Seeing Jesus in your food is normal, says science

CC by: Jeff Noble

Seeing Jesus in your food is normal, says science
(Image credit: CC by: Jeff Noble)

Found Jesus in your breakfast? Perfectly normal. See Jimi Hendrix rocking out in your soup? Also normal. Have a vision of Groucho Marx and Marie Antoinette smooching each other on your pancakes? Weird, but sure, also totally normal.

All of those oddities are understandable thanks to a phenomenon called "face pareidolia," according to researchers from the University of Toronto. The human brain is hardwired to recognize facial features in non-faces, the study concluded, "so that even when there's only a slight suggestion of facial features the brain automatically interprets it as a face."

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Jon Terbush

Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.