Pareidolia in a Built Environment as a Complex Phenomenological Ambiguous Stimuli

Chen Wang, Liangcheng Yu, Yiyi Mo, Lincoln C. Wood and Carry Goon
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Chen Wang: Intelligence and Automation in Construction Fujian Province Higher-Educational Engineering Research Centre, College of Civil Engineering, Huaqiao University, Xiamen 361021, China
Liangcheng Yu: Intelligence and Automation in Construction Fujian Province Higher-Educational Engineering Research Centre, College of Civil Engineering, Huaqiao University, Xiamen 361021, China
Yiyi Mo: College of Civil Engineering, Huaqiao University, Xiamen 361021, China
Lincoln C. Wood: Department of Management, University of Otago, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand
Carry Goon: College of Civil Engineering, Huaqiao University, Xiamen 361021, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 9, 1-23

Abstract: Pareidolia is a kind of misperception caused by meaningless, ambiguous stimuli perceived with meaning. Pareidolia in a built environment may trigger the emotions of residents, and the most frequently observed pareidolian images are human faces. Through a pilot experiment and an in-depth questionnaire survey, this research aims to compare built environmental pareidolian phenomena at different time points (6 a.m., 12 p.m., 2 a.m.) and to determine people’s sensitivity and reactions towards pareidolia in the built environment. Our findings indicate that the differences in stress level do not influence the sensitivity and reactions towards pareidolia in the built environment; however, age does, and the age of 40 seems to be a watershed. Females are more likely to identify pareidolian faces than males. Smokers, topers, and long-term medicine users are more sensitive to pareidolian images in the built environment. An unexpected finding is that most pareidolian images in built environments are much more easily detected in the early morning and at midnight but remain much less able to be perceived at midday. The results help architects better understand people’s reactions to pareidolia in the built environment, thus allowing them to decide whether to incorporate it appropriately or avoid it consciously in building design.

Keywords: pareidolia; illusion; misperception; ambiguous stimuli; built environment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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