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This brings new meaning to \u201cmale gaze.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s perhaps a reason people see the \u201cman\u201d \u2014 and not the woman \u2014 in the moon. Australian scientists found that humans are preconditioned to spot faces in inanimate objects, and that, more often than not, they happen to be male, per a study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cFor whatever reason, it seems like we\u2019ve got this template stored in our brains about what a basic human face is, and it resembles a male face,\u201d declared the study\u2019s lead author, Dr. Lindsay Peterson, a psychology expert at the University of New South Wales who specializes in visual perception and face detection.<\/p>\n Dubbed pareidolia, spotting visages in the darndest places is a common human trait, per the study. <\/p>\n \u201cAn observer may report seeing a smiling face on the side of a handbag, Jesus in a piece of toast, or a pained face in an ultrasound image,\u201d wrote the researchers, adding that the phenomenon has sparked interest on both social media and in the scientific community alike.<\/p>\n