Brains evolved to detect patterns, including patterns that are not there.

Evidence

Michael Shermer puts it this way, “Our brains are belief engines: evolved pattern-recognition machines that connect the dots and create meaning out of the patterns that we think we see.” — Holm Gero Hümmler, Ulrike Schiesser, Fact and Prejudice, 142

Categorization

• XREF: Shermer’s phrase dovetails with the pareidolia examples and with the false-memory account in this chapter.