The Effect of the Intensity of Face Pareidolia Phenomenon on Brain Activity

Abstract

The face pareidolia phenomenon, incorrect perception of something that is not a face as a face, affects human cognition and behavior. Although some face pareidolia studies focus on event-related potentials (ERPs) as the physiological indicator, most of them use stimuli uncontrolled context, spatial frequency, and contrast. The physiological response induced by this stimulus might be influenced by contexts other than face-likeness. The current study estimated the ERP component that affects the face pareidolia phenomenon by measuring EEGs while evaluating face-like abstract figures’ face-likeness. Multiple regression analysis was performed to predict the face-likeness evaluation based on EEG data. As a result, the N170 component at the left posterior temporal area and the N400 component at the right frontal area were related to the pareidolia phenomenon.