Have you ever wondered why that tomato at the supermarket seems to glare at you? Or that naughty apple gives you that cheeky look?First of all you are not alone, it's a phenomenon that even has a catchy name: "face pareidolia," according to Medical Express.
New research, conducted by Dr. Colin Palmer from the the University of New South Wales in Sydeny, Australia, has shown that seeing random human-like faces in everyday objects has to do with the way our brains are wired.
The reason why we think a random rock watches you as you stroll on the beach, or a post box looks likes it has some questions about the content of your letter is because the same mechanism in our brain that is used to identify "real" human faces is activated.
But is there more to this phenomenon than just staring at inanimate face and wonder if this time you truly lost it? Palmer is convinced that yes, as these quasi-facial expressions seem to make us feel as if they have something personal against us.
"A striking feature of these objects is that they not only look like faces but can even convey a sense of personality or social meaning."
Palmer also explains why this phenomenon occurs in the first place, suggesting that despite the fact that we all look slightly different from each other, we still share some similar facial features.
"This basic pattern of features that defines the human face is something that our brain is particularly attuned to, and is likely to be what draws our attention to pareidolia objects," Palmer told Medical Express.
It seems that our instinctive assumption that everyday objects have emotions reveals something about us, since it is likely that we are simply projecting what feel on objects in a way.
The findings of the new research could help scientists in the future with better understanding how developmental problems related to facial recognition in humans.
"Understanding face perception is important when you consider conditions or traits like face prosopagnosia, which is the inability to recognize faces, and the autism spectrum," add Dr. Palmer.