If you can sense someone's gaze, then you are not alone. Surprisingly, 87% of people think they feel when someone is secretly watching them. But do we really have this ability?
Dr. Gary Rosenthal and three colleagues from Nicholls University in Louisiana decided to find out for sure and conducted an experiment in which 140 people took turns sitting in a room where there was a special mirror and a video camera transparent on the back. The subjects were told that for five minutes they could be observed at any time. After that, people reported whether they felt someone's gaze and from where - through a mirror or video camera. The researchers found that the participants in the experiment did not understand when they were being observed, except for a few cases.
This means that we are not able to feel when they are looking at us. Then why are so many people convinced otherwise? Probably, a person who believes in something is looking for confirmation of this and ignores everything that contradicts it. Ultimately, people are deceiving themselves. Rosenthal's team emphasizes that 87% of people believed in their ability before participating in the experiment. And even after reading the results of the study, more than ¾ of the subjects continued to claim that they could feel the gaze directed at them.
