Pareidolia
Pareidolia is a form of illusion or misperception
involving a vague or obscure stimulus being perceived as something
clear and distinct. For example, in the discolorations of
a burnt tortilla one sees the face of Jesus Christ. Click
here for the
entry as given in the Skeptic's Dictionary. Whilst such
misperceptions do exist e.g. perceiving the man in the moon,
these should not be confused with images deliberately embedded
in adverts and works of art. Given the importance of this
phenomena an extended commentary on the subject and its relevance
to embedded imagery on the bordlerline of perceptual ability
it provided below.
True pareidolia are idiosyncratic 'images', the contributory
stimuli can be recognised e.g. the craters on the moon or
bushes casting a shadow, and the outcomes can be recognised
as illusions. Semi-subliminal embedded elements in ads, in
contrast, are not intended to be consciously recognised by
viewers, are often meaningful and related themes or other
aspects of an advert. Both forms of perception can influence
preferences, judgements (and presumably, in due course, behavior).
That viewers respond to such influences can be experimentally
verified. But, given that such stimuli can be produced unintentionally,
how can one discriminate between intentional artwork intended
to manipulate and unintentional work that produces essentially
the same type of imagery?
An excellent example illustrating the problem is
an essentially meaningless image presented
on the front page of James Elkins' book The Domain of Images
The cover of Elkins' book is a 'noisy' astronomical
CCD image i.e. it has lots of blemishes and meaningless elements
'messing up' the representation of the actual astronomical
scene. It was not generated by artists yet contains the same
type of ambiguous background material that one can find in
many ads and other illustrations. There are two black and
while versions of the same image in Elkins' book. One is a
'noisy' CCD image. The other is a 'cleaned up' version, which
is much clearer and lacks the ambiguious background of the
'noisy' image. If one looks carefully at the pattern evident
on the two 'noisy' images (the cover and page 11) one can
perceive various 'letters' and other 'shapes' where the random
'noise' combines into perceptible 'shapes'. But, unless one
wishes to believe in a godlike entity who indulges in placing
'subliminal' 'lettering' in astronomers CCD images, such 'letters'
and any other 'shapes' have to be recognised as pareidolia.
When individuals such as the author take an interest in embedded
advertising material a standard criticism is that one is 'reifying'
ones misperceptions in exactly the same manner i.e turning
the (mis)perception of meaningless elements into a delusionary
image.
If the perception of embedded messages/images in
ads on the borderline of perceptual ability were simply cases
of misperception, then the author contends one would have
to acknowledge that such misperceptions are sufficiently common
to justify advertisers modifying adverts to incorporate the
type of 'noisy' cues that produce misperceptions. This argument
is not intended to be a case of Catch 22 nor of 'Having ones'
cake and eating it' - 'noisy' backgrounds in ads are not universal.
In fact, one finds the artistry necessary to produce such
'misperceptions' much more common in certain types of ads
than others. Whether these differences are deemed artistic
style or are the result of conscious attempts at manipulation,
at some point one can no longer define the responses to such
ads as pareidolia. One has to accept that one is dealing with
what Wilson Key referred to as subliminal material and the
author prefers to call semi-subliminal material. That is,
the ads are functional, in that they further the aims of advertisers
in influencing consumers although the semi-subliminal contents
may not always be intentional. In simple terms, such ads are
more appealing to consumers.
One can only state a low degree of confidence in
judgements of such ads when compared to judgements of much
more clear cut images, such as in the Big isn't it ad
and others, many of which are illustrated on the Ads
of the Month pages. However, the distinction that can
be made between random noise in images and equivalent artwork
is open to investigation on the basis of the suggestion made
above. Certain ads e.g. for Marlboro, contain considerably
more 'random' noise ('noisy' and interpretable background
material) than other, more cleancut, pictorial ads.
Such 'noisy' elements may be intentional i.e. intended
to produce 'messages' once readers are primed to think along
set lines, for example, when viewing a young person's magazine
emphasizing sex. On the other hand, they may be the outcome
of investigations that showed them to be more effective (without
any awareness of why they were more effective). The answer
to questions about this issue are, no doubt, tucked away in
the archives of Philip Morris and their advertising agencies.
In the author's experience, in which a range of embedded
images in ads for the same brand were identified independently
lead him towards a preference for the former i.e. intentional
artwork. These ads included elements that were easy to perceive,
in retrospect, to those on the borderline of perceptual ability
i.e. pareidolia-like stimuli. However, one must also acknowledge
that the opposite may hold true where ambiguous, borderline,
stimuli exist. The seeking of ads with embedded elements may
have produced a mental set that predetermined the outcome
when very ambiguous material was present. However, as noted
above, it is possible to experimentally compare different
types of ads. Such experiments provide one means of discrminating
between pareidolia and semi-subliminal 'messages'. See also
Projection.
Perception
Perception has to be distinguished from seeing.� A person
sees with the eyes but what is seen has no more meaning than
characters in a strange language. What we see is simply variations
in colour and intensity. It is the understanding of the sensory
input from the eyes that makes the input meaningful and thus
useful.
Meaning only exists when sensory input is related
to knowledge acquired from previous experience. � Visual
perception, knowing what something is and knowing what to
expect of it, etc., thus arises from the integration of information
acquired from the sensory system of the eye with with what
is already known. ��
Because perception is a complicated process, it has
to be acknowledged that objects and actions are not automatically
recognized. Even everyday objects have to be understood in
terms of 'regular' or 'lawful' relationships or rules regarding
sensory input and stored knowledge.� We can perceive
an object and understand it as a car suitable for transportation.
But to achieve this goal we have actually integrated the sensory
input with what we know about cars. In terms of adverts we
again only see displays of colour and intensity variation
but we make sense of this on the basis of existing knowledge
and thus recognize brands, illustrations, etc.��An
indication of how learning is involved in perception has been
experienced by everyone who wears glasses with varifocal lenses.
Initial experiences with the lenses are confusing until one
learns that part of the visual field is related to distant
objects and another to reading material that is much closer.
After a few days experience our brain automatically switches
back and forward between modes depending upon which sensory
input is 'in focus'. A blink of the eye is usually all that
is required to change focal attention when moving attention
from near to distant objects. But note that learning was first
required before we could easily make sense of the different
types of information received from the eye.
Because of the involvement of previously stored knowledge,
if there is no linguistic content in an ad to direct or influence
thought, then the viewer is more likely to 'add' information
to make 'sense' of what has been seen. As noted previously,
this knowledge does not simply relate to what is included
in an advert, it can also relate to what is expected but excluded
from the ad.� Perception is thus a much more complex
process than seeing. Because it is based on the experiences
of the individual and subject to individual variations on
the basis of knowledge, expectations, attitudes, moods and
so on, one cannot be certain that, even after seeing the same
object or actions, two individuals will perceive it in the
same way. A typical example involves the interpretation of
actions rather than a static advert. Football supporters for
two teams can see exactly the same film clip and yet interpret
the actions of the players in different ways because of their
Perceptual
ability� Perceptual ability is the term applied
to the actions of that portion of the perceptual system (see
below) devoted to vision when an attempt is made to detect
visual stimuli.�� The limit to this ability is variable
and can be determined by studies presenting subjects with
a variety of input, ranging from clearly visible to borderline
subliminal and onwards to the truly subliminal. At some point
on this continuum there will be a level where visual input
is recognized 50% of the time. This is usually defined as
the limit of perceptual ability. A more extreme cut-off point
is somewhat arbitrary and can be set at the point when an
individual can never see any input. Beyond this absolute limit
of perceptual ability any visual stimuli is clearly subliminal.
Perceptual
system The perceptual system incorporates the visual
system and those� portions of the brain that are involved
in understanding and making sense of input from the visual
system.
Perspicacity
To be able to discern differences, to understand.
Placebo Effect
An effect or influence upon a person that is attributed to
some external cause, usually a medicine, but is actually due
to the strong beliefs of the individual concerned. Their belief
in the power of the 'medicine' helps them change their behaviour
or improves their health. A small but notable effect can be
found with audio tapes and other devices which really have
no benefits other than providing a 'helpful crutch' for individuals
who wish to change or improve in some way. Most products claiming
to provide benefits by supplying subliminal messages on video
or audio tapes rely on this for their only effect. For the
vast majority of individuals such aids are completely useless
and a waste of money. For an example of a Subliminal Message
programme for you own PC check out the Download
Page.
Preconscious
In between the two states defined as conscious, in which one
is aware of what is going on, and unconscious, where psychological
process function without any conscious involvement, there
is another state that can be defined as preconscious. �
As with actions in the unconscious, processes occurring in
the preconscious state cannot easily be reflected upon but
it does 'exist'. The preconscious state can be distinguished
from the unconscious on the basis of clinical experience and
experimental research.�
The unconscious is an ongoing state, that is not
readily influenced by current circumstances i.e. it's functioning
is determined largely by past experience.� Preconscious
states are equivalent in some respects to the unconscious
but it can be demonstrated that the preconsiously determined
actions occur partly under the influence of current experiences.�
Experiments, for example, show that even although participants
in research studies deny having any knowledge of stimuli presented
to them, their thoughts, dreams, answers to tests and questions,
etc. all appear to be influenced by the stimuli they claim
not to have 'seen' or 'heard'.� Some research indicates
that subjects do seem to have perceived the stimuli but the
stimuli were very weak and did not have sufficient 'power'
to allow the viewer or listener to become consciously aware
of the input.�� In such circumstances, as with subliminal
or virtually subliminal input, the sensory information has
been processed at a preconscious level rather than a conscious
level. Such information is thus deemed capable of a slight
influence on linguistic responses and is also deemed capable
of being consciously reflected but not capable of influencing
behaviour. Members of the advertising profession would seem
to disagree with this latter conclusion given their tendency
to make use of semi-subliminal elements in their ads. Their
activities would seem to be based on a belief that preconsciously
processed sensory input will (ultimately) influence behavior.
Priming
The most common appreciation of 'to prime' is related to pump
priming in which a little amount of water is used to permit
a pump to build up pressure in orde to function properly.
The meaning is similar where priming is related to language
or image recognition. When an individual hears or reads a
word or sees an image, the activity that is triggered in the
brain is related to other information. This associated information
is also 'primed' or 'activated' to some extent. Any subsequent
testing of this 'primed' information produces better or faster
results than if no 'priming' had taken place. Priming is also
related to the notion that suggestion can influence judgements.
For example, if it is suggested that an advert contains a
certain type of image, say the letters SEX, it is possible
for the suggestion to lead to the detection of such letters
even if they are absent. This is because activation of brain
centres associated with the detection of such information
leads to 'recognition' because attempts to extract meaning
from ambiguous information is 'biased' in favour of the suggested
content. See the Psychology
page for an experiment indicating the power of suggestion
to influence judgements.
Projection
A more detailed discussion of projection is presented on the
Imagination
page. In essence, projection is an awareness of what are internally
produced thoughts as if they were external, real world, events.
In the present context of advertising, an example would arise
if someone strongly believed that all ads contained embedded
lettering and thus 'saw' such lettering in all ads. Thoughts,
in other words, bias judgements in favour of recognising objects
or images that one believes ought to exist, rather than assisting
in an objective appraisal of reality and the resulting visual
information. See also Pareidolia.
Prostrate
Lay flat, become submissive.
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