-- Robert Preidt
WEDNESDAY, Oct. 24 (HealthDay News) -- Even without any external
clues, your body can predict events that are about to happen. For
example, you might sense that your boss is about to show up while
you're playing a video game at your desk.
That's the conclusion of Northwestern University researchers who
analyzed the results of 26 studies published between 1978 and 2010,
and published their findings recently in the journal
Frontiers in Perception Science.
It has already been shown that your subconscious mind sometimes
knows more than your conscious mind, according to study author
Julia Mossbridge, a research associate in the visual perception,
cognition and neuroscience laboratory at Northwestern.
"What hasn't been clear is whether humans have the ability to predict future important events even without any clues as to what might happen," she said in a university news release.
For example, a worker playing a video game while wearing
headphones wouldn't be able to hear if the boss was coming around
"But our analysis suggests that if you were tuned into your body, you might be able to detect these anticipatory changes between two and 10 seconds beforehand and close your video game," Mossbridge said. "You might even have a chance to open that spreadsheet you were supposed to be working on. And if you were lucky, you could do all this before your boss entered the room."
This type of occurrence is sometimes called presentiment (as in
sensing the future) but it's not clear if people are actually
sensing the future.
"I like to call the phenomenon 'anomalous anticipatory activity,'" Mossbridge said. "The phenomenon is anomalous, some scientists argue, because we can't explain it using present-day understanding about how biology works, though explanations related to recent quantum biological findings could potentially make sense. It's anticipatory because it seems to predict future physiological changes in response to an important event without any known clues, and it's an activity because it consists of changes in the cardiopulmonary, skin and nervous systems."
The Parapsychological Association has more about
EBSCO Information Services is fully accredited by URAC. URAC is an independent, nonprofit health care accrediting organization dedicated to promoting health care quality through accreditation, certification and commendation.
Please be aware that this information is provided to supplement the care provided by your physician. It is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. CALL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IMMEDIATELY IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider prior to starting any new treatment or with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
Copyright © EBSCO Information Services. All rights reserved.