Sense of presence

Despite the lack of physical data corresponding to the feeling (no visual, audible or other cues) the individual has a sense of not being alone. This is most commonly experienced in eery or strange surroundings, which suggests heightened sensibility where some natural stimulus may open itself to misinterpretation without the individual realizing it. Silence is a frequent accompaniment to such sense, which may often be dispelled by familiar noises or even singing to one's self. This may be because such sound masks smaller, unidentifiable sounds or because silence offers and unstructured field in which diffuse fears become conscious as if projected on an empty screen.

In mentally disturbed patients the sense of presence becomes a full-scale hallucination, when the person may be aware of another person who he cannot see but who he may describe in detail or locate exactly as to position.