Psychic staring effect

The idea was first explored by psychologist Edward B. Titchener in 1898 after students in his junior classes reported being able to "feel" when somebody was looking at them, even though they could not see this person.

His students described the feeling as "a state of unpleasant tingling, which gathers in volume and intensity until a movement which shall relieve it becomes inevitable".

The subjects' answers were correct 50.2% of the time, a result that Coover called an "astonishing approximation" of pure chance.

[6] A 1983 experiment using closed-circuit television cameras to watch the subjects reported a 74% success rate,[7] although later research suggested that the randomness of the sequences had not been controlled for.

[6][9] Sheldrake summarized his case in the Journal of Consciousness Studies, saying that he found a hit rate of 53.1%, with two subjects "nearly always right, scoring way above chance levels".

[14] These mental processes occur subconsciously and utilize information from peripheral vision; this may contribute to the sensation that a "sixth sense" alerted the person being gazed upon.