PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Debunking the sixth sense

2014-01-14
(Press-News.org) Contact information: Liz Banks-Anderson
banks@unimelb.edu.au
61-383-444-362
University of Melbourne
Debunking the sixth sense The study, published today in the journal PLOS ONE, found that people could reliably sense when a change had occurred, even when they could not see exactly what had changed.

For example, a person might notice a general change in someone's appearance but not be able to identify that the person had had a haircut.

Lead researcher Dr. Piers Howe from the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences said the research is the first to show in a scientific study that people can reliably sense changes that they cannot visually identify.

"There is a common belief that observers can experience changes directly with their mind, without needing to rely on the traditional physical senses such as vision, hearing, taste, smell and touch to identify it. This alleged ability is sometimes referred to as a sixth sense or ESP.

"We were able to show that while observers could reliably sense changes that they could not visually identify, this ability was not due to extrasensory perception or a sixth sense," he said.

In the study, observers were presented with pairs of colour photographs, both of the same female. In some cases, her appearance would be different in the two photographs. For example, the individual might have a different hairstyle.

Each photograph was presented for 1.5 seconds with a 1 second break between them. After the last photograph, the observer was asked whether a change had occurred and, if so, identify the change from a list of nine possible changes.

Results showed study participants could generally detect when a change had occurred even when they could not identify exactly what had changed.

For example, they might notice that the two photographs had different amounts of red or green but not be able to use this information to determine that the person had changed the colour of their hat.

This resulted in the observer "feeling" or "sensing" that a change had occurred without being able to visually identify the change. Thus, the result that observers can reliably feel or sense when a change has occurred without being able to visually identify the change could be explained without invoking an extrasensory mechanism.

### The research was led by Senior Lecturer Dr. Piers Howe in collaboration with researcher Margaret Webb at the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne.


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

A brief visit to a neighborhood induces the social attitudes of that neighborhood

2014-01-14
A brief visit to a neighborhood induces the social attitudes of that neighborhood Spending as little as 45 minutes in a high-crime, deprived neighbourhood can have measurable effects on people's trust in others and their feelings of paranoia. In a new study, students ...

Educated black men remembered as 'whiter'

2014-01-14
Educated black men remembered as 'whiter' Los Angeles, CA (January 14, 2014) A new study out today in SAGE Open finds that instead of breaking stereotypes, intellectually successful Black individuals may be susceptible to being remembered as "Whiter" and ...

Social experience drives empathetic, pro-social behavior in rats

2014-01-14
Social experience drives empathetic, pro-social behavior in rats Rats will help a stranger in distress only if they have had prior social experience with the type of the unfamiliar individual ...

Bald reef gets new growth with seaweed transplant

2014-01-14
Bald reef gets new growth with seaweed transplant SYDNEY: Marine ecologists in Sydney have successfully restored a once thriving seaweed species, which vanished along a stretch of the city's coastline during the 1970s and 80s during high levels of ...

Mitochondrial genes matter!

2014-01-14
Mitochondrial genes matter! Contrary to common belief, mitochondrial genes seem to matter for how well individuals survive and reproduce. These new results are reported by researchers at Uppsala University, Sweden, who studied the genes of a common beetle ...

Patients with multiple sclerosis in Taiwan may be at increased risk of developing cancer

2014-01-14
Patients with multiple sclerosis in Taiwan may be at increased risk of developing cancer Individuals with multiple sclerosis may have an increased risk of developing any type of cancer, with an especially high risk of developing breast cancer. That is the conclusion of a ...

New research on sauropod gigantism summarized in publicly available collection

2014-01-14
New research on sauropod gigantism summarized in publicly available collection Giants of Earth's history still pose a wealth of riddles / Publication in PLOS ONE Sauropods, the largest land animals in Earth's history, are still ...

Molecular nano-spies to make light work of disease detection

2014-01-14
Molecular nano-spies to make light work of disease detection A world of cloak-and-dagger pharmaceuticals has come a step closer with the development of stealth compounds programmed to spring into action when they receive the ...

Do cultural differences determine outcome of our activities?

2014-01-14
Do cultural differences determine outcome of our activities? Not necessarily, say researchers Jerusalem, January 14, 2014 -- A generally held assumption in various academic disciplines is that the way people perform various everyday activities – ...

Cell division discovery could offer fresh insight into cancer

2014-01-14
Cell division discovery could offer fresh insight into cancer New findings on how the cells in our bodies are able to renew themselves could aid our understanding of health disorders, including cancer. Scientists have explained a key part of the process ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Obesity treatment risks becoming a ‘two-tier system’, researchers warn

Researchers discuss gaps, obstacles and solutions for contraception

Disrupted connectivity of the brainstem ascending reticular activating system nuclei-left parahippocampal gyrus could reveal mechanisms of delirium following basal ganglia intracerebral hemorrhage

Federated metadata-constrained iRadonMAP framework with mutual learning for all-in-one computed tomography imaging

‘Frazzled’ fruit flies help unravel how neural circuits stay wired

Improving care for life-threatening blood clots

Yonsei University develops a new era of high-voltage solid-state batteries

Underweight and unbalanced: Gut microbial diversity in underweight Japanese women

Astringent, sharper mind: Flavanols trigger brain activity for memory and stress response

New editorial urges clinicians to address sex-based disparities in sepsis treatment

Researchers at MIT develop new nanoparticles that stimulate the immune system to attack ovarian tumors

Opening the door to a vaccine for multiple childhood infections

New clue to ALS and FTD: Faulty protein disrupts brain’s ‘brake’ system

Detailed map of US air-conditioning usage shows who can beat the heat — and who can’t

An electronic fiber for stretchable sensing

New image captures spooky bat signal in the sky

Cobalt single atom-phosphate functionalized reduced graphene oxide/perylenetetracarboxylic acid nanosheet heterojunctions for efficiently photocatalytic H2O2 production

World-first study shows Australian marsupials contaminated with harmful ‘forever chemicals’

Unlocking the brain’s hidden drainage system

Enhancing smoking cessation treatment for people living with HIV

Research spotlight: Mapping how gut neurons respond to bacteria, parasites and food allergy

Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Experimental Physics Investigators awards to UCSB experimentalists opens the door to new insights and innovations

Meerkats get health benefit from mob membership

COVID-19 during pregnancy linked to higher risk of neurodevelopmental disorders in children

How a chorus of synchronized frequencies helps you digest your food

UAlbany researcher partners on $1.2 million NSF grant to explore tropical monsoon rainfall patterns

Checkup time for Fido? Wait might be longer in the country

Genetic variation impact scores: A new tool for earlier heart disease detection

The Lundquist Institute awarded $9 million to launch Community Center of Excellence for Regenerative Medicine

'Really bizarre and exciting': The quantum oscillations are coming from inside

[Press-News.org] Debunking the sixth sense