Feel Like the Universe Is Sending You Signs? Blame Apophenia

Carolyn L. Todd
·7 min read

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Shannon Ficklin, 50, gets signs from the universe nearly every day—usually in the form of feathers, yellow butterflies, or repeating numbers. Ficklin, a realtor living outside Austin, often interprets those physical symbols to mean she’s on the right path. She’s found hundreds of feathers over the past few years: on her lawn, in her grocery basket, on the sidewalk downtown. Last year, Ficklin was feeling a little sad and anxious about moving out of her family’s home of 23 years. During her final walk in the nearby park, she found 16 white bird feathers under a tree and took it as a good omen. “Like, I’m leaving in peace, it’s time to move on, and, yes, you should be going,” Ficklin tells SELF.

Maybe you’ve had similar experiences where you felt like the universe—or depending on your beliefs, maybe God, an angel, or an ancestor—was trying to send you a subtle message via unlikely coincidences or recurring symbols. Perhaps your car broke down on the way to an interview, and you took it to mean the job wasn’t meant for you. Or maybe you notice the number 33 everywhere and see it as a breadcrumb leading you in a certain direction. Or you bumped into your ex right after you heard their favorite song—and now you’re wondering if it means you should get back together.

So…what’s actually going on here? Not to ruin anyone’s fun, but it turns out there’s a scientific reason for why we sometimes see a connection between unrelated events, a recurring number, or motif in nature and call it a sign from above—instead of the coincidence it really is. It’s something called apophenia, which is “the tendency to perceive patterns or connections that don’t really exist,” Colin DeYoung, PhD, a psychology professor and personality researcher at the University of Minnesota who has studied the phenomenon, tells SELF. It also explains why you might see a face in the clouds or hear your name being called in a noisy crowd (when no one is saying it), he says.

Thanks to the way your brain processes the world around you, “you get the impression that these things are connected meaningfully,” Christian Rominger, PhD, a professor of biological psychology at the University of Graz in Austria who studies apophenia, tells SELF. When in reality they’re completely random. Below, experts explain why our minds play these games on us, and whether or not you should be concerned if you or someone you know often relies on these sorts of “signs” in everyday life.

Apophenia is a very normal result of your brain’s ability to recognize patterns.

This tendency to find meaning in the world around us is practically in our DNA. The human brain evolved to be pattern-recognizing, connection-forming, meaning-making machines, Tali Sharot, PhD, a professor of cognitive neuroscience at University College London and MIT who studies how we make decisions, process information, and form beliefs, tells SELF. “One of the main things [the brain] is supposed to do is to find patterns.”

Imagine how confusing and overwhelming the world would be if our brains weren’t really good at connecting the dots. Finding patterns is how we sort through information, learn, and understand cause and effect, Dr. Sharot says. For example, making a connection between storm clouds and impending rain tells us we should grab an umbrella before we head out the door. When a baby is learning to talk, they learn the word ball by connecting the sound “ball” and the image of a ball, Dr. Sharot explains. You couldn’t learn to do algebra or play piano if you couldn’t detect patterns.

The only problem is, being on high alert for possible patterns and connections means we inevitably sometimes see them when they’re not there, Dr. Sharot says. As psychologist Rob Brotherton, PhD, puts it in his book Suspicious Minds: Why We Believe Conspiracy Theories: “A brain biased toward seeing meaning rather than randomness is one of our greatest assets. The price we pay is occasionally connecting dots that don’t really belong together.”

You can think about apophenia as a personality trait that occurs on a spectrum, Dr. DeYoung says. On one end, some people will frequently miss connections and patterns that are really there; on the other end, some will frequently see connections and patterns where none exist. We’re not totally sure why some of us are more apophenia-prone than others, though experts have theories. One that came out of Dr. Rominger’s research: The brains of people who experience strong apophenia actually take in more sensory information from the world, leading them to observe and process more and ultimately pick up on things—like, say, numbers or stray feathers—that others don’t.

Seeing signs from the universe can actually have a positive effect on your mental and emotional health.

Apophenia has its upsides. “The benefit is that you notice more things,” Dr. DeYoung says. “You get more enjoyment out of the sensory world. You are more likely to come up with new things, to see things, or think of things that other people haven’t.” Apophenia is indeed linked with creativity, Dr. DeYoung says. In fact, several studies led by Dr. Rominger found that people who report experiencing more meaningful coincidences also report more creative activities in their daily lives and more creative achievements.

There may even be some psychological or emotional benefits to experiencing apophenia, Dr. Rominger says. In fact, one 2023 study found that being aware of and finding meaning in synchronicities is linked to greater optimism, sense of meaning, and life satisfaction. That rings true for Ficklin, who says she gets a sense of comfort and encouragement every time she sees one of her signs.

For Reid Cox, a 32-year-old actor based in Austin, getting messages from the universe was a huge source of support during a difficult chapter in her life. Back in 2020, Cox was living in Los Angeles, struggling to get work, and feeling isolated amid the pandemic. “It was so easy to have a doom-and-gloom mindset,” Cox tells SELF. After seeing a clip of Gabby Bernstein (a best-selling author who writes about manifestation) talking about asking for signs from the universe, “I woke up and I was like, Okay, just send me a sign,” Cox recalls. She started seeing the number 444 everywhere—on receipts, license plates, clocks. Cox took it to mean that she was on the right path. “Every time I saw that number, I could just feel my nervous system relax.”

Cox was looking to move into her own place and found a spot with everything on her wish list—complete with French windows and a view of the Hollywood Hills. The street number? 444. “Before I even saw the inside, I was like, I’m supposed to be here,” Cox says. So despite being unemployed in a tough rental market and not meeting the income requirements, Cox put in an application. She nabbed the apartment.

Most of the time, a little apophenia is harmless—as long as it’s not taken to the extreme.

For most people, feeling like the universe is trying to communicate through symbols or coincidences is just good fun. “If people find that to be a pleasant and encouraging experience, then it’s probably not particularly harmful,” Dr. DeYoung says. However, putting too much stock into these signs can be risky. For example, Dr. DeYoung says that apophenia is linked to both conspiracy thinking and psychosis, which is a mental state when people lose contact with reality and may see or hear things that aren’t really there. (It doesn’t cause psychosis itself, though.) And it’s probably not a good idea to make any major life decisions based purely on signs from the universe. (Like getting back with that toxic ex.)

Other than that, there’s nothing wrong with a little belief in good vibes from the cosmos. And while finding a scientific explanation for such a common experience is fascinating, how much does it really matter if you still choose to believe in and enjoy it? “Even if there’s a scientific explanation that doesn’t really align with it being the universe speaking to us…I’m totally fine with that,” Cox says. “Sometimes you get that confidence boost by assigning meaning to random things.”

After Cox started wearing a 444 charm necklace back in LA, strangers would stop to tell her things like “I needed that sign today” all the time. “And I started to realize,” she says, “whether the universe is trying to tell us something or not, people are always looking for a sign that they’re on the right path.” Sometimes, a little wink is all you need.

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Originally Appeared on Self

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