Researchers in Japan say seeing faces in everyday objects could be a sign that you’re neurotic.

A recent study from Tokyo’s NTT Communication Science Laboratory examined people who experience pareidolia (seeing faces or patterns in random things).

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Academics asked 166 undergraduates to complete a personality test and then examine random patterns to see if they recognised faces or patterns.

They found 77 per cent did, with neurotic people and women also more likely to spot a set of eyes or a smile.

Leader researcher Norimichi Kitagawa said the findings suggest that personality traits, emotional states and gender affect the tendency to see faces.

“[F]emales tend to see pareidolia compared to males, that participants with higher neuroticism tend to see pareidolia, and that participants with lower negative affect tend to see pareidolia in the random-dot pattern.”