From the University of Sydney press release:<\/p>\n
\nIt’s so commonplace we barely give it a second thought, but human brains seem hardwired to see human faces where there are none<\/strong> — in objects as varied as the moon, toys, plastic bottles, tree trunks and vacuum cleaners. Some have even seen an imagined Jesus in cheese on toast.<\/p>\n
\nUntil now scientists haven’t understood exactly what the brain is doing when it processes visual signals and interprets them as representations of the human face.<\/p>\n
Neuroscientists at the University of Sydney now say how our brains identify and analyse real human faces is conducted by the same cognitive processes that identify illusory faces<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
“From an evolutionary perspective, it seems that the benefit of never missing a face far outweighs the errors where inanimate objects are seen as faces<\/strong>,” said Professor David Alais lead author of the study from the School of Psychology.<\/p>\n
“There is a great benefit in detecting faces quickly,” he said, “but the system plays ‘fast and loose’ by applying a crude template of two eyes over a nose and mouth<\/strong>. Lots of things can satisfy that template and thus trigger a face detection response.”<\/p>\n
This facial recognition response happens lightning fast in the brain: within a few hundred milliseconds.<\/p>\n
“We know these objects are not truly faces, yet the perception of a face lingers,” Professor Alais said. “We end up with something strange: a parallel experience that it is both a compelling face and an object. Two things at once. The first impression of a face does not give way to the second perception of an object.”<\/p>\n
This error is known as “face pareidolia<\/strong>.” It is such a common occurrence that we accept the notion of detecting faces in objects as ‘normal’ — but humans do not experience this cognitive process as strongly for other phenomena.<\/p>\n
The brain has evolved specialised neural mechanisms to rapidly detect faces and it exploits the common facial structure as a short-cut for rapid detection.<\/p>\n
“Pareidolia faces are not discarded as false detections but undergo facial expression analysis in the same way as real faces,” Professor Alais said.<\/p>\n
Not only do we imagine faces, we analyse them and give them emotional attributes.<\/strong><\/p>\n
The findings are published today in the\u00a0Proceedings of the Royal Society B<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n
The researchers say this expression analysis of inanimate objects is because as deeply social beings, simply detecting a face isn’t enough<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
“We need to read the identity of the face and discern its expression. Are they a friend or a foe? Are they happy, sad, angry, pained?” Professor Alais said.<\/p>\n
What the study examined was whether once a pareidolia face is detected, it is subsequently analysed for facial expression, or discarded from face processing as a false detection.<\/p>\n
The research shows that once a false face is retained by the brain it is analysed for its facial expression in the same way that a real face is<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
“We showed this by presenting sequences of faces and having participants rate each face’s expression on a scale ranging from angry to happy,” Professor Alais said.<\/p>\n
What was intriguing is that a known bias in judging human faces persisted with analysis of inanimate imagined faces<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
A previous study undertaken by Professor Alais showed that in a Tinder-like situation of judging face after face, a bias is observed whereby the assessment of the current face is influenced by our assessment of the previous face<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
The scientists tested this by mixing up real faces with pareidolia faces — and the result was the same.<\/p>\n
“This ‘cross-over’ condition is important as it shows the same underlying facial expression process is involved regardless of image type,” Professor Alais said.<\/p>\n
“This means that seeing faces in clouds is more than a child’s fantasy,” he said.<\/p>\n
“When objects look compellingly face-like, it is more than an interpretation: they really are driving your brain’s face detection network. And that scowl, or smile; that’s your brain’s facial expression system at work. For the brain, fake or real, faces are all processed the same way.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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