The sixth sense is a term used to describe a sense beyond the five conventional senses. Researchers have discovered physiological senses beyond the five, such as equilibraception and the vomeronasal organ. Some people believe in a more ephemeral version of the sixth sense that allows people to predict the future, but studies have concluded that it does not exist. The belief in the sixth sense is often supported by confirmation bias.
A sixth sense is a sense beyond the five conventionally accepted physiological senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. Many people use the term to describe a particularly sensitive sense of intuition or perception that allows people to predict events or pick up on subtle clues that others are missing. People also sometimes describe extrasensory perception (ESP) as a sixth sense, emphasizing the idea that it is paranormal in nature.
In fact, researchers have discovered several physiological senses beyond the well-known five. For example, equilibraception, the human sense of balance, is sometimes referred to as a sixth sense. Researchers have also discovered a special structure in the nose called the vomeronasal organ that appears to pick up on specific hormonal signals. In 1999, Harvard researchers suggested that humans may have communicated with hormone signals at some point in their evolutionary history.
Aside from the true physiological sixth sense, some people believe that the more ephemeral version of this sense allows people to predict the future, sometimes with varying degrees of success. When someone has particularly prescient intuition, for example, someone might say they have “a sixth sense.” It is also used to explain paranormal phenomena such as clairvoyance, the supposed ability to see into the future. In this sense, people may also use the term “second sight” to describe it.
There have been a number of studies on extrasensory perception to find out if people can really predict things. Most of these studies have concluded that, in the sense of prediction or intuition that cannot be explained by rational means, sixth sense does not exist. However, some people are very good at identifying subtle clues in a situation that they can use to their advantage, and people with less perceptive personalities might mistake this skill for something paranormal.
One of the most common pieces of evidence gathered to support the sixth sense idea is an apocryphal story about a friend of a friend who “had a bad feeling” and acted on it, avoiding a disastrous fate. This is an example of a cognitive bias known as confirmation bias, which leads people to discard data that doesn’t confirm their beliefs. For every bad feeling it pays off, in other words, people have many more bad feelings and hunches that never matter, but they forget about them and focus on the one that confirmed their belief in the mysterious hunch.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
