Scientists at Britain's Manchester University have designed a virtual reality system to test 100 people for telepathic abilities.

Researchers from the school's School of Computer Science and School of Psychological Sciences hooked volunteer pairs, including married couples and close friends, into helmets and electronic gloves that allowed them to move in the virtual world, the Manchester Evening News reported Wednesday.

The subjects took turns navigating virtual rooms filled with objects while their partner tried to telepathically tell them which objects to pick up.

The team will spend the next few months analyzing the data acquired from the experiments, said researcher David Wilde.

Our aim is not to prove or disprove the existence of telepathy, but to create an experimental method which stands up to scientific scrutiny, Wilde said.

Many of the volunteers have come from within the university itself. They have ranged from people who are very skeptical about telepathy, to others who believe there may well be something in it, said Wilde.

This is the first time such computer technology has been used in this way.