Sensation of presence, is there someone else with us?

Perhaps you have ever felt that there is someone in the same room where you are and yet you are alone. This sensation of presence, of feeling that some being is close to you, is a phenomenon that occurs more frequently than we think.. That doesn’t make it any less chilling.

The phenomenon we are referring to is experienced as very real. People who experience it feel that there is someone nearby, although they cannot see it. The person has the feeling that they are not alone, even if there is no one around them. She is also unable to clearly identify any stimulus that supports this sensation, such as a voice, music or any other similar sign.

Is there really a ghost next to you?

Researchers have tried to explain this phenomenon in a rational and scientific way.. To do this, they designed an experiment in which some people were allowed to “feel” this presence. The scientists recruited 48 healthy volunteers who had never experienced the sensation of presence in order to alter certain neural signals in certain regions of their brains.

With their eyes covered, the experimental subjects had to manipulate a robot with their hands. At the same time, another robot traced the same movements on the volunteers’ backs. The result was the following: when the movements occurred at the same time, the individuals did not feel anything out of the ordinary.

However, When the movements did not occur at the same time, a third of them reported feeling the presence of a ghost in the room. There were even some individuals who were so scared that they asked for the blindfold to be removed and the experiment to end.

This same team of researchers performed a brain scan on 12 people with neurological disorders who had already had this sensation of presence. The objective was to determine which part of the brain was associated with this phenomenon. The experiment confirmed that the parts involved were those associated with self-awareness, movement and the position of the body in space.

Phenomena that produce a sensation of presence

Cognitive distortions are easier to experimental than it seems. In addition to the experiment mentioned in the previous lines, there are other documented phenomena that produce a sensation of presence.

One of them is infrasound. Those frequencies below 20 Hz do not produce a sensory correlate, but they do produce physiological excitation. A 2018 study found that such low-frequency sounds are capable of triggering amazement in people, as well as causing them to become scared more easily.

On the other hand, electromagnetic stimulation has a similar effect. Scientist Michael Persinger demonstrated that these types of invisible fields generate the experience of sharing space with an invisible presence.

The brain is solely responsible for the sensation of presence

The results of previous research clarify that the robot’s movements temporarily change brain function in the aforementioned regions. It happened that when people feel the presence of a ghost, what really happens is that the brain becomes confused. The brain miscalculates the position of the body and identifies it as belonging to another person.

When the brain presents a neurological abnormality, or when it is stimulated by a robot, it can create a second representation of its own body. This is perceived as a strange presence by the individual. This presence makes the same movements that individuals make and maintains the same position.

The psychology of imagination

The psychopathology of imagination and perception constitutes a central topic for psychopathological research.. In fact, psychological research has given rise to a good number of explanatory theories about perception and imagination. However, these theories differ in many aspects.

Illusion is a clear example that perception is not “objectively” determined. Perception is not only influenced by the physical characteristics of the stimulus to be perceived. In the process of perceiving something, the organism reacts to stimuli based on its predispositions, expectations and previous experiences.

All this leads us to affirm that our perceptual processing is not guided only by data, but also by our ideas, judgments and concepts. For example, if we believe in ghosts, when we experience the sensation of presence we will truly believe that a ghost has appeared at our side.

But how do we know that certain events are really happening? As Helmohltz pointed out more than a century ago, it shouldn’t be so obvious why objects appear red, green, cold, or hot to us. These sensations belong to our nervous system and not to the object itself.

That’s why, The strange thing is that we perceive objects “outside”, when the processing, which is our immediate experience, occurs “inside”. However, other kinds of experiences, such as dreams, imagination or thinking, we experience “inside.”

It is important to remember that judgment and interpretation are involved in the act of perceiving something. This implies that Perceptual inaccuracies and deceptions or errors of the senses are as normal as the opposite, at least in terms of probability (Slade and Bentall, 1988).

The sensation of presence is a perceptual distortion

Disorders of perception and imagination are usually classified into two groups: perceptual distortions and deceptions. (Hamilton, 1985; Sims, 1988). Perceptual distortions are only possible through the participation of the senses. These distortions occur when a stimulus that exists outside of us is perceived in a different way than we would expect.

Besides, In many cases, perceptual distortions have their origin in organic disorders. These disorders are usually temporary and can affect both the reception by the senses and the interpretation made by our brain.

In the case of perceptual deceptions, a new perceptual experience is produced that is not based on stimuli that really exist outside the person. (as happens in hallucinations). Furthermore, this perceptual experience usually coexists with the rest of the “normal” perceptions. Finally, it is maintained even though the stimulus that produced the initial perception is no longer physically present.

So how do we classify the feeling of presence? Well, if we reread the previous paragraphs, we could classify the sensation of presence within perceptual distortions. Within perceptual distortions we can make the following classification:

Hyperesthesias versus hypoesthesias: anomalies in the perception of intensity (for example, in the intensity of pain). Anomalies in the perception of quality. Metamorphopsias: anomalies in the perception of size and/or shape. Anomalies in perceptual integration. Illusions: this is where we would encounter the feeling of presence and pareidolias. Pareidolias refer to the psychological phenomenon of finding images, figures and faces, perceiving familiar shapes where there are none, being a very common game among children.

If I feel the presence of a ghost, am I having an illusion?

Indeed, according to the researchers and based on the previous classification, it seems that this is the case. An illusion is a perceptual distortion to the extent that it is a mistaken perception of a specific object.. Everyday life offers us abundant examples of illusory experiences.

How many times have we thought we saw a friend we were waiting for at the cinema door. Who has not heard footsteps behind them when walking down a lonely, dark alley. Or who hasn’t ever felt the presence of someone (whether a ghost or not) when in reality there is no one else in the room.

If you have ever suffered from the feeling of presence, don’t worry. Feeling the presence of “someone” is not a sign of going crazy.. This phenomenon can occur in certain life situations, such as extreme physical fatigue or extreme loneliness.

However, The sensation of presence can also appear associated with states of pathological anxiety and fear, schizophrenia, hysteria and organic mental disorders.. In this case, we recommend that you go to a specialist to evaluate your case in detail.

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