Understanding Postpartum Pareidolia: How New Mothers See Faces in Everyday Things

Researchers in Australia have explored why some new mothers report seeing faces in everyday things. The study, published in Biology Letters, investigates pareidolia, a common tendency to perceive facial patterns in ordinary surroundings. This phenomenon appears across ages, from children to adults, and has been linked in the past to certain age-related neurodegenerative conditions. In this first postpartum study, researchers from the University of Queensland and the University of the Sunshine Coast recruited more than 400 volunteers who completed an online survey. Participants were shown hundreds of images that included real faces, objects that resembled faces, and images with no facial cues at all. The findings showed that recognizing faces in nonhuman items occurred more frequently among individuals who had given birth within the previous twelve months. Those who were pregnant and those who had never been mothers exhibited similar levels of facial recognition, pointing to a specific postpartum effect on pareidolia. The heightened sensitivity is attributed to oxytocin, a hormone that rises in new mothers and is linked to positive emotions and warmth during interactions with close partners. The researchers hope their results provide deeper insight into how the human brain interprets social signals and facial cues in daily life. Earlier work has noted that extreme temperatures during pregnancy can raise the risk of serious complications, highlighting the broader importance of maternal health in this area.