Quote Originally Posted by Cavguy View Post
I got in some hot water once for claming my "spidey sense" was tingling - my chain of command was pretty dismissive, to say the least. I had just opined that the insurgents in our AO were about to make a move - later that day, a major car bomb went off in a market - and caused huge problems.

Never got anyone to believe I could sense the events coming! ("Sir, time to up the posture, Cavguy has a bad feeling ... or gas from KBR")

About to read : "Blink: The power of Thinking without Thinking" - I think the real reason is that I was very close to the populace in the AO and picked up some subconscous signs that things were amiss .......

We have a lot of anectdotal evidence from law enforcement to suggest something like "ESP".. Unfortunately it isn't as sexy as brains on hyper drive, but is actually closer to our roots. Forms of pattern recognition from our hunter reflexes have been shown to provide flashes of insight that are otherwise not apparent. Examples from a book I read a long time ago include police officers noticing that all the cars in a row had the front tires facing away from the curb (get away ready). The rear license plates on cars that were bug splattered parked in front of "stop and robs" (camouflage).

Tiny signs in the environment provide clues to the mind that may not be part of the conscious dialog. Absence of clues and normal hum can have the same effect. In New York City the sudden absence of noise is usually indicative of something bad. Many people after 9/11 complained of a sudden sense of dread that was only alleviated when jets started flying again (counter intuitive considering the events).

The more observant the individual the more likely that they will pick up on cues they are unaware of in the environment. Few people actually look with their entire eye let alone the rest of their senses. Most people only "see" a tiny cone of what they eye can actually process. Even fewer people "listen" to the totality of the environmental churn of noise. Unlike closing your eyes you can't turn off hearing. So people block noise out fairly well. Further degrading their sensitivity to the environment. Smell, and feeling also get short shrift in most technology cultures yet advertising has used them well. There is a reason the movie theater has fragrant pop corn smell pumped into the waiting area. If you were in Iraq around dinner time would you notice the absence of cooking smells? Though you would likely perceive the smell of gasoline? Danger is processed faster than the absence of normal.

Sensory perception is an interesting phenomenon. My interest was piqued while doing forensic analysis. We seen in investigations that people look for the evidence to convict but rarely look at exculpatory evidence regardless of roles or rules in place. I found lots of stuff on sensory research and less on the mental acuity.

Bottom line listen to your "gut" feeling and more important listen to the silence as much as the noise....