I could have sworn my phone was just ringing.

Phantom vibration syndrome tricks the brain into feeling a phone notification even when one doesn’t exist.

A study carried out by Dr Michelle Drouin, from Indiana University-Purdue, found that 89% of university undergraduates had experienced the bizarre illusion.

The theory has been supported by Georgia Tech School of Public Policy professor Robert Rosenberger, who believes it is caused by a “learned bodily habit”.

He believes that when something brushes against a person’s leg or pocket area, they often mistake the sensation as a phone vibration, causing them to check their phone.

In an interview with the BBC, Rosenberger explained: “The phone actually becomes a part of you, and you become trained to perceive the phone’s vibrations as an income call or text.

“We have this sort of readiness to experience a call. We feel something and we think, OK, that could be a call.”

Although phantom vibration syndrome is a strange phenomenon that’s believed to affect millions of people worldwide, experts don’t believe that it’s harmful.

Despite this, the odd illusion serves as a stark reminder of how much technology can control natural human instincts.