Wi-fi type brain interconnection behind ‘gut feeling’ says psychology expert

09 Jan 2018

Human brains are interconnected through a type of 'wi-fi' that allows people to pick up far more information, or micro-signals, about other people than we are aware of, according to a psychology expert.

Professor Digby Tantum, clinical professor of Psychotherapy, at the University of Sheffield, believes that language is only partly involved in human communication, and the tiny cues, explain how people often have a 'gut feeling' or intuition about a person or situation even when they are not able to logically say why.

In other words it may be possible to share the wavelength of another person.

Professor Tantum who terms the phenomenon as 'The Interbrain', told The Telegraph, ''We can know directly about other people's emotions and what they are paying attention to.

''It is based on the direct connection between our brains and other people's and between their brain and ours. I call this the interbrain.''

''One of its advantages is that the connection exists in the background. We take it for granted unless it is brought to the surface of our minds.''

According to Tantum, the phenomenon may be behind why one avoids eye contact on a commute, or find busy places overwhelming, as too many people overload the brain with subliminal information.

He says this could explain our ''gut feeling'' or intuition when we have a bad feeling about a person but cannot put our finger on it.

Tantam describes his theory in The Interbrain the book he has authored.

''Digby Tantam presents his ground-breaking theory of the interbrain, the idea that human beings are endlessly connected by a continuous interplay of non-verbal communication of which we are unaware,'' reads the Amazon description of the book.

''Considering social smiles and the way emotions can spread from one person to another, he explores the research that shows how our brains are linked and draws out the implications of the interbrain for our understanding of empathy, social communication, psychology and group behaviour.''