The latest research on dj vu, out-of-body experiences and other head games

You're Being Watched



What It Is: The eerie sense that a person is lurking behind you can make you spin around-only to find an empty room.


New Research Shows:Neurologist Olaf Blanke and his group at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne were studying an epileptic patient's brain when they stimulated her left temporoparietal junction. Suddenly the subject felt someone just behind her. The apparition mirrored her movements-sometimes it sat silently; other times it wrapped its arms around her.


What It Means:This part of the brain may explain schizophrenics who blame their actions on illusory companions and, as the study authors note, may help us understand "psychiatric manifestations such as paranoia, persecution and alien control."
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