Neuroscience
First, there was the Jesus toast and the Virgin Mary grilled cheese.1
Then there was the Virgin Mary rock.
The Virgin Mary Tree.
The Jesus x-ray.
And now Our Blessed Lady of the Cerebellum (originally reported by Mind Hacks).
Pareidolia is the phenomenon of perceiving a meaningful stimulus (such as a face or a hidden message) in fairly random everyday objects or sounds. We do have quite a propensity to see faces everywhere, and some religious people see the face of god (and other religious iconography) everywhere.
Neuroanthropology covers the serious side of the story, explaining that the brain in the upside down MRI belongs to Pamela Latrimore, who is quite ill with a variety of ailments. She's auctioning off the scan to help pay her medical bills.
1 For an extensive catalog of religious pareidolilia see Yoism featuring Penn and Teller.
ADDENDUM: Here's a great one recommended by jdc325. Somehow, I'm reminded of the Scary Skull Table Illusion.
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Our brains are so adept at detecting faces that we often see them in random patterns, such as clouds or the gnarled bark of a tree. Occasionally one of these illusory faces comes along that resembles a celebrity and the story ends up in the news - like...
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Neuroscience
Pareidolia
First, there was the Jesus toast and the Virgin Mary grilled cheese.1
Then there was the Virgin Mary rock.
The Virgin Mary Tree.
The Jesus x-ray.
And now Our Blessed Lady of the Cerebellum (originally reported by Mind Hacks).
Pareidolia is the phenomenon of perceiving a meaningful stimulus (such as a face or a hidden message) in fairly random everyday objects or sounds. We do have quite a propensity to see faces everywhere, and some religious people see the face of god (and other religious iconography) everywhere.
Neuroanthropology covers the serious side of the story, explaining that the brain in the upside down MRI belongs to Pamela Latrimore, who is quite ill with a variety of ailments. She's auctioning off the scan to help pay her medical bills.
The listing on eBay for the Mary MRI can be found here. Reading the listing is heart-breaking, not only because of the woman’s own suffering, but also because of her account of how the manufacture of dioxin and Agent Orange has affected health in her community. She writes that she is putting the image up for auction, not only to raise money for her healthcare, but also to attract greater attention to the problem of environmental poisoning in her area of Florida [NOTE: it's actually Jacksonville, AK, her former home and a Superfund site in the 1980s. For more info, see this EPA document].Footnote
1 For an extensive catalog of religious pareidolilia see Yoism featuring Penn and Teller.
ADDENDUM: Here's a great one recommended by jdc325. Somehow, I'm reminded of the Scary Skull Table Illusion.
- Link Feast
Our pick of the best psychology and neuroscience links from the past week: Why Psychologists’ Food Fight Matters Michelle Meyer and Christopher Chabris with an in-depth overview of the recent rows and controversies about replication in psychology. Psychology...
- Paranormal Believers And Religious People Are More Prone To Seeing Faces That Aren't Really There
Our brains are so adept at detecting faces that we often see them in random patterns, such as clouds or the gnarled bark of a tree. Occasionally one of these illusory faces comes along that resembles a celebrity and the story ends up in the news - like...
- Mary Cheney, Mary Cheney
There's Mary and her father, grinning at the prospect of the "Marriage Protection Amendment" serving to distract the American public from ongoing "collateral damage" in Iraq. They're here to introduce a great post at Dispatches From the Culture...
- Yahoo's Personalized Shortcuts
Great InfoTip from Mary Ellen Bates about Yahoo's search shortcuts. Not only can you use shortcuts like weather baltimore (if, say, you're going to Baltimore for ACRL this weekend) to see the weather forecast for Baltimore or traffic hartford...
- Patient Story: Mary Hess
Mary Hess, stroke survivor, shares her story of how Penn Medicine’s telestroke program saved her life and gave her more time to enjoy the things she loves... "I would not be sitting here if it wasn’t for them...I really appreciate everything Penn...