Extrasensory perception (ESP), also called a sixth sense, is the ability to receive information about the world without using the five traditional physical senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste, or smell. 

University of Virginia School of Medicine scientists have scoured more than 70 years of neuroscientific research into extra-sensory perception (ESP) and identified the most promising leads for future study. 

Much of the prior work was beset by inconsistent methodology and a lack of reproducibility, the scientists found. That has prompted them to lay out a set of recommendations to bring increased rigor to an area of research that has often been greeted with skepticism and hampered by a lack of resources. 

“We wanted to move beyond isolated findings and take a step back to evaluate the field as a whole. The aim is to clarify what the existing evidence can and cannot support, and to help guide more rigorous and cumulative research going forward,” said David J. Acunzo, PhD, of UVA’s Division of Perceptual Studies. “I hope this work will contribute to improving the quality of the research in this field, which needs clearer operational definitions … and more systematic replication. These are standard requirements in any mature area of science, and they are essential here as well.”