Can you tell if someone is staring at you? Is the response to the feeling of being watched due to an unknown force called the �staring effect�? Currently, this is being popularized through experiments by Rupert Sheldrake, a biochemist in England with an interest in mystical ideas, who claims he received scientifically significant results that one reacts to being stared at. Sheldrake believes that vision may be projected mentally out of the body to account for this effect. The claim that one responds in some way to someone�s stare is not a new idea. Past studies have found that humans are sensitive to their surroundings as an instinctive survival feature and most people are uncomfortable being stared at. Your eye is attracted to movement or a perceived threatening image in your peripheral vision causing you to turn and discover that someone may be looking at you. There also may be other sensory cues that one may respond to. There is also the involuntary bodily response to the suggestion (especially from one�s own inner thoughts) that someone might be staring at you � you suddenly notice the tension in your neck or a tingling sensation in the skin. These factors account for most of the incidents that might constitute a �staring effect�. Sheldrake�s experiments have not passed scientific scrutiny � critics have cited problems with the controls in the methods and certainly with the hypothesis of projecting vision outside the body. There are no accepted studies that show a measure of the physical �power� of a strong gaze. Sheldrake continues to encourage others to replicate his experiments and stands by his disputed results.
- Sharon Hill (Scientist) |
Skeptic Dictionary : ��
Parascope: ��
Australian Skeptics: ��