Mapping the Sixth Sense(?)
Most of us have felt it before -- that sinking feeling that something is about to happen, that something is not quite right. It’s the stuff of scary movies, X-Files episodes and psychic visits.
But according to a new study by Ron Rensink, an associate professor in both psychology and computer science at UBC, (University of British Columbia), the "sixth sense" is a distinct mode of visual perception and may be something all of us can learn to employ.
He calls it "mindsight" -- the phenomenon where people can sense a change but do not see it (i.e. have a visual experience of it) for several seconds.
"There is something there -- people do have access to this other subsystem," says Rensink..
"Vision is not just one ability, it’s not just one sense. There is vision for conscious perception -- this picture you have of what’s going on -- and there is also vision for action. It turns out these are two very different subsystems -- one of them is conscious, one of them is non-conscious...
press release/ archived
~Is this phenomenon similar to listening without hearing; eating without tasting; talking without communicating; living without thriving? To those people (you DON'T know who you are) 'without a clue'?
Posted by Cieciel at October 27, 2004 11:57 PM