Exploring Unusual Moments in Daily Life: Phantom Phone Signals, psychosis-like experiences and wellbeing
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Cross-sectional survey |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 344 |
| Population | Representative sample of UK adults (mean age 47.36 years, 52.6% female, 83.4% white, no experience of psychosis) |
| Measures | Phantom Phone Experiences and Associated Symptoms (PPEAS), Resilience Scale (RS-14), Multidimensional Quality of Life Inventory (MQLI), Stress Mindset Questionnaire (SMQ), Multi-Modality Unusual Sensory Experiences Questionnaire (MUSEQ), Peters et al. Delusions Inventory (PDI-21), Metacognitive Self-Awareness Scale (MSAS) |
| Key findings | Phantom phone signals were reported by 52.6% of a representative UK adult sample and were infrequent with minimal distress. Greater hallucination-proneness and younger age predicted more phantom phone experiences; hallucination-proneness, younger age, and lower self-reflectivity predicted their presence. Mental health problems were not associated with phantom phone signals, which the authors interpret as evidence that these experiences are non-clinical and broadly normative. |
Abstract
Phantom phone signals (PPS) describe hearing or feeling a phone notification when there was none. These benign hallucinatory perceptions are common in the general population, and are associated with phone use, wellbeing, and psychosis-like experiences (PLEs). Most research has studied younger adult samples; this study assessed PPS prevalence and correlates in a representative UK adult sample.Our online questionnaire included 344 participants (mean age: 47.36 years [SD = 15.71], 52.6% female, 83.4% white, no experience of psychosis, and measured PPS (PPEAS), resilience (RS-14), quality of life (MQLI), stress mindset (SMQ) hallucination-proneness (MUSEQ), delusional ideation (PDI-21), and metacognitive awareness (MSAS).PPS was experienced by 52.6% of our sample, infrequently with minimal, distress or disruption (mean PPEAS Impact = 1.87, SD = 2.69). PPEAS impact correlated with hallucination-proneness (rs = .43), delusional ideation, (rs = .27), quality of life (rs = −.19), metacognitive self-reflectivity (rs = −.25) mastery (rs = −.18), and age (rs = −.33). Greater hallucination-proneness and younger age predicted increased phantom phone experiences in ordinal regression (Nagelkerke pseudo-R2=.27). Binary logistic regression showed that hallucination-proneness, younger age, and lower self-reflectivity predicted PPS presence, explaining 25.2% of variance. Reporting a mental health problem was not associated with PPS.Results indicate that PPS is common across the lifespan, and are primarily associated with hallucination-proneness and younger age, with potential contributions from self-reflectivity. The absence of associations with mental health problems supports the interpretation of PPS as non-clinical and broadly normative, aligning with a continuum account of hallucinations in the general population.