Anomalous cognition is a general term describing a transfer of information to a subject through currently unknown means. It fits descriptions of telepathy, extra-sensory perception, clairvoyance, precognition and other "perceptive" paranormal abilities. There is currently no known way of differentiating "telepathy" (mind to mind information transfer) from, say, precognition in an experimental setup, as the target information must be recorded at some point to make a comparison with the subject's responses.

See also anomalous perturbation, anomalous operation