Do you see faces in everything? It could point out an, erm, interesting personality trait.

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Are you one of those people who sees faces in everything – inanimate objects like powerpoints, air-conditioning units or even the clouds?

We’ve always thought nothing of it, but according to a new study, people who see these faces in everyday objects (also known as “Pareidolia”) are most likely to share a common personality trait. And, erm, it’s not exactly fabulous.

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Yep, you’re most likely to be neurotic.

In fact, our personality, sex, and emotional state may influence our likelihood to perceive faces and patterns when they don’t actually exist.

Scientists at the NNT Communication Science Laboratory in Tokyo recruited 166 students and asked them to complete two questionnaires; one to identify their personality traits and one to assess their emotional mood.

They then showed all the participants the same pattern made up of random dots, and asked them to trace and report any shapes they saw within the pattern. (Post continues after gallery.)

The results, which were presented at the 19th annual meeting for the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness in Paris last week, found that overall, those who scored a higher neuroticism result (77 per cent of those in the study) were found to be more likely to experience pareidolia.

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The researchers also found that you were more likely to experience pareidolia if you a woman rather than a man.

So why is this the case?

According to lead researcher Norimichi Kitagawa, there could be an evolutionary reason: because females have traditionally been physically weaker than males, it has made them more sensitive to "meaningful stimuli within noise, better enabling them to detect predators in a forest".

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Because neurotic people are typically less emotionally stable than others, the researchers argue this can increase their tendency to see meaningful patterns that aren't there.

If you're in a certain mood you may be more likely to experience pareidolia.

"We think positive moods enhance creativity, so people with higher positive mood scores may find some more possible interpretations of the dots," Kitagwaga says.

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While the findings are certainly interesting, we'll take them with a grain of salt.

Realistically, there are a whole host of reasons why you might spy faces in things; you're bored, you're using your imagination, you're actively making yourself see faces - or you're just having fun seeing what shapes you can see in the clouds. And there's nothing to worry about there.

Do you experience pareidolia? Do you agree with the findings?