GameBanshee Forums

Has anyone else experienced the phonomenon of knowing what other people are thinking, or doing, or about to say? I'm sure it must happen to a lot of people.
I used to experience it with my sister. I would know almost exactly what thought processes she was going through...I could say something at the dinner table, and then a few seconds later, say something unrelated, causing my sister to burst out laughing, but everyone else just to look confused, and wish we wouldn't keep so many 'in jokes' . This is because I could tell what she would think as a result of what I had said.
Now she's married...but I am having the same thing with my girlfriend...I can always tell whether it is her when the phone rings, although she does not call regularly at a specific time. Moreover, I find that we often have long conversations without saying a word...

You often hear the same thing about twins...they can 'sense' when their twin dies, or something of that nature happens.

So what is the 'infrastructure' for this innarticulate speach of the heart? Through the massive weight of habit, do we form mathematical models in our minds, so complex that they can predict the thoughts of other people? Like the weather-models in the meteorological office?
This is my feeling - what is yours?

And if you agree, why is it that these models are strictly stored in the subconscious? What would happen if a brain-disorder allowed one conscious access to such things? Is this possible? Does it already happen?

If i am on the phone with my real sis, and or a girl i consider to be an older sister (if you dont understand no problem, it is a cultural thing). I always know if they are upset, if they are busy, what they are doing, what they are going to say. It is uncanny. I usually call, when my younger sis is upset, i just do it when she needs to talk. It is very weird. I call otherwise as well.

But according to my extended family i am a very good judge of character even from a far. I can draw up a character attribute sheet of a person with talking to them for 5 min. According to my extended family ie my cousins, they say i am nearly 100% right.

I have developed a few close friendships to the point where we can safely tease the general public and or strangers without speaking or making any dramatic over the top gestures. As CM has stated, I guess we have just come to have a good understanding of each others character.

As for the teasing the public reference, I was hard pressed to find a reliable example, we are all nice lads at heart

Like many people, I've had (and still do, with some people) this same experience. So far it's happened only with people I get along with really well, or people I know very well.
When it's with someone I know very well and find easy to get along with it can almost be done at will.
As to what causes it, I can only speculate that familiarity with another's general pattern of thought plays a large part, but probably not all.