News for anyone who has had a mysterious feeling that they can sense something is happening, but couldn’t quite put a finger on it – science has shown it’s probably just you.

Research is helping debunk the common belief that a sixth sense, also known as extrasensory perception (ESP), exists.

A study led by a team from the University of Melbourne has showed that it is possible to sense when a change has occurred, even when the observer could not see exactly what had changed. 



Importantly however, researchers say this is the result of our standard five senses and a bit of brain trickery, not the result of any extra ability.

“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,” says lead researcher Dr. Piers Howe from the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences

“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 shown pairs of photographs, both of the same person. In some cases, the subject’s appearance would be different in the two photographs, such as slight changes to their hairstyle.

Each photograph was presented for 1.5 seconds with a 1 second break between them. After the last photograph, the observer was asked if 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.

The general idea that something has changed but the inability to pinpoint it appears to come together to create the illusion of ESP.

While the brain remains a fascinating and mysterious realm, this study shows a touch of ignorance and arrogance can leave some people believing their minds are a cut above the rest.

More information is available in the full report.