Sixth sense is not so special

Research conducted at the University of Melbourne has found that the presence of a sixth sense, also known as extrasensory perception (ESP), exists in some form but is nothing extraordinary. The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE, where the authors theorised that “it may be possible to reliably detect the occurrence of changes without being able to identify or localise what has changed”.

In the study, observers were presented with pairs of colour photographs, both of the same woman. In some cases, her appearance would be slightly different in each photograph; for example, she might have a different hairstyle. Each photograph was presented for 1.5 seconds with a one second break between them, after which the observer was asked whether a change had occurred and to identify the change from a list of nine possible options.

The participants could generally detect when a change had occurred even when they could not identify exactly what had changed. 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 it.

“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,” said lead researcher Dr Piers Howe. “This alleged ability is sometimes referred to as a sixth sense or ESP.”

Dr Howe said the university’s research is the first to show in a scientific study that people can reliably sense changes that they cannot visually identify, and that “this ability was not due to extrasensory perception or a sixth sense”.