Unveiling the Science Behind Hearing Phantom Voices and Sensing Presences

A new study published in Psychological Medicine suggests that the neurological roots of hallucinations, particularly hearing voices, may lie in how the brain processes contradictory signals from the environment. Researchers conducted experiments where volunteers experienced a ghostly presence by pressing a button that caused a rod to touch their backs. They found that volunteers were more likely to report hearing a voice when there was a delay between the button press and the rod's touch. The study also revealed that hearing a nonexistent voice was more likely if the volunteers had previously heard bursts of noise with someone else's voice. These findings support the idea that hallucinations may arise from difficulty in recognizing one's own actions and being primed to expect a particular outcome. Further research may involve studying healthy individuals who regularly hear voices, such as mediums, to gain a better understanding of how these beliefs arise and how they can be controlled.