(February 4, 2014 at 2:53 am)Rayaan Wrote: However, I don't agree with Shermer's opinion that this pattern-seeking behavior even where none exist is by itself completely an "ilusory correlation." On the contrary, I think that it is very real because it is something which is self-ingrained in us; it's what we do without even thinking about it.
Having read up a bit on this, it is thought to be the result of evolution. Pattern recognition is very useful for a species. For example trying to see a tiger in amongst a grassy plain. If in fact your pattern recognition has been too active and you perceive a tiger, and there isn't anything there, then nothing has really been lost. Far better that than an animal that doesn't recognise the possibility of a tiger being there and you get eaten.
At Uni I did some information theory, which was really interesting. It was all about pattern recognition/information entropy/data loss etc etc. A small change in a parameter of pattern recognition can make the difference between detecting something that isn't really there, and not. The brain can't be perfect at this. This is why, for example, people see faces of jesus in their toast.
There's a good page here showing an optical illusion, which is again caused by our overactive brain. Also a cat is seen to be experiencing the same delusion.
http://drpballen.wordpress.com/2013/04/2...y-of-mind/
