Researchers Reveal What Causes 'Seeing Jesus in Toast' Phenomenon

Canadian researchers say that people who claim to see images of Jesus, the Virgin May or Elvis in a slice of toast or a pizza or on a bark of wood, are perfectly normal.

Hundreds of people claim to have seen Jesus in a toast, shrouds and clouds. People have even see images of the Virgin Mary and Elvis in odd things and places.  Such people are mocked and sometimes even considered not mentally sound. But researchers at the University of Toronto dismiss these allegations and confirm that seeing 'Jesus in toast' phenomenon is perfectly normal.

According to the researchers, this phenomenon is called 'face pareidolia' where people report seeing images of Jesus. Also this phenomenon is normal and is totally based on physical causes.

"Most people think you have to be mentally abnormal to see these types of images, so individuals reporting this phenomenon are often ridiculed", says lead researcher Prof. Kang Lee of the University of Toronto's Eric Jackman Institute of Child Study. "But our findings suggest that it's common for people to see non-existent features because human brains are uniquely wired to recognize faces, so that even when there's only a slight suggestion of facial features the brain automatically interprets it as a face."

Despite the fact that this phenomenon of citings has existed for centuries not much is known about the underlying mechanism that leads to it.

This is the first study of its kind in which the researchers observed brain scans as well as the behavioral responses of the individuals seeing faces and letters in various patterns. On analysis they realized that the face pareidolia was not because of a variance in brain or imagination but the phenomenon was caused due to the combined work of frontal cortex and posterior visual cortex.

The frontal cortex generates expectations and then sends the signals to the posterior visual cortex that further develops the interpretation stimuli from the outside world.

The researchers also found that based on what the person expects to see, they either see faces, words or letters. This triggers specific parts of the brain that play a key role in processing the images.

"Seeing 'Jesus in toast' reflects our brain's normal functioning and the active role that the frontal cortex plays in visual perception. Instead of the phrase 'seeing is believing" the results suggest that believing is seeing," researchers report.

The finding was documented in the journal Cortex.