11-02-2004, 00:39
Sixth-Sense Feeling May Be Your 'Mindsight'
By Rhiannon Edward
The Scotsman - UK
2-5-4
A mysterious form of unconscious vision described as "mindsight" may
provide an explanation for "sixth sense" experiences, it was claimed
yesterday.
Scientists demonstrated its existence in tests on volunteers which
showed that some could be aware of a scene changing without
understanding why.
They simply reported having a "gut feeling" that a briefly shown
photographic image had altered.
Ronald Rensink, a Canadian psychologist who led the study, believes
their visual system was able to pick up the change without them
knowing what was altered or where the alteration occurred.
"I think this effect explains a lot of the belief in a sixth sense,"
he told New Scientist magazine.
Dr Rensinkís team at the University of British Columbia showed 40
people a series of photographic images flickering on a computer
screen. Each image was shown for a quarter of a second and followed
by a brief blank grey screen.
Sometimes the image would remain the same, while on other occasions
it would alternate with a subtly different one.
When the researchers manipulated the image, about a third of the
volunteers reported "feeling" it had changed.
In control trials, where no changes were made, the same individuals
were confident that nothing had been altered.
Dr Rensink believes mindsight might be at work when someone goes into
a room and senses something is different, without being able to
define what.
"It could well be an alerting system," he said.
©2004 Scotsman.com
http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=140492004
By Rhiannon Edward
The Scotsman - UK
2-5-4
A mysterious form of unconscious vision described as "mindsight" may
provide an explanation for "sixth sense" experiences, it was claimed
yesterday.
Scientists demonstrated its existence in tests on volunteers which
showed that some could be aware of a scene changing without
understanding why.
They simply reported having a "gut feeling" that a briefly shown
photographic image had altered.
Ronald Rensink, a Canadian psychologist who led the study, believes
their visual system was able to pick up the change without them
knowing what was altered or where the alteration occurred.
"I think this effect explains a lot of the belief in a sixth sense,"
he told New Scientist magazine.
Dr Rensinkís team at the University of British Columbia showed 40
people a series of photographic images flickering on a computer
screen. Each image was shown for a quarter of a second and followed
by a brief blank grey screen.
Sometimes the image would remain the same, while on other occasions
it would alternate with a subtly different one.
When the researchers manipulated the image, about a third of the
volunteers reported "feeling" it had changed.
In control trials, where no changes were made, the same individuals
were confident that nothing had been altered.
Dr Rensink believes mindsight might be at work when someone goes into
a room and senses something is different, without being able to
define what.
"It could well be an alerting system," he said.
©2004 Scotsman.com
http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=140492004