This is an image from the Snowden files. It is labeled “secret.”1 Yet one cannot see anything on it. This is exactly why it is symptomatic. Not seeing anything intelligible is the new normal.

Welcome to the curious world of apophenia, the psychological phenomenon where people perceive connections in random or unrelated things. It’s not just a quirk of the human brain; it’s a cornerstone of ...

Apophenia is the tendency to perceive meaningful patterns or connections in random or unrelated data. The term was introduced by psychiatrist Klaus Conrad in the 1950s, originally to describe early ...

So, what were you doing at 11:11 on 11-11-11? Was it special, significant, and meaningful? If it seemed that way because of the pattern on your digital watch, you ...

I’m a therapist who knows that apophenia, or the seeing of patterns that aren’t there, can be a sign of mental illness. For instance, when a client tells me they think I’ve talked to their boss about ...

You’ve been wearing the same jersey on game days, and your team is on a winning streak. You won a $100 gift card after seeing your lucky number. These are examples of apophenia, which is a tendency to ...

Apophenia, or patternicity, is characterized by seeing patterns in unrelated things. Anyone can experience this, but if you live with schizophrenia, it may be part of a delusion. Apophenia, or seeing ...