It's long been regarded as pseudoscience, but precognition–that is, the ability to not just predict but to actually perceive the future–is getting a fair shake in some scientific circles lately。
Cornell Professor Daryl Bem conducted nine experiments on more than 1,000 Cornell students to test the human mind powers of premonition and precognition。
In one experiment Bem gathered 100 subjects, half male and half female. Using a computerized system, they then played a game in which two curtains were displayed on the screen and the subjects had to choose which one had a picture hiding behind it. Some of these pictures were neutral in content. Others were chosen at random by the computer from a database of semi-erotic and erotic photos。
The result: In cases where an erotic photo was lurking behind the curtain the subjects were able to accurately identify which curtain it was behind with 53.4 percent accuracy. The accuracy rates were not as high for non-stimulating images. This suggests that the subjects could somehow sense the erotic stimuli that awaited them before it happened。
That's not to say that storefront psychics really can read your palm, or that one can see the future simply by thinking hard about it. But Bem's experiment suggests the brain does have some ability to perceive what's coming。