Pareidolia - Wikipedia
These studies help to explain why people generally identify a few lines and a circle as a “face” so quickly and without hesitation. Cognitive processes are activated by the “face-like” object which alerts 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. A “stick figure face”, despite its simplicity, can convey mood information, and be drawn to indicate emotions such as happiness or anger. This robust and subtle capability is hypothesized to be the result 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.[13] This ability, though highly specialized for the processing and recognition of human emotions, also functions to determine the demeanor of wildlife.
I was laying out my son’s clothes for school when I looked out the window and saw in the leaves at the top of a tree in a far neighbors yard a cartoon reindeer looking confused. I’ve always done this, for as long as I can remember. Mostly in trees and leaves through windows, but also with abstract patterns in wallpapers and carpets.