You’ve probably used it several times, even if you weren’t aware of this extraordinary “superpower.” You’re looking for something in a dark drawer, you move your hand, and suddenly you “know” the object is there, even though you haven’t touched it. Or you’re walking through a room and, without looking, you feel you’re too close to a wall.
It’s not intuition or magic, but something much more interesting: your brain is using subtle signals to build a perception of your surroundings even before direct contact occurs. It’s as if, in a way, we can “sense” things from a distance.
For years, this idea has been closer to mystery than science, but recent research at Queen Mary University has given it a name and explained this phenomenon: remote touch, and it is our seventh sense.
When “touching” does not imply contact
Traditionally, we’ve understood touch as something that involves physical contact, but this definition falls short in light of new discoveries. In this study, researchers explored how people are able to locate objects hidden in granular textures, such as beach sand, without seeing them.
Specifically, they found that we can detect an object buried in the sand at a distance of approximately 7 centimeters with 70.7% accuracy. The interesting thing is not only that we can do it, but how we do it: by detecting subtle changes in the pressure, vibration, and resistance of the environment. In other words, we don’t touch the object directly, but rather perceive how it alters the surrounding environment.
For example, imagine putting your hand into a container full of rice. Even though you can’t see what’s inside, you can notice subtle differences, such as more compact areas or slight variations in resistance when you move your hand. Your brain gathers all this information and turns it into a kind of “invisible map.”
The key lies in the fact that the brain doesn’t need direct, perfect signals; it relies on clues to fill in the gaps. From almost imperceptible stimuli, it can make quick inferences, such as knowing that if something offers more resistance to touch, there’s likely something solid nearby.
Thanks to predictive processing, our brain doesn’t wait to receive all the information, but constantly anticipates what’s happening around us and adjusts its perception of the world in real time. This process generally occurs below the level of conscious awareness, and we only experience it later. That’s why we sometimes have the feeling of “knowing” something before physically confirming it.
It’s not a superpower, it’s mere adaptation
It may seem extraordinary, but it’s actually a sense that has developed over thousands of years of evolution, since our survival also depended on the ability to detect what we can’t see clearly. Our ancestors had to be able to move in the dark, explore their surroundings without good vision, and react to uncertainty by piecing together small fragments of information.
Remote touch is an adaptation, a kind of “extended” perception to compensate for the lack of direct information. In fact, it’s not even limited solely to touch.
For example, think back to those times when you’ve felt someone was behind you even though you didn’t see them, or how you’ve noticed changes in your surroundings even though you didn’t know exactly what caused them or what they were. Often, what we call intuition is simply the brain interpreting faint signals that don’t reach conscious awareness clearly.
To trust our feelings again
In a world where we increasingly rely on technology, data, and algorithms, this kind of perception often goes unnoticed. But it’s still there, every time you grope in the dark, feel something nearby, or your body anticipates your surroundings before you can rationally explain it.
This ability to perceive beyond direct contact is the result of a perceptual system that is much finer than we thought, one that can detect changes in micro air currents, almost imperceptible variations in light, sounds that do not reach conscious awareness, or variations in textures that the brain uses to reach a conclusion.
Unfortunately, we live in a society that prioritizes what can be measured, verbalized, and proven, which leaves out a vast amount of implicit information. However, ignoring it can make us less adept at reading our surroundings, more dependent on external confirmations, and, in a way, more disconnected from our bodies.
Regaining that self-confidence isn’t an invitation to embrace the supernatural or abandon critical thinking, but rather to cultivate a different, much more subtle kind of attention. It means giving yourself permission to notice before interpreting. For example, when something “doesn’t add up” in a situation, instead of dismissing it as irrational, you can explore it with curiosity by asking yourself, “What have I perceived?”
Ultimately, it’s about reconciling two forms of knowledge that should never have been separated: one that comes through rationality and a more intuitive one that begins in the body.
Source:
Chen, Z. et. Al. (2025) Exploring Tactile Perception for Object Localization in Granular Media: A Human and Robotic Study. En: IEEE International Conference on Development and Learning (ICDL).
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