If It can fill in the blanks, It certainly will.

Some of those image below used as "proof" of the paranormal but I have to ask also, in all seriousness, Is it just me who thinks It's actually rather silly to suggest that these small specks of light having something resembling a human face is enough reason to say they are proof for the paranormal?

I mean, It doesn't make a great deal of sense really when you think about it. Why would a human face appear here at all anyway? What about the rest of it perhaps? Why just a face? It doesn't make much sense, IMO, to suggest a face captured in these images is proof of anything at all. The only proof It can maybe claim to provide is the proof we are experiencing something common - Pareidolia.

Sorry, but It seems as though It can't be anything other than the phenomenon of Paradolia - It may not a popular idea but It's seemingly true. And at the end of the day, It's by far better to be rational rather than reckless in ones conclusions, isn't it?

Pareidolia - Can It explain away everything?

Ok, there's just no getting away from the fact that something like Pareidolia can explain away a great deal. But can It explain away everything? No, and let me be clear that with this thread I'm not attempting to ever suggest such a thing. This being something I want to be very clear about.

At the end of the day, like everyone else regularly visiting this website, I want nothing more than to find certain truths in the topics I take a keen interest in. And I believe that finding truth in this forum is more than a possible pursuit also. But I'm a strong believer that people are just too quick to jump to conclusions without taking a step back and actually looking for what is a plausible explanation to something.

All in all, I just think that people shouldn't get ahead of themselves, which is what they seem to do, and just because they can see something that resembles a face or hear a familiar sounding sound, that doesn't mean that's necessarily what it is.

And It doesn't necessarily mean It's a ghost or even anything paranormal-related in the slightest. Just look at the very first image from this thread after all, that's not anything paranormal and that resembles a face quite clearly - probably better than most here have managed to capture themselves in fact.

Please don't get me wrong here, I'm not ever asking that people stop looking for the truth in the paranormal. I'm not asking that people stop posting pictures or EVP's here, I just ask that people take at the very least try and take a step back, look for a plausible conclusion, and when you can rule everything out, including Paraidolia, It's probably a good time to post what you have. Although, that's just my opinion on the matter.

Anyway, thanks for reading this thread, I really hope people understand what I'm trying to say here, as this isn't a popular idea going from how people have reacted to It being brought up in the past on certain threads and posts, but I feel It's an important issue to highlight, particularly in this forum.

As I said, we all want to see the evidence after all, and that's not going to happen if people don't wish to accept when something isn't paranormal.