You are hereForums / Investigation / Investigating the Paranormal / Terminology
Terminology
Wed, 21/10/2009 - 12:23
I was on another forum recently which is I assume predominantly populated by Americans and I came across the term Matrixing.
From what I could find, on the net Matrixing is a term used predominantly in teh US for pareidolia. One website claimed it originated with TV’s ‘Ghost Hunters’ and I can only suspect probably has something to do with the Matrix films, as pareidolia refers to the human tendency to perceive simulacra and there are numerous references in the Matrix film to Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulation.
Why replace a perfectly good word?
Probably some image-conscious type thought pareidolia sounded suspiciously similar to paedophilia... :-(
In Distortion We Trust
"Louhi spoke in riddled tones of three things to achieve: find and catch the Devil's Moose and bring it here to me. Seize the Stallion born of Fire, harness the Golden Horse. He captured and bound the Moose, he tamed the Golden Horse. Still there remained one final task: hunt for the Bird from the Stream of Death"
-Kalevala, Rune XIII-
I wouldn't use either word as they are both too vague and I wouldn't want to promote any ghost hunting show! When people replace something in their vision with another image from their visual memory, I would call it misperception.