noun
the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern
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Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon where the mind perceives a familiar pattern where none actually exists.
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Some people experience pareidolia when they see shapes in clouds or faces in inanimate objects.
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I swear I saw a pareidolia of a cat in that stain on the wall.
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His pareidolia caused him to believe he saw a hidden message in the random arrangement of leaves on the ground.