Apophenia

"The Organ Player": an example of pareidolia in Neptune's Grotto, Sardinia

Apophenia is when people see a connection, or a link between two things that are unrelated. People who suffer from Schizophrenia often see patterns where there are none. Klaus Conrad first used the term, in 1958, when he talked about a patient suffering from Schizophrenia. Conrad used the term to describe a cognitive bias, which offten occurs during a psychosis. Apophenia is a special case of Pareidolia.

Today, the term is also used outside a medical context.