02/01/2021 Apophenia - Wikipedia

Apophenia
Apophenia (/æpoʊˈfiːniə/) is the tendency to perceive meaningful connections between unrelated
things.[1] The term (German: Apophänie) was coined by psychiatrist Klaus Conrad in his 1958
publication on the beginning stages of schizophrenia.[2] He defined it as "unmotivated seeing of
connections [accompanied by] a specific feeling of abnormal meaningfulness".[3][4] He described the
early stages of delusional thought as self-referential, over-interpretations of actual sensory perceptions,
as opposed to hallucinations.[1][5]

Apophenia has come to imply a human propensity to seek patterns in random information, such as
gambling.[4]

Contents
Introduction
Examples
Pareidolia
Gambler's fallacy
Statistics
Finance
Related terms
"Patternicity"
"Agenticity"
Clustering illusion
Causes
Models of pattern recognition
Template matching
Prototype matching
Feature analysis
Evolution
In art
Literature
Films
See also
References
Further reading
External links

Introduction

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Apophenia can be considered a commonplace effect of brain function. Taken to an extreme, however, it
can be a symptom of psychiatric dysfunction, for example, as a symptom in paranoid schizophrenia,[6]
where a patient sees hostile patterns (for example, a conspiracy to persecute them) in ordinary actions.

Apophenia is also typical of conspiracy theory, where coincidences may be woven together into an
apparent plot.[7]

Examples

Pareidolia

Pareidolia is a type of apophenia involving the perception of images

or sounds in random stimuli.

A common example is the perception of a face within an inanimate

object—the headlights and grill of an automobile may appear to be
"grinning". People around the world see the "Man in the Moon".[8]
People sometimes see the face of a religious figure in a piece of toast
or in the grain of a piece of wood. There is strong evidence that the
use of psychedelic drugs tends to induce or enhance pareidolia.

Pareidolia usually occurs as a result of the fusiform face area—which

is the part of the human brain responsible for seeing faces—
mistakenly interpreting an object, shape or configuration with some
kind of perceived "face-like" features as being a face.[9]

"The Organ Player": an example of

Gambler's fallacy
pareidolia in Neptune's Grotto,
Sardinia
Apophenia is well-documented as a rationalization for gambling.
Gamblers may imagine that they see patterns in the numbers that
appear in lotteries, card games, or roulette wheels. One variation of
this is known as the "gambler's fallacy".

Statistics

In statistics, apophenia is an example of a type I error – the false identification of patterns in data.[1] It
may be compared to a so-called false positive in other test situations.

Finance

The problem of apophenia in finance has been addressed in academic articles.[10] More specifically,
within the world of finance itself, the examples most prone to apophenia are trading, structuring, sales
and compensation.

Related terms

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In contrast to an epiphany, an apophany (i.e., an instance of apophenia) does not provide insight into the
nature of reality nor its interconnectedness, but is a "process of repetitively and monotonously
experiencing abnormal meanings in the entire surrounding experiential field". Such meanings are
entirely self-referential, solipsistic, and paranoid—"being observed, spoken about, the object of
eavesdropping, followed by strangers".[11] Thus the English term "apophenia" has a somewhat different
meaning than that which Conrad defined when he coined the term "Apophänie".

"Patternicity"

In 2008, Michael Shermer coined the word "patternicity", defining it as "the tendency to find meaningful
patterns in meaningless noise".[12][13]

"Agenticity"

In The Believing Brain (2011), Shermer wrote that humans have "the tendency to infuse patterns with
meaning, intention, and agency", which he called "agenticity".[14]

Clustering illusion

A clustering illusion is a type of cognitive bias in which a person sees a pattern in a random sequence of
numbers or events. Many theories have been disproved as a result of this bias being highlighted.

In 1985, a study of the "hot-hand fallacy" by Thomas Gilovich, Robert Vallon and Amos Tversky found
that the idea of basketball players possessing a "hot hand" (tending to shoot better in streaks) was false,
their analysis providing "no evidence for a positive correlation between the outcomes of successive
shots".[15]

Another case, during the early 2000s, involved the occurrence of breast cancer among employees of ABC
Studios in Queensland. A study found that the incidence of breast cancer at the studios was six times
higher than the rate in the rest of Queensland. However, an examination found no correlation between
the heightened incidence and any factors related to the site, or any genetic or lifestyle factors of the
employees.[16]

Causes
Apophenia is commonly referred to as an error in perception. Although there is no confirmed reason as
to why it occurs, there are some respected theories.

Models of pattern recognition

Pattern recognition is a cognitive process that involves retrieving information either from long-term,
short-term or working memory and matching it with information from stimuli. However, there are three
different ways in which this may happen and go wrong, resulting in apophenia.[17]

Template matching

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The stimulus is compared to templates or copies in the long-term memory. These templates are often
stored as a result of past learning or educational experiences. For example, D, d, D and d are all
recognized as the same letter.

These detection routines, when applied on more complex data sets (such as, for example, a painting or
clusters of data) can result in the wrong template being matched. A false positive detection will result in
apophenia.[17]

Prototype matching

This is similar to template matching, except for the fact that an exact match is not needed.[17] An
example of this would be to look at an animal such as a tiger and instead of recognizing that it was a tiger
(template matching) knowing that it was a cat (prototype matching) based on the known information
about the characteristics of a cat.

This type of pattern recognition can result in apophenia based on the fact that since the brain is not
looking for exact matches, it can pick up some characteristics of a match and assume it fits. This is more
common with pareidolia than data collection.

Feature analysis

The stimulus is broken down into its features and allowed to process the information. This model of
pattern recognition comes from the result of four stages, which are: detection, pattern dissection, feature
comparison in memory, and recognition.[17]

Evolution

One of the explanations put forth by evolutionary psychologists for apophenia is that it is not a flaw in
the cognition of human brains but rather something that has come about through years of need. The
study of this topic is referred to as error management theory.[18] One of the most accredited studies in
this field is Skinner's box and superstition.

This experiment involved taking a hungry pigeon, placing it in a box and releasing a food pellet at a
random time. The pigeon received a food pellet while performing some action; and so, rather than
attributing the arrival of the pellet to randomness, it repeated its action, and continued to do so until
another pellet fell. As the pigeon increased the number of times it performed the action, it gained the
impression that it also increased the times it was "rewarded" with a pellet, although the release in fact
remained entirely random.[19]

In art

Literature
William Gibson's Pattern Recognition
Jorge Luis Borges's Library of Babel
Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum
Stanislaw Lem's His Master's Voice

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Peter Watts's Blindsight

Vladimir Nabokov's "Signs and Symbols"
Samuel R. Delany's "Dhalgren"
John Gardner's Grendel

Films
The Number 23 (2007)
23 (1998)

See also
Alignments of random points
Anthropomorphism
Causality
Confirmation bias
Ideas and delusions of reference
Texas sharpshooter fallacy

References
1. Carroll, Robert T. "apophenia" (http://skepdic.com/apophenia.html). The Skeptic's Dictionary.
Retrieved 17 July 2017.
2. Conrad, Klaus (1958). Die beginnende Schizophrenie. Versuch einer Gestaltanalyse des Wahns
[The onset of schizophrenia: an attempt to form an analysis of delusion] (in German). Stuttgart:
Georg Thieme Verlag. OCLC 14620263 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/14620263).
3. Mishara, Aaron (2010). "Klaus Conrad (1905–1961): Delusional Mood, Psychosis and Beginning
Schizophrenia" (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2800156). Schizophr Bull. 36 (1): 9–
13. doi:10.1093/schbul/sbp144 (https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fschbul%2Fsbp144). PMC 2800156 (http
s://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2800156). PMID 19965934 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.
gov/19965934).
4. Hubscher, Sandra L (4 November 2007). "Apophenia: Definition and Analysis" (https://archive.is/201
30121151738/http://www.dbskeptic.com/2007/11/04/apophenia-definition-and-analysis/). Digital Bits
Skeptic. Digital Bits Network, LLC. Archived from the original (http://www.dbskeptic.com/2007/11/04/
apophenia-definition-and-analysis/) on 21 January 2013.
5. Brugger, Peter. "From Haunted Brain to Haunted Science: A Cognitive Neuroscience View of
Paranormal and Pseudoscientific Thought", Hauntings and Poltergeists: Multidisciplinary
Perspectives, edited by J. Houran and R. Lange (North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc.
Publishers, 2001)
6. William C. Shiel Jr., "Medical Definition of Apophenia" (https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.a
sp?articlekey=39714), Medicine.net. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
7. Bruce Poulsen, "Reality Play: Being Amused by Apophenia" (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/bl
og/reality-play/201207/being-amused-apophenia), Psychology Today, July 31, 2012. Retrieved 11
August 2020.
8. Svoboda, Elizabeth (13 February 2007). "Facial Recognition – Brain – Faces, Faces Everywhere" (ht
tps://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/13/health/psychology/13face.html). New York Times. Retrieved
3 July 2010.

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9. Vox (2015-08-05), Why you're seeing a face in this purse (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1dMl

oUfN1o), retrieved 2017-05-23
10. Mahdavi Damghani B. (2012). "UTOPE-ia". Wilmott Magazine. 2012 (60): 28–37.
doi:10.1002/wilm.10128 (https://doi.org/10.1002%2Fwilm.10128).
11. Conrad, Klaus (1959). "Gestaltanalyse und Daseinsanalytik". Nervenarzt (30). pp. 405–410.
12. Shermer, Michael (2008). "Patternicity: Finding Meaningful Patterns in Meaningless Noise" (http://ww
w.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=patternicity-finding-meaningful-patterns). Scientific
American. Scientificamerican.com. 299 (6): 48. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican1208-48 (https://doi.or
g/10.1038%2Fscientificamerican1208-48). PMID 19143444 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/191434
44). Retrieved 2011-06-29.
13. GrrlScientist (29 September 2010). "Michael Shermer: The pattern behind self-deception" (https://ww
w.theguardian.com/science/punctuated-equilibrium/2010/sep/25/michael-shermer-belief-self-decepti
on). Guardian. London. Retrieved 2011-06-29.
14. "Why Do We Need a Belief in God with Michael Shermer" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQO4
y2bueAM). 2011-08-19.
15. Gilovich, Thomas; Vallone, Robert; Tversky, Amos (1985-07-01). "The hot hand in basketball: On the
misperception of random sequences". Cognitive Psychology. 17 (3): 295–314. doi:10.1016/0010-
0285(85)90010-6 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2F0010-0285%2885%2990010-6). S2CID 317235 (http
s://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:317235).
16. "Pathologic and molecular investigations of the ABC breast cancer 'cluster' – National Breast Cancer
Foundation" (http://nbcf.org.au/research/our-research/search-our-research/pathologic-and-molecular
-investigations-of-the-abc-breast-cancer-cluster/). National Breast Cancer Foundation. 2015-11-13.
Retrieved 2017-05-23.
17. "Pattern Recognition and Your Brain | psychology24.org" (https://web.archive.org/web/20170606042
609/http://www.psychology24.org/pattern-recognition-and-your-brain/). psychology24.org. 2016-03-
21. Archived from the original (http://www.psychology24.org/pattern-recognition-and-your-brain/) on
2017-06-06. Retrieved 2017-05-23.
18. Haselton, Martie (January 2000). "Error Management Theory" (http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/comm/has
elton/webdocs/EMT.html). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
19. Inglis-Arkell, Esther. "How pigeons get to be superstitious" (https://io9.gizmodo.com/5746904/how-pi
geons-get-to-be-superstitious). io9. Retrieved 2017-05-23.

Further reading
Endsley, Mica R. (2004). "Situation Awareness: progress and directions". In Banbury, Simon;
Tremblay, Sébastien (eds.). A Cognitive Approach To Situation Awareness: Theory and Application.
Aldershot: Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-4198-8.
Gibson, William (2003). Pattern Recognition (https://archive.org/details/patternrecogniti00gibs). New
York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN 978-0-399-14986-3. OCLC 49894062 (https://www.worldcat.org/ocl
c/49894062).

External links

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