Face pareidolia – the phenomenon of seeing faces in everyday objects – uses the same brain processes that we use to recognise and interpret other ‘real’ human faces.
People with superior facial recognition abilities are being recruited for surveillance and security roles while the science behind the phenomenon is having to play catch-up.
The first study to test the skills of FBI agents and other law enforcers trained in facial recognition has found they perform better than the average person or even computers on this difficult task.
