Are you alone but feel like someone is watching you? This might be why

A new scientific study published in the journal Consciousness and Cognition reveals a link between childhood imaginary friends and an unexplained feeling of another person's presence in adulthood. Researchers examined 185 adults without psychiatric or neurological diagnoses, of whom 45 clearly remembered an imaginary friend. Those who remembered an imaginary friend scored an average of 25.51 on a scale of 15–75 points, compared to 20.7 for others. About two-thirds of the estimates placed the imaginary friend at a distance of up to 70 centimeters from the body, within the peripersonal space. The researchers hypothesize that the neural mechanism is similar to robotic arm experiments where a delay between hand movement and touch created an illusion of a foreign presence. However, the researchers emphasize that the study relies on adult memories, most participants were women, all from one academic institution, and it is not proof of the existence of ghosts.