A Soviet Circus Clown Tried to Prove That Dogs Can Be Psychic

Re:A Soviet Circus Clown Tried to Prove That Dogs Can Be Psy... by labrador on Friday October 21, 2022 @10:35PM (#33295181)

I used to do a lot of solitary road trips exploring America. I noticed that drivers in the car next to me could tell when I was looking at them even though they were staring straight ahead. And they would notice me looking at them all at once and their head would snap to look at me. I tried experimenting with this by looking at them from further back. I never did figure out how they knew.

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Re:A Soviet Circus Clown Tried to Prove That Dogs Can Be Psy... by coding123 on Friday October 21, 2022 @11:23PM (#33295409)

I have noticed that too, but didn't really think about that angle until you said it.

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Re:A Soviet Circus Clown Tried to Prove That Dogs Can Be Psy... by alchemist1e9 on Friday October 21, 2022 @11:24PM (#33295416)

Another example is women seem to know if a male is looking at them. They will pull their shirt down to cover rear end but it’s completely impossible they could have seen the observer, they can sense it.

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Re:A Soviet Circus Clown Tried to Prove That Dogs Can Be Psy... by kingkawn on Friday October 21, 2022 @11:43PM (#33295500)

This isn’t magic, we can feel what each other are feeling even at some distance. The only reason it feels at all mystifying is because our dogmas about the nature of thought separate feelings into a separate category of triviality, rather than taking them seriously as phenomena produced by our body and environment in concert.

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Re:A Soviet Circus Clown Tried to Prove That Dogs Can Be Psy... by hutzlibu on Saturday October 22, 2022 @02:09AM (#33295970)

"They will pull their shirt down to cover rear end but it’s completely impossible they could have seen the observer, they can sense it."

Women usually have better peripheral vision than men. Also we hear and smell many more things, than we consciously notice.

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Re:A Soviet Circus Clown Tried to Prove That Dogs Can Be Psy... by throwaway290 on Saturday October 22, 2022 @03:02AM (#33296166)

Males of course can't notice if women adjust clothing when they aren't looking, if they adjust clothing sufficiently often then it's as if they adjust clothing whenever you're looking

That plus subconscious monitoring of nearby males and how they move, if you're a woman roughly speaking if one is in your blind spot it's sufficiently probable he would be using that chance to look at you (or parts of you).

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Re:A Soviet Circus Clown Tried to Prove That Dogs Can Be Psy... by swayvil on Friday October 21, 2022 @11:34PM (#33295461)

Another example is snipers, when sniping, avoid watching their target-person (through the scope) for more than a few seconds at a time. Because the target gets nervous and flighty.

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Re:A Soviet Circus Clown Tried to Prove That Dogs Can Be Psy... by abudabi123 on Friday October 21, 2022 @11:51PM (#33295538)

Some couples in love have uncanny synchrony.

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Re:A Soviet Circus Clown Tried to Prove That Dogs Can Be Psy... by labrador on Saturday October 22, 2022 @12:16AM (#33295625)

That's really interesting. I have a theory that our minds are connected in a field of consciousness, so this is another piece of data.

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Re:A Soviet Circus Clown Tried to Prove That Dogs Can Be Psy... by oefrha on Saturday October 22, 2022 @12:38AM (#33295693)

I severed my connection to the Khala and became dark templar long ago.

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Re:A Soviet Circus Clown Tried to Prove That Dogs Can Be Psy... by pitsnatch on Saturday October 22, 2022 @12:54AM (#33295733)

This is freaky. I was just thinking about how snipers are like dark templars: ineffective if seen. And we posted around the same time

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Re:A Soviet Circus Clown Tried to Prove That Dogs Can Be Psy... by nahkoots on Saturday October 22, 2022 @12:42AM (#33295700)

Do you have a source for this?

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Re:A Soviet Circus Clown Tried to Prove That Dogs Can Be Psy... by ordu on Saturday October 22, 2022 @12:50AM (#33295724)

It is orienting reflex[1]. You car comes from a blind spot, triggers the reflex, they turn their heads. Then would return to a staring straight ahead, if they didn't noticed that you are staring at them. If they did they would look at your eyes to see any signs of what is it you want from them.

> I never did figure out how they knew.

Did you tried to figure out do they know that you are not looking at them? Would they look at you if you are not looking?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orienting_response

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Re:A Soviet Circus Clown Tried to Prove That Dogs Can Be Psy... by labrador on Saturday October 22, 2022 @01:27AM (#33295856)

If I came up alongside them without looking at them they would not snap their head to look at me. Most of the time drivers do not look at the driver in the car next to them. However, if I came up alongside them while looking at them, most of the time they seemed to be able to sense they were being looked at and turn to look at me.

This article describes one situation of sensing when someone stares at you:

https://bigthink.com/surprising-science/why-is-it-you-can-se...

However, in the situation I describe, they are looking at the road ahead and not noticing me or where I might be looking. They seemed to be able to sense that I was looking at them before they even noticed that I was there.

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Re:A Soviet Circus Clown Tried to Prove That Dogs Can Be Psy... by hutzlibu on Saturday October 22, 2022 @02:05AM (#33295960)

"However, in the situation I describe, they are looking at the road ahead and not noticing me or where I might be looking. "

There is something called peripheral vision

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peripheral_vision

If there is a movement in the corner of the eyes, like someone turning their head towards you, you can spot it subconsciously, or if you trained it a bit, consciously.

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Re:A Soviet Circus Clown Tried to Prove That Dogs Can Be Psy... by labrador on Saturday October 22, 2022 @10:54AM (#33298793)

Yes, I'm aware of that. That's why I experimented with being further behind out of their peripheral vision

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Re:A Soviet Circus Clown Tried to Prove That Dogs Can Be Psy... by rendall on Saturday October 22, 2022 @03:21AM (#33296234)

> If I came up alongside them without looking at them they would not snap their head to look at me.

How did you know they were not looking at you if you were not looking at them? I suspect the answer to the mystery lies here.

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Re:A Soviet Circus Clown Tried to Prove That Dogs Can Be Psy... by labrador on Saturday October 22, 2022 @10:55AM (#33298804)

I could see them in my peripheral vision. As long as I did not stare at them they did seem to mind

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Re:A Soviet Circus Clown Tried to Prove That Dogs Can Be Psy... by rendall on Saturday October 22, 2022 @07:38PM (#33303220)

Yes. Peripheral vision! That's it!

Ok. Solved. They used their peripheral vision. When you looked at them they saw it, and would look at you

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Re:A Soviet Circus Clown Tried to Prove That Dogs Can Be Psy... by to1y on Saturday October 22, 2022 @05:34AM (#33296784)

My gut tells me 1.) We are very good at recognising if something/someone is looking at us, 2.) Our peripheral vision is wider than we realise and information from it somehow goes straight to the unconscious mind.

That being said I don't think some sort of telepathic phenomenon happening here would be the strangest thing in this universe

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