Study Points to Sixth Sense in Humans

Ben Sullivan writes "St. Louis researchers say there's something to the notion of a 'sixth sense' in humans. A part of the brain known as the cingulate cortex, they've found, likely combines multiple, sometimes unconscious data streams to come to conclusions and send warning signals to the conscious mind. Example: Aboriginal tribesmen somehow sensed the impending danger of December's tsunami in time to flee to higher ground before the first sign of water."

Comments

Duh

[Reality Master 101]

Your sense of balance in your inner ear is your sixth sense (it's a sense of gravity). It just doesn't get any credit.

Also, from the article:

[shreevatsa]

In addition to what I just said, I also read TFA and found this:

Researchers provided study participants with a series of blue or white cues and asked them to push one button or another depending on the direction of arrows. Brain imaging suggested that an area of the brain had learned to recognize that blue cues indicated a greater potential for error, thus providing an early warning signal that negative consequences were likely to follow their behavior.

The rest of the article says essentially the same thing -- the brain learns to recognise a pattern of making mistakes, not that is able to sense impending danger before it happens or whatever.
The slashdot summary needlessly sensationalised this simple fact.

Re:Tsunami

[AngryAzul]

Although it does seem that aboriginal people were forewarned, this is more responsibly attributed to their tradition of paying close attention to wildlife. While it is not well understood, animals seem to be more sensitive to the subtle environmental changes that precede events like earthquakes and tsunamis, and it's very smart of these people to take notice when the animals all flee to higher ground. BBC News article about this subject: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4144405.stm