This Robot Makes You Feel like a 'Ghost' Is in the Room (IMAGE)

Cell Press

This Robot Makes You Feel like a 'Ghost' Is in the Room

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People don't really tend to see ghosts or guardian angels as much as "feel" them, and now researchers reporting in the Cell Press journal <i>Current Biology</i> on Nov. 6 think they know where that "feeling of a presence" (FoP) phenomenon comes from, based on studies of 12 patients with various neurological conditions. The researchers have also successfully devised a robot capable of giving otherwise healthy people the same feeling, simply by sending mixed-up sensorimotor signals to the brain.

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Alain Herzog/EPFL

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