Just a weird picture from a friend of my brother (what do you see?)

[loreta]

I see a switch, a sort of. I really don't see a head.

 

[loreta]

Ok, this is very strange. I look later the picture and now I see a visage with 2 eyes and a mouth. Like a visage of an ET. I try to see the switch that I saw some hours ago but I don't see it anymore. I just see an head.

The brain is something that like to play with us? Amazing.

 

[Alejo]

I see a chunk of unfinished wood sticking out of a painted piece in a shaded background that depending on how you look at it could look like some guys face (looking down) or this guy xD :

_http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_KW3S0od5s5U/TEcMuACk0GI/AAAAAAAAE8I/2sArmBwRUYc/s1600/BabySinclair.JPG

The reason it may not be able to be replicated is because these chunks of wood usually fall off or get cleaned.

 

[Chu]

Really I don't know, I have little information. My brother live far away from my city, when I talk to him again maybe I can get more information...

I think that would be a waste of time. Light effect, old door, etc.

 

[Z...]

It's a creature known in Balkan mithology as Domaći :) - tiny fairy that lives under doorways and its supposed to protect the house but it can be mischievous if you don't live it crumbs of food regularly.

 

[msante]

Well, the first time that I watched the picture I found nothing. After, when my brother asked me pay attention to the corner I saw a little face. And since then I saw always a face because it made like a mental groove. But I agree with all of you, Tinkerbell would be my last option :P . Likely it is just a game of light and shadows, or whatever. Anyway it seemed funny share it although maybe it would have been better to post it on Tickle Me

 

[Nević Nenad]

It's a creature known in Balkan mithology as Domaći :) - tiny fairy that lives under doorways and its supposed to protect the house but it can be mischievous if you don't live it crumbs of food regularly.

Domaci, in english would be Domestic :)

But I think its just old door's chipped paint.

 

[RedFox]

The brain is very fast in converting anything we see into something familiar, or that can be explained according to our ordinary interpretation of the world. For instance, it almost looks like magical how quick we are at reckognizing a face, an animal, or whatever when watching passing clouds. The difference with a photo is that we know it´s not a cloud but instead something that had to be there according to our limitted materialistic interpretation of things as dead or unchanging.

Even when we know our brain is playing a trick at recognizing a figure due to a particular design of a floor, the brain won´t forget so easily the image once our imagination has brought it forward, so that the next time we stare at the same place, the figure will be automatically triggered again. And the more it happens, the more difficult it becomes to see what is actually there, some random shades and lines.

I also see a tiny face in the photo, in fact I see two versions of that face. One is from the side, with a mouth wide open, and the other from a frontal perspective, with a moustache hiding the mouth.

Indeed. Knowing how our nervous systems are biased is extremely useful for being able to see past these biases. The visual example also shows how difficult it is.

Here's the definition of the phenomenon
_https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia

[..]Pareidolia can cause people to interpret random images, or patterns of light and shadow, as faces.[2] A 2009 magnetoencephalography study found that objects perceived as faces evoke an early (165 ms) activation of the fusiform face area at a time and location similar to that evoked by faces, whereas other common objects do not evoke such activation. This activation is similar to a slightly faster time (130 ms) that is seen for images of real faces. The authors suggest that face perception evoked by face-like objects is a relatively early process, and not a late cognitive reinterpretation phenomenon.[3] A functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study in 2011 similarly showed that repeated presentation of novel visual shapes that were interpreted as meaningful led to decreased fMRI responses for real objects. These results indicate that the interpretation of ambiguous stimuli depends upon processes similar to those elicited by known objects.[4]

These studies help to explain why people identify a few circles and a line as a "face" so quickly and without hesitation. Cognitive processes are activated by the "face-like" object, which alert the observer to both the emotional state and identity of the subject, even before the conscious mind begins to process or even receive the information. The "stick figure face", despite its simplicity, conveys mood information (in this case, disappointment or mild unhappiness). It would be just as simple to draw a stick figure face that would be perceived (by most people) as hostile and aggressive. This robust and subtle capability is hypothesized to be the result of eons of natural selection favoring people most able to quickly identify the mental state, for example, of threatening people, thus providing the individual an opportunity to flee or attack pre-emptively. In other words, processing this information subcortically — therefore subconsciously — before it is passed on to the rest of the brain for detailed processing accelerates judgment and decision making when a fast reaction is needed.[5] This ability, though highly specialized for the processing and recognition of human emotions, also functions to determine the demeanor of wildlife.[6]

Pareidolia can be considered a subcategory of Apophenia[..].

So, an example of "Thinking fast".

 

[Brewer]

I'd say it's fake.

Save a copy to your device, then zoom in, the pixels of the 'face' don't seem to match the rest of the image. They're chunkier.

Cheers