Some studies have found that up to 94% of people report that they have experienced the feeling of eyes upon them and turned around to find out they were indeed being watched.
The psychic staring effect (sometimes called scopaesthesia) is a supposed phenomenon in which humans detect being stared at by extrasensory means. The idea was first explored by psychologist Edward B.
Often, it's as simple as the position of the person's head or body. If both the head and body are turned toward you, it's clear where the person's attention is focused. It's even more obvious when the person's body is pointed away from you but their head is facing you.
The answer is yes, our minds can sense someone staring at us even when we cannot see it/him/her or are asleep. The explanation for this is that our minds are constantly receiving and processing information from our environment, even when we are not consciously aware of it.
Basically, the sense of being seen or watched can be understood as having the impression that someone else is around, potentially seeing, observing, and maybe even reacting to one's own actions.
The biological phenomenon is known as “gaze detection” or “gaze perception.” Neurological studies have found that the brain cells that initiate this response are very precise. If someone turns their gaze off of you by turning just a few degrees to their left or right, that eerie feeling quickly fades.
Social anxiety can make individuals prone to constantly worrying about being watched — but typically only when they're in public. However, for those, like me, who feel watched even when they're alone, the perpetual fear might be a result of formative childhood experiences.
Hypnopompic hallucinations occur while a person is waking up, and hypnagogic hallucinations occur while falling asleep. In 86% of cases, hypnopompic hallucinations are visual. They often involve seeing moving shapes and colors, or images of animals or people. Between 8% and 34% of these hallucinations involve sound.
Ghostly presences – the feeling of someone near you when there's no one there – could be down to your brain trying to make sense of conflicting information. For the first time, the brain regions involved in such hallucinations have been identified – and a ghost presence induced in healthy people.
Watch for Their Eye Gaze
Like touch, eye contact triggers the release of oxytocin. When someone is attracted to you, they subconsciously will try engaging in lots of mutual eye contact. They do this to feel closer to you, and because they are interested in you and what you are saying.
It might not be possible to read a person's exact thoughts from just looking at their eyes. This is great—because from the perspective of the observed, the privacy of thoughts is maintained. But eyes tell us much more than we sometimes assume—and our eyes, unlike our mouths, cannot lie.
An individual's eyes can reveal a lot about them, including their mood, feelings, and even emotions. By simply looking at them, eyes can convey a warm, bright, and inviting vibe as well as a cold and repellent one – they are the window to a person's soul.
Like many forms of OCD, compulsive staring starts with an intrusive thought, or obsession, that leads to excessive stress, anxiety or physical discomfort followed by taking an action, or compulsion, in order to ease those negative thoughts or feelings.
Social anxiety disorder is an intense, persistent fear of being watched and judged by others. This fear can affect work, school, and other daily activities. It can even make it hard to make and keep friends. The good news is social anxiety disorder is treatable.
What is scopophobia? Scopophobia is an exaggerated fear of being looked at or watched. People with scopophobia typically feel highly self-conscious and often avoid social situations. Some don't even like to make eye contact with other people.
Waking up at 3 am is caused by several factors and does not necessarily mean that someone is watching you. The reasons for waking up at 3 am, cited in this article, are based on scientific data and are therefore most likely factual and happening in reality.
The exact mechanism behind the phenomena isn't known but somehow, the parasympathetic nervous system kicks in and immediately wakes the brain. The specific hour of 3am really doesn't have anything to do with someone waking up… if they can “feel” someone watching them, it's going to happen.
Specifically, this study showed that we can detect that people are looking at us within our field of view – perhaps in the corner of our eye – even if we haven't consciously noticed. It shows the brain basis for that subtle feeling that tells us we are being watched.
The feeling of being watched can be caused by many things such as a traumatic experience or other underlying social phobias. It can be caused by anxiety, fear, or even just the feeling of being alone. Whatever the cause, it is important to find a way to deal with it.
The sensations accompanying this phenomenon can sometimes feel almost paranormal —it's as if you can physically feel the eyes of others boring into you, even without looking, or like you have a second pair of eyes on the back of your head.
Look back, smile or nod to show them you have noticed – this may also break the ice. For people staring more persistently, look back and hold their gaze whilst raising your eyebrows as an acknowledgement that you've noticed their staring. If the staring continues, frown to tell them you are not happy.
Feeling-of-the-presence (FOP) is the strange sensation that somebody is nearby although no one is actually around. Feeling-of-the-presence has been described by neurological and psychiatric patients, as well as by healthy subjects, but it is not understood how the illusion is triggered by the brain.