Gaze Detection: Can You Sense When You’re Being Watched?

Most of us have experienced the feeling of being watched. We get a small tingly feeling alerting us to the gaze of another. How is it possible for us to detect this and what implications could this have for the paranormal?

What does science say?

Scientists have studied this strange phenomenon and concluded that it is in fact real. Humans have developed a keen sense of when someone or something is looking at us. While this sense looks like it is a psychic phenomenon for the most part we are using the visual cortex in our brains to detect the gaze of others. Our brains detect the stares of others through our eyes even if we are not consciously aware of it.

We are able to register the slightest change in someones body position which indicates to us if they are looking at us or not. If someone stares at you then moves their gaze off of you by turning just a few degrees the eerie feeling of gaze detection quickly disappears.

Other areas of the brain such as the amygdala are also involved in gaze detection but scientists have not been able to completely explain how it all works.

Detecting the gaze of another when we can see them is one thing but many people anecdotally claim that they can feel someones gaze upon them even if they are not able to see the person staring at them.

A 2013 study published in Current Biology concluded that humans are able to detect gazes of people they can’t see however they believe this is due to our brains assuming someone is watching us, if we can’t be sure they aren’t, as a failsafe. The accuracy of our ability to detect stares goes down significantly if the person staring at us is not within our field of vision.

Beyond Science

Many people claim to have experienced a sensation of being watched. It is like a magnetic force that pulls your attention in the direction of whatever it is that’s staring at you.

Many paranormal encounters begin with a sense of being watched. Often this sensation will occur out of nowhere as a distinct jolt causing anxiety and hyper awareness.

Believers in the paranormal would argue that it is possible that the part of the brain that is able to detect the gaze of others subconsciously is also able to detect the presence of paranormal entities. We may not be able to see these entities with our eyes but the part of our brain that deals with threat detection is activated by them subconsciously.

We could run headlong into this theory and conclude that its possible for there to be a whole other dimension surrounding us that we can only detect subconsciously. Whenever we sense danger for no discernable reason we may in fact be sensing the presence of something paranormal that we can’t see with our eyes.

People have reported experiencing an intense sense of panic for no reason especially while in the wilderness or other liminal spaces. Maybe this could be related to our inbuilt perception of danger that seems to stretch beyond what our eyes can process.

Like many aspects of the paranormal science is able to explain away 90% of it. There are edge cases however that evade explanation and this is where the most interesting stories lie.

If you enjoyed this article you may also enjoy reading about people experiencing panic in the wilderness or the mysterious Bennington Triangle.