Pareidolia: Seeing Faces in Unusual Places

Evolution might explain pareidolia, too. Since the ability to quickly recognize and respond to different faces could be a matter of life and death, there's a much higher cost for not seeing the lion's face in the underbrush than for mistaking an orange-and-black flower for a lion's face. The brain is better off making a "false positive" (pareidolia) if it means that you're primed to recognize real danger, too.