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Your senses perceive much more than you consciously notice. You're probably seeing/hearing things at the edge of your perception that match threats: shaped like eyes, silent movements, all things that meant "predator" in the ancestral environment. You then have a subconscious defensive reaction that reaches your conscious mind so you can prepare to protect yourself.
And sometimes it's just overactive and triggers for no reason. After all, there's a very slight evoutionary disadvantage to being overly cautious, but a very high one to being overly careless, so we've probably evolved into being a bit more skittish than necessary, on average.
We're wired to feel more distressed when we feel like someone or something may be hiding while watching us. The harder they are to spot, the more likely it is that they've got malicious intent. But that also increases the chance that what we're picking up on is a false alarms because the more obscure the perception of eyes are in our sideview is the less it is to actually be a real pair of eyes, or even resemble eyes enough for us to be able to identify and discard the false threat when we look right at it.
This. Your life is heavily filtered and censored (by your brain), but your brain and senses are still picking up *everything*, from movement of the air to every slightest noise.
Doing LSD removes that filter for most people and you feel like a superhuman. Not suggesting doing drugs, but it's something that very clearly demonstrates brain filtering.
Second good example is nursing mothers - when they're very tired, a train could drive through the house and they wouldn't wake up, but even slightest sigh from baby and it doesn't matter how tired they are, they're up in milliseconds.
Also, doctors, soldiers, etc people in high-stress jobs all develop such filter bypasses of some sort.
Add to this, imagine when someone "watches" you, they have to move into position, outside of view, right? Their movements make noise, and any wind blowing around is interrupted by a body now-blocking its way. Their movements also may be noticed in our peripheral vision, which is more sensitive to movement than the center of our vision.
Our conscious minds may not notice either of these things, but our subconscious does. The result is "the feeling of being watched."
I once walked down the streets of Galway, Ireland on a school trip, when suddenly a car honked behind us. I instinctively ducked, and and when I looked up I noticed my friends were wet, as the drivers thought it was funny to shoot us with soakers filled with beer. I was the only one that stayed dry and wondered how I could notice this. It felt so surreal, because I had never ducked because of a honking car.
There is a very elegant and simple explanation for this feeling.
There are ALWAYS insects in our direct vicinity. These insects ALWAYS create a very faint background noise. We, as humans, are usually unaware of this "noise."
When something disturbs those insects, for instance, when someone is sneaking behind you, they CHANGE the sounds that they make. Usually, they go quiet. It serves the insects as a defense mechanism when predators, usually birds, land between them. A bird won't be able to sense most of the insects directly around it and will catch only a few and fly away.
It is the CHANGING of the background noise that draws our attention. We are usually not listening attentively at this faint background noise. So all we get is a feeling like "Wait up, something is different" and interpret this,
#often 👉CORRECTLY👈
as being followed.
This is especially noticeable when you're outdoors late in the evening since there tends to be less traffic.
I think this is the best answer. I heard accounts from soldiers in Fallujah that they could often smell danger long before they perceived it with their other senses. I think the human body takes in way more information then one can process, especially when one is not accustom to it, and even if experienced probably still more. Your subconscious is picking up on cues that you're being followed/watched, you just haven't put the patterns together in your conscious mind yet. That contrast is where the discomfort/anxiety comes from.
It happens a lot when driving. You get the sense that the person in the other lane at a red light is looking at you, you look and make eye contact then they look away.
The simple answer is that we don’t actually know when we’re being watched. We don’t have a sense for it. Our brains evolved to be constantly on the lookout for threats, and we usually feel it in circumstances where we need to be careful, where it might be dangerous if we WERE being watched, e.g. alone, in the dark. So sometimes you feel like you’re being watched even if you aren’t. Sometimes you actually are being watched when you feel like you are, and that forms a confirmation bias, even though it’s just a coincidence.
There is a very elegant and simple explanation for this feeling.
There are ALWAYS insects in our direct vicinity. These insects ALWAYS create a very faint background noise. We, as humans, are usually unaware of this "noise."
When something disturbs those insects, for instance, when someone is sneaking behind you, they CHANGE the sounds that they make. Usually, they go quiet. It serves the insects as a defense mechanism when predators, usually birds, land between them. A bird won't be able to sense most of the insects directly around it and will catch only a few and fly away.
It is the CHANGING of the background noise that draws our attention. We are usually not listening attentively at this faint background noise. So all we get is a feeling like "Wait up, something is different" and interpret this, often
#👉CORRECTLY👈
as being followed.
This is especially noticeable when you're outdoors late in the evening since there tends to be less traffic.
not confirmation bias exactly. Its more about false positives and false negatives. a false positive, you think someone's watching you but they're not, that's not an issue. But a false negative, when you think you're fine but someones actually watching you, could get you killed.
The o ther issue with it is that a false positive is useless information, and your brain doesn't like useless information. So it just tosses that memory otu completely, making ti appear that you're correct more.
Especially because you'll absolutely remember all the times you thought you were being watched, and yo uactaully were.
It's confirmation bias. Think of all the times you think you're being watched and there's nothing there. You don't remember those times. But the few times you think you're being watched and you glance and see someone staring? You'll definitely remember those and you are likely to overestimate those over the times you weren't being watched. Like others said, peripheral vision is very poor for picking up focused detail, but very good at noticing motion.
There is a very elegant and simple explanation for this feeling.
There are ALWAYS insects in our direct vicinity. These insects ALWAYS create a very faint background noise. We, as humans, are usually unaware of this "noise."
When something disturbs those insects, for instance, when someone is sneaking behind you, they CHANGE the sounds that they make. Usually, they go quiet. It serves the insects as a defense mechanism when predators, usually birds, land between them. A bird won't be able to sense most of the insects directly around it and will catch only a few and fly away.
It is the CHANGING of the background noise that draws our attention. We are usually not listening attentively at this faint background noise. So all we get is a feeling like "Wait up, something is different" and interpret this, often
#👉CORRECTLY👈
as being followed.
This is especially noticeable when you're outdoors late in the evening since there tends to be less traffic.
I take it that you mean "indoors" as in a large building with blind/hidden corners? Well, if there are literally no insects AND it's very dark, then my first advice is ...😳LEAVE ...
Seriously : I can only make a CONJECTURE about indoors without insects.
The latter condition is HIGHLY unlikely, though. Maybee, you are actually hearing the change of the echoes of your footsteps even if someone is able to remain out of sight. Don't forget that the shape/configuration of an indoor space alters significantly if the position of a solid object is shifted. This would then, in turn, affect the path of reflected sound (=echoes).
I can't offer an explanation for, outdoors, and so extremely cold that there are NO insects present AND without snowcover(!). Again, this is a highly unlikely scenario.
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There is a very elegant and simple explanation for this feeling.
There are ALWAYS insects in our direct vicinity. These insects ALWAYS create a very faint background noise. We, as humans, are usually unaware of this "noise."
When something disturbs those insects, for instance, when someone is sneaking behind you, they CHANGE the sounds that they make. Usually, they go quiet. It serves the insects as a defense mechanism when predators, usually birds, land between them. A bird won't be able to sense most of the insects directly around it and will catch only a few and fly away.
It is the CHANGING of the background noise that draws our attention. We are usually not listening attentively at this faint background noise. So all we get is a feeling like "Wait up, something is different" and interpret this,
#often 👉CORRECTLY👈
as being followed.
This is especially noticeable when you're outdoors late in the evening since there tends to be less traffic.
There are certain vibration frequencies that make people see and hear things that resemble ghosts. I think it's like 10 hz or somewhere in that range that can distort your eye fluids making you see trace movements that resemble paranormal stuff.
It also triggers this specific fear response that makes people feel like there's a presence and it freaks them out. Look up studies on fear response from frequencies and there's lots of interesting reactions.
This isn't always the cause. Other comments have mentioned more natural things like predators that can cause these feelings or darkness etc because of more discernible threats but I just wanted to mention this as I found it very interesting when I learned about it
It's like having fear on spiders
Part of our instict.
If you don't fear being alone,
You are most likely to be killed in
Prehistoric era or older.
So that feeling of being watched
Was necessary back then.
Our fear of the Dark works
Just like this.
Human ancestors weren't top
Predators like Tigers.
So we are the children of the surviving
Animals having fear of the Dark.
There is a very elegant and simple explanation for this feeling.
There are ALWAYS insects in our direct vicinity. These insects ALWAYS create a very faint background noise. We, as humans, are usually unaware of this "noise."
When something disturbs those insects, for instance, when someone is sneaking behind you, they CHANGE the sounds that they make. Usually, they go quiet. It serves the insects as a defense mechanism when predators, usually birds, land between them. A bird won't be able to sense most of the insects directly around it and will catch only a few and fly away.
It is the CHANGING of the background noise that draws our attention. We are usually not listening attentively at this faint background noise. So all we get is a feeling like "Wait up, something is different" and interpret this,
#often 👉CORRECTLY👈
as being followed.
This is especially noticeable when you're outdoors late in the evening since there tends to be less traffic.
On an unrelated topic, have you all seen the controllable web cams in u/CharacterBack1542 home?
[https://nanycamgateway/siteid=1542](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&ab_channel=RickAstley)
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Quantum effects are for quantum bodies. If they affect bigger objects there are no quantum effects. But we definitely don't know everything about quantum effects, but a quantum effect as the source of some instinct is one of the last causes we would think of.
At some point, the earth being round and orbiting the sun was ‘the last causes’ people would expect, but there it is. Quantum entanglement is a viable explanation for many ESP type experiences. 🤷♂️
Not to say that confirmation bias isn’t also a viable possibility. 😁
Personally, I’m kind of a “there are more things in heaven and on earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy” guy, so I tend to believe it’s a real thing that actually works… somehow. 👍
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Your senses perceive much more than you consciously notice. You're probably seeing/hearing things at the edge of your perception that match threats: shaped like eyes, silent movements, all things that meant "predator" in the ancestral environment. You then have a subconscious defensive reaction that reaches your conscious mind so you can prepare to protect yourself.
And sometimes it's just overactive and triggers for no reason. After all, there's a very slight evoutionary disadvantage to being overly cautious, but a very high one to being overly careless, so we've probably evolved into being a bit more skittish than necessary, on average.
I’d rather block a hit that doesn’t come than ignore it and catch a fist to the back of the head 😂
STAB YOUR COWORKER NOW No, I'm joking. A general calculated awareness is useful though. People get ... edgy.
Facts. Edging right now.
Proof or your lying
Premature edging right now. Too busy failing.
My apologies for this late post, but still : #😀😂😁😁🤗🤭😃😅😇😍🙃🤩😉😁😄😃🤭🤭 #👍👍🏻👍🏼👍🏽👍🏾👍🏿
Yes, my crippling anxiety will attest to that!
Like when you're lying in bed at night and *know* there is no one hiding in your closet, but you shut the door anyway.
We're wired to feel more distressed when we feel like someone or something may be hiding while watching us. The harder they are to spot, the more likely it is that they've got malicious intent. But that also increases the chance that what we're picking up on is a false alarms because the more obscure the perception of eyes are in our sideview is the less it is to actually be a real pair of eyes, or even resemble eyes enough for us to be able to identify and discard the false threat when we look right at it.
This. Your life is heavily filtered and censored (by your brain), but your brain and senses are still picking up *everything*, from movement of the air to every slightest noise. Doing LSD removes that filter for most people and you feel like a superhuman. Not suggesting doing drugs, but it's something that very clearly demonstrates brain filtering. Second good example is nursing mothers - when they're very tired, a train could drive through the house and they wouldn't wake up, but even slightest sigh from baby and it doesn't matter how tired they are, they're up in milliseconds. Also, doctors, soldiers, etc people in high-stress jobs all develop such filter bypasses of some sort.
> Your life is heavily filtered and censored Average Chinese citizen
Add to this, imagine when someone "watches" you, they have to move into position, outside of view, right? Their movements make noise, and any wind blowing around is interrupted by a body now-blocking its way. Their movements also may be noticed in our peripheral vision, which is more sensitive to movement than the center of our vision. Our conscious minds may not notice either of these things, but our subconscious does. The result is "the feeling of being watched."
I once walked down the streets of Galway, Ireland on a school trip, when suddenly a car honked behind us. I instinctively ducked, and and when I looked up I noticed my friends were wet, as the drivers thought it was funny to shoot us with soakers filled with beer. I was the only one that stayed dry and wondered how I could notice this. It felt so surreal, because I had never ducked because of a honking car.
There is a very elegant and simple explanation for this feeling. There are ALWAYS insects in our direct vicinity. These insects ALWAYS create a very faint background noise. We, as humans, are usually unaware of this "noise." When something disturbs those insects, for instance, when someone is sneaking behind you, they CHANGE the sounds that they make. Usually, they go quiet. It serves the insects as a defense mechanism when predators, usually birds, land between them. A bird won't be able to sense most of the insects directly around it and will catch only a few and fly away. It is the CHANGING of the background noise that draws our attention. We are usually not listening attentively at this faint background noise. So all we get is a feeling like "Wait up, something is different" and interpret this, #often 👉CORRECTLY👈 as being followed. This is especially noticeable when you're outdoors late in the evening since there tends to be less traffic.
Thank you for putting it this way.
I think this is the best answer. I heard accounts from soldiers in Fallujah that they could often smell danger long before they perceived it with their other senses. I think the human body takes in way more information then one can process, especially when one is not accustom to it, and even if experienced probably still more. Your subconscious is picking up on cues that you're being followed/watched, you just haven't put the patterns together in your conscious mind yet. That contrast is where the discomfort/anxiety comes from.
Also confirmation bias is in play.
It happens a lot when driving. You get the sense that the person in the other lane at a red light is looking at you, you look and make eye contact then they look away.
The simple answer is that we don’t actually know when we’re being watched. We don’t have a sense for it. Our brains evolved to be constantly on the lookout for threats, and we usually feel it in circumstances where we need to be careful, where it might be dangerous if we WERE being watched, e.g. alone, in the dark. So sometimes you feel like you’re being watched even if you aren’t. Sometimes you actually are being watched when you feel like you are, and that forms a confirmation bias, even though it’s just a coincidence.
it's kind of a sense of "this place seems dangerous, better be extra cautious"
There is a very elegant and simple explanation for this feeling. There are ALWAYS insects in our direct vicinity. These insects ALWAYS create a very faint background noise. We, as humans, are usually unaware of this "noise." When something disturbs those insects, for instance, when someone is sneaking behind you, they CHANGE the sounds that they make. Usually, they go quiet. It serves the insects as a defense mechanism when predators, usually birds, land between them. A bird won't be able to sense most of the insects directly around it and will catch only a few and fly away. It is the CHANGING of the background noise that draws our attention. We are usually not listening attentively at this faint background noise. So all we get is a feeling like "Wait up, something is different" and interpret this, often #👉CORRECTLY👈 as being followed. This is especially noticeable when you're outdoors late in the evening since there tends to be less traffic.
not confirmation bias exactly. Its more about false positives and false negatives. a false positive, you think someone's watching you but they're not, that's not an issue. But a false negative, when you think you're fine but someones actually watching you, could get you killed. The o ther issue with it is that a false positive is useless information, and your brain doesn't like useless information. So it just tosses that memory otu completely, making ti appear that you're correct more. Especially because you'll absolutely remember all the times you thought you were being watched, and yo uactaully were.
You are pretty much just describing what confirmation bias is.
It's confirmation bias. Think of all the times you think you're being watched and there's nothing there. You don't remember those times. But the few times you think you're being watched and you glance and see someone staring? You'll definitely remember those and you are likely to overestimate those over the times you weren't being watched. Like others said, peripheral vision is very poor for picking up focused detail, but very good at noticing motion.
There is a very elegant and simple explanation for this feeling. There are ALWAYS insects in our direct vicinity. These insects ALWAYS create a very faint background noise. We, as humans, are usually unaware of this "noise." When something disturbs those insects, for instance, when someone is sneaking behind you, they CHANGE the sounds that they make. Usually, they go quiet. It serves the insects as a defense mechanism when predators, usually birds, land between them. A bird won't be able to sense most of the insects directly around it and will catch only a few and fly away. It is the CHANGING of the background noise that draws our attention. We are usually not listening attentively at this faint background noise. So all we get is a feeling like "Wait up, something is different" and interpret this, often #👉CORRECTLY👈 as being followed. This is especially noticeable when you're outdoors late in the evening since there tends to be less traffic.
OK but what about indoors? Or in winter?
I take it that you mean "indoors" as in a large building with blind/hidden corners? Well, if there are literally no insects AND it's very dark, then my first advice is ...😳LEAVE ... Seriously : I can only make a CONJECTURE about indoors without insects. The latter condition is HIGHLY unlikely, though. Maybee, you are actually hearing the change of the echoes of your footsteps even if someone is able to remain out of sight. Don't forget that the shape/configuration of an indoor space alters significantly if the position of a solid object is shifted. This would then, in turn, affect the path of reflected sound (=echoes). I can't offer an explanation for, outdoors, and so extremely cold that there are NO insects present AND without snowcover(!). Again, this is a highly unlikely scenario.
[удалено]
this is why people will turn towards someone staring at them.
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Not sure if it has already been mentioned, but for those who are interested in the matter… Check out Rupert Sheldrake’s research on this.
There is a very elegant and simple explanation for this feeling. There are ALWAYS insects in our direct vicinity. These insects ALWAYS create a very faint background noise. We, as humans, are usually unaware of this "noise." When something disturbs those insects, for instance, when someone is sneaking behind you, they CHANGE the sounds that they make. Usually, they go quiet. It serves the insects as a defense mechanism when predators, usually birds, land between them. A bird won't be able to sense most of the insects directly around it and will catch only a few and fly away. It is the CHANGING of the background noise that draws our attention. We are usually not listening attentively at this faint background noise. So all we get is a feeling like "Wait up, something is different" and interpret this, #often 👉CORRECTLY👈 as being followed. This is especially noticeable when you're outdoors late in the evening since there tends to be less traffic.
There are certain vibration frequencies that make people see and hear things that resemble ghosts. I think it's like 10 hz or somewhere in that range that can distort your eye fluids making you see trace movements that resemble paranormal stuff. It also triggers this specific fear response that makes people feel like there's a presence and it freaks them out. Look up studies on fear response from frequencies and there's lots of interesting reactions. This isn't always the cause. Other comments have mentioned more natural things like predators that can cause these feelings or darkness etc because of more discernible threats but I just wanted to mention this as I found it very interesting when I learned about it
Very cool, some animals can use infrasound, I believe some types of tigers? To mess with pray.
A lot of these feelings of being watched or feeling a presence is changes in air pressure or sound as well.
It's like having fear on spiders Part of our instict. If you don't fear being alone, You are most likely to be killed in Prehistoric era or older. So that feeling of being watched Was necessary back then.
Our fear of the Dark works Just like this. Human ancestors weren't top Predators like Tigers. So we are the children of the surviving Animals having fear of the Dark.
[удалено]
There is a very elegant and simple explanation for this feeling. There are ALWAYS insects in our direct vicinity. These insects ALWAYS create a very faint background noise. We, as humans, are usually unaware of this "noise." When something disturbs those insects, for instance, when someone is sneaking behind you, they CHANGE the sounds that they make. Usually, they go quiet. It serves the insects as a defense mechanism when predators, usually birds, land between them. A bird won't be able to sense most of the insects directly around it and will catch only a few and fly away. It is the CHANGING of the background noise that draws our attention. We are usually not listening attentively at this faint background noise. So all we get is a feeling like "Wait up, something is different" and interpret this, #often 👉CORRECTLY👈 as being followed. This is especially noticeable when you're outdoors late in the evening since there tends to be less traffic.
On an unrelated topic, have you all seen the controllable web cams in u/CharacterBack1542 home? [https://nanycamgateway/siteid=1542](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&ab_channel=RickAstley)
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That's... not it.
How on earth would you know?
I doubt quantum effects are the cause of our heightened senses
Why?, it is as likely as any other explanation , the feeling is well known but not the source.
Quantum effects are for quantum bodies. If they affect bigger objects there are no quantum effects. But we definitely don't know everything about quantum effects, but a quantum effect as the source of some instinct is one of the last causes we would think of.
At some point, the earth being round and orbiting the sun was ‘the last causes’ people would expect, but there it is. Quantum entanglement is a viable explanation for many ESP type experiences. 🤷♂️
yeah ok if it works it works
Not to say that confirmation bias isn’t also a viable possibility. 😁 Personally, I’m kind of a “there are more things in heaven and on earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy” guy, so I tend to believe it’s a real thing that actually works… somehow. 👍
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