A cross-national study examining imaginary companions and face pareidolia in British and Chinese adults

Although imaginary companions are created by children and sometimes adults around the world, the prevalence of this play behaviour varies. Cross-nationally, imaginary companions are reported more frequently in Western countries. These imaginary entities have been speculated to be similar to hallucination-like-experiences, based on evidence for elevated top-down auditory processing in children who report them. Face pareidolia tasks engage visual top-down processing, and performance on them does not tend to vary across cultures. This study asked if: 1) there would be cross-national differences in imaginary companion creation in childhood and adulthood between Chinese and British adults, 2) whether those creating imaginary companions would see more face pareidolia and 3) if there would be cross-national differences in face pareidolia. 291 participants (185 Chinese) completed a questionnaire on their imagination followed by a face pareidolia task consisting of 36 image trials (24 containing face pareidolia). Results showed that including all participants (Chinese and British) 11% of the adults currently had an imaginary companion. Chinese adults were significantly less likely than British adults to report a childhood, but not adulthood, imaginary companion. There were significantly more reports of face pareidolia from participants with a current imaginary companion, but not those who remembered a companion in childhood. The pareidolia hits did not differ between country, but false alarms were experienced significantly more by the Chinese participants. Taken together, the results provide more information around imaginary companion creation in China and the UK as well as the role top-down processing may play in imaginary companion interactions.