The Face in the Scan: Pareidolia and the Human Tendency to See Patterns
In a striking example of how our brains interpret the world, a medical scan of a car crash victim revealed an image remarkably resembling the grim reaper. The case, highlighted in the New Zealand Medical Journal, isn’t a supernatural occurrence, but a fascinating demonstration of pareidolia – the human tendency to perceive faces or figures in random patterns.
The image, a radiograph of the patient’s atlas bone (a vertebra in the neck), initially appeared to depict a skull enveloped by a dark hood. However, clinicians noted that with a different perspective, the same pattern could be interpreted as a friendly skeleton. Remarkably, the patient was unharmed in the accident, adding an eerie layer to the discovery.
Dr. Stephen Rowlands, author of the report, explained that this inclination to find familiar shapes in ambiguous stimuli is an evolutionary advantage. Our brains are hardwired to quickly recognize faces, a crucial skill for social interaction and threat assessment. “The tendency to spot faces in objects was evolutionarily advantageous but the interpretations could sometimes be humorous or eerie,” Rowlands wrote.
While the “grim reaper” image is particularly striking, pareidolia isn’t uncommon in medical imaging. The report cites other instances, including the appearance of the Star Wars character “Baby Yoda” in sacral magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scans. These occurrences, though rare, serve as a reminder of the subconscious biases that can influence image interpretation, even among trained medical professionals.
The source of the ghostly figure in this case wasn’t spectral, but physiological: a cluster of cysts in the patient’s neck created the illusion. While the patient escaped serious injury, the presence of these cysts could potentially increase susceptibility to future neck trauma. The case provides a valuable opportunity to reinforce anatomical knowledge and to acknowledge the “cognitive pitfalls” inherent in radiology.
The phenomenon extends far beyond the medical field. A 2021 University of Sydney study confirmed that our predisposition to facial recognition is deeply ingrained, occurring within a few hundred milliseconds. The speed and efficiency of this process are prioritized; it’s more beneficial to quickly identify a potential face, even if it’s a false positive, than to miss a genuine one. This explains why we see faces in everything from clouds and rock formations to everyday objects like electrical sockets and kitchen appliances.
The internet is replete with examples of this visual quirk. Social media feeds are filled with images of faces spotted in unexpected places – gherkins, trees, even toasted cheese sandwiches. In fact, over two decades ago, a Florida woman famously sold a cheese sandwich for $28,000 because it bore a resemblance to the Virgin Mary, demonstrating the powerful emotional and even economic impact of pareidolia.
The underlying mechanism, as explained by Professor Ottmar Lipp of the Queensland University of Technology in a separate RNZ report from June 2024, is that we are “pre-wired to see faces everywhere.” Faces are a rich source of information, providing cues about age, gender, ethnicity, and emotional state. This inherent importance explains why our brains prioritize facial detection, even when no actual face is present.
Interestingly, Lipp’s research also suggests a bias towards perceiving happy faces. Among different emotions, happiness is the most reliably recognized, further highlighting the evolutionary significance of positive social cues. This predisposition to see joy may contribute to the often-benign interpretations of pareidolic images, transforming a potentially unsettling “grim reaper” into a “friendly skeleton.”
The case of the “grim reaper” in the medical scan serves as a compelling reminder of the complex interplay between perception, biology, and the human need to find meaning in the world around us. It’s a testament to the power of the brain to create patterns, even where none explicitly exist, and a fascinating glimpse into the cognitive processes that shape our reality.
