ONR intuition and sensemaking research
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 7
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| Date | 2012 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Government programs (topic) |
| People | Annie Jacobsen |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 177 |
| Year | 2012 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 2012 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 4 |
In 2014 the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) launched a four-year basic research program to study intuition — the "sixth sense" by which sailors and Marines sometimes seem to detect danger before they consciously notice it — and whether it could be trained. The media nicknamed it the "spidey sense" program.[1][2]
The program
The program, on enhancing intuitive decision-making through implicit learning, was run by Dr. Peter Squire, ONR's program officer for human performance, training and education. It aimed to determine what gives rise to intuitive judgements, model the process and test whether training, simulation and scenarios could improve and speed up the development of such skills, focusing on memory and perception. ONR hosted experts in neural, cognitive and behavioural science and representatives of other services, industry and universities to plan the work. Reports put its funding at about $3.85 million.[1][3]
Field anecdotes
The program was prompted by reports from Iraq and Afghanistan of troops who seemed to anticipate roadside bombs or ambushes. ONR's examples of situations demanding fast intuitive decisions included detecting roadside bombs from a moving vehicle, sensing danger from something unusual at a café, and judging whether an object launched off the coast was a missile or an airliner. As one officer put it, a seasoned warfighter develops a gut instinct through experience.[1]
Phenomena
Journalist Annie Jacobsen discussed the program in her 2017 book Phenomena, a history of government research on psychic phenomena, as an example of continuing military interest in unusual perception.[2]
UAP speculation
The testimony dates the program to 2012 and asks whether such research might have touched on communication between humans and aerospace craft. The program's published goals concern human cognition, not psychic powers or UAP.[1]
People and topics
- Office of Naval Research — The U.S. Navy's research funding office.
- Annie Jacobsen — Journalist and author of Area 51 and Phenomena.
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
On the Timeline
- John Herrington briefing story (2012) — An author relays a story told by a neighbor of a former Energy Secretary.
- Brilliant Buzzard (June 2013) — A researcher claims Project Brilliant Buzzard was used to track objects during SDI.
See every 2012 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- "More than a feeling: ONR investigates 'spidey sense' for sailors and Marines", Office of Naval Research · onr.navy.mil · archived copy
- "Phenomena: Annie Jacobsen on the government's psychic research", Time (2017) · time.com · archived copy
- "Pentagon explores 'sixth sense' seemingly displayed by troops in combat", Washington Times (Apr 2017) · washingtontimes.com · archived copy
- citeseerx.ist.psu.edu · citeseerx.ist.psu.edu · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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