Pareidolia

Pareidolia is a noun that refers to the tendency to interrupt something vague as meaningful. The Greek word eidolon (Ay ee DOE lee on) means ‘image’ or ‘shape.’ When a person sees significance in random images, they are engaging in pareidolia. For years, I looked at those odd spray painted images on our school wall and wondered if those who put it there were communicating in some strange language or if I was just having an episode of pareidolia.