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ANOMALOUS SLOW CORTICAL COMPONENTS IN A
SLOT-MACHINE TASK
Dick J. Bierman & Jenneke van Ditzhuijzen
University of Amsterdam
ABSTRACT
Thirty-two subjects participated in a 128 trial slot machine task. The task was
initiated by the subjects. With intervals of one second the three windows of the
slot machine froze. There were three types of events: three subsequent different
fruits (XYZ), two equal fruits followed by a different one (XXY) and three equal
fruits (XXX). The events were selected randomly with replacement from a limited
pool of possible events. The subject had to pay 0.5 euro (real money) for each
trial and received 7 euro for winning (XXX) events. The a priori probability for
an XXX-event was 12.5% throughout the experiment. The subject could not know nor
learn what the next fruit to be displayed would be. The subjects kept the money
they won at the end but never had to pay when they eventually lost money.
Following brain research with slot machines we analyzed the pooled medio-frontal
signals from the Fz, Cz and Pz lead, using pre-processing parameters specified
in the literature. There was a significant difference between the slow wave
preceding a ‘win’ and preceding a loss (XYZ). This difference can be explained
by the fact that after the second fruit has been ‘frozen’ the subject is aware
that in the XYZ condition the possibility for a win has vanished. However the
difference was observed to develop before the second fruit froze i.e. before
there was any visible difference between the conditions. This anomaly was
confirmed by a comparison of the XXY and the XXX condition where, for the
relevant period from 1 to 2 seconds, there was no visible difference for the
subject and nonetheless the brain signals differed by about 1.9 microvolt on
average (t= 2.35, df=31, p=0.026). These anomalous results were not
significantly associated with ‘perceived luckiness’ although the 15 subjects who
perceived themselves as ‘lucky’ did have a much larger effect of ~ 2.9 microvolt
compared with the other subjects (~0.6 microvolt). Exploratory analyses showed
some suggestive evidence for the effect of sustained attention and of the belief
to be able to ‘influence’ the slot machine.
MEMORY, EMOTION AND THE RECEPTIVE PSI PROCESS
Richard S. Broughton
Division of Psychology, School of Social Sciences
The University of Northampton
Northampton NN2 7AL, UK
ABSTRACT
The two-stage model of receptive psi—ESP, anomalous cognition—is generally
accepted as a reasonable starting point for understanding how ESP enters
consciousness and affects behaviour. While stage one—how ESP “gets into the
system”—remains a mystery and a likely problem for physics, stage two is thought
to involve what Tyrrell has described as, “cognitive and other processes that we
are not in the habit of calling paranormal.” If evolution has conferred upon
humans the ability to make use of anomalous information then it is likely to
follow the pattern of brain development in which existing systems are adapted
and enhanced to confer new advantages and adaptations.
Roll and Irwin have proposed memory as a likely candidate for one such brain
system co-opted for service with ESP. The images that form the basis of
spontaneous cases of ESP via dreams or hallucinations seem to be drawn from the
recipients’ memory, as are the responses in free-response ESP experiments. This
raises the question of how are the particular memory images that bring the
anomalous information to awareness selected?
This paper proposes that the emotional system also plays a role in receptive psi,
perhaps an even more fundamental one than memory, though it operates closely
with memory. Recent research suggests that the emotional system is intimately
involved in the selection of the memory images that comprise dreams, as well as
biasing the attentional resources we devote to the various memory images that
parade across consciousness. The work of Damasio has highlighted the role of the
emotional system, especially the feeling component, in decision-making, thus
providing a link with the range of behavioural responses that might be psi-influenced
in Stanford’s PMIR model, as well as providing insight into the intuitive class
of spontaneous cases. Evolution has already designed much of the emotional
system’s operation to be automatic, unconscious, and not easily subject to
intentional control, characteristics traditionally attributed to receptive psi,
so it would not be surprising that this system might be adapted by evolution to
serve as a “pathway” for anomalous information.
The rapidly advancing understanding of the emotional system calls for new and
imaginative experiments to examine the joint roles of memory and emotion in the
effective use of anomalous information. Recent research on presentiment and
ESP-based intuition are promising approaches, but, as always, more work is
needed.
ANOMALOUS EXPERIENCES AND HYPNOSIS
Etzel Cardeña, Ph.D.
Lund University, Sweden
ABSTRACT
Throughout its history, mesmerism and its later development as hypnosis have
been related to reputed psi-phenomena and to various alterations of
consciousness. Although most of the older literature would not stand up to
current methodological strictures, there are some reports that are still
baffling and both the consistency of the reports and more recent meta-analytic
work suggest that we should investigate the psi-hypnosis relationship more
programmatically. With respect to alterations of consciousness within the
hypnotic context, most previous work has had the confound of specific
suggestions. In this paper I review the literature on hypnotic phenomenology,
point out its limitations, and present recently published data that supports
specific alterations associated with experienced depth: mostly relaxation during
a resting baseline, mild to moderate changes in sensations and body image during
light/medium hypnosis, and radical alterations of body image (e.g., floating,
sinking), and dreamlike and transcendental (e. g,, merging with a light) during
deep and very deep hypnosis. Many of these phenomena have also been observed
during other altered states such as OBEs and NDEs, which have been of great
interest to the parapsychology field.
RELATIONS BETWEEN ESP AND MEMORY IN LIGHT OF THE FIRST SIGHT MODEL OF PSI
James C. Carpenter, Ph.D.
Rhine Research Center
Durham, NC, USA
ABSTRACT
Although less active recently, the study of ESP in relation to memory has been a
relatively active concern for parapsychology. Methods, questions and findings
have been varied, and in need of clearer conceptualization for work to proceed
usefully. The First Sight model of psi functioning is proposed as having promise
in this regard. I sketch the basic premises of the model (by which psi
transactions are presumed to begin the developmental processes of all
experience), and argue here that various findings, including the positive
correlation of long-term memory with ESP, the negative correlation of working
memory with ESP, the importance of alerting participants to the pertinence of
ESP in the context of memory tests, the additive and subtractive effects of
attempts to influence recall with ESP, and the effect of degree of familiarity
of test material on ESP, among other trends, are congruent with the expectations
arising from the model.
THE SLIDE-SHOW PRESENTIMENT EFFECT DISCOVERED IN BRAIN ELECTRICAL ACTIVITY
Thilo Hinterberger1,2, Petra Studer2, Marco Jäger2, Colette Haverty-Stacke1, &
Harald Walach1
1Division of Social Sciences, University of Northampton, UK
2Instituteof Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology, University of
Tübingen, Germany
ABSTRACT
The presentation of pictures evokes clearly detectable responses in the
electroencephalogram (EEG). Here, the question is addressed whether people show,
as a paranormal effect, a pre-stimulus response prior to a sudden appearance of
pictures. This presentiment effect could be visible in EEG activity even when
people are not consciously aware of it. A study was carried out with 20
participants being exposed at randomised times to affective and non-affective
pictures and to checkerboard stimuli. The pre-stimulus epochs for these stimuli
were compared to pre-stimulus epochs before a hidden stimulation. A
non-parametric statistical approach was chosen for the analysis of the
one-second pre-stimulus interval. With checkerboard stimulation, only a
marginally significant presentiment effect could be detected at the Pz
electrode. Considering all picture stimuli, the analysis of all cortical
channels merged revealed a significant increase of the EEG activity (z=1.71).
Considering the affective pictures only, the significance was z=2.02. The
difference between affective and neutral pictures revealed significant z-scores
greater than z=2.0 at four of the six electrode positions. A control condition
in which the monitor was covered showed no significant difference between the
affective and neutral targets. The contrast of visible and covered picture
stimulation revealed significance at C3 with p<0.02. For the visible pictures,
the amplitude rankings at Cz were shifted towards higher ranks with p=0.01. The
power in the delta band was significantly decreased with p=0.006 in picture
stimulation. The checkerboard stimulation remained non-significant in the
comparison between visible and covered conditions. The significant decrease in
the eye movement channel during the pre-stimulus period for the visible
conditions can be explained by a systematic eye blink of the participants at or
after stimulus presentation which was less frequent before.
The results suggest the possible existence of an abnormal presentiment effect.
As it is not visible in the averaged EEG curves this effect may not be
time-locked to the stimulus and different for each participant. The missing
significances for neutral pictures and checkerboard stimuli suggest that
emotional affectivity is important for a presentiment reaction in the EEG. A
tendency towards compensatory behaviour of pre-stimulus activity can be
explained by theories such as the decision augmentation theory or the weak
quantum theory.
EXPERIMENTER EFFECTS AND VOLITIONAL STRATEGIES IN THE MIND-MACHINE
INTERACTION REPLICATION
Joop M. Houtkooper
Center for Psychobiology and Behavioral Medicine
Justus Liebig University of Giessen
Otto-Behaghel-Strasse 10, 35394 Giessen, Germany
email: joophoutkooper@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Volitional strategies in PK experiments have been reported by early
experimenters acting as their own subjects. A study by Gissurarson, in which he
obtained volitional strategies from the participants after the PK task, put this
on a broader basis. In the present experiment, part of the Mind Machine
Interaction (MMI) replication study, 74 subjects participated, contributing a
total of 271 sessions. In the PK task, volitional strategies have been freely
chosen by the participants before starting each run. The preliminary findings of
this study confirmed Gissurarson's finding, that the "resonance" strategy was
associated with the best PK performance. This strategy is also linked to
subjective reports of "effortless effort" as a psi-conducive state of mind. In
the present paper, the differences between the experimenters in the same study
are analyzed. Apart from the interest in experimenter effects per se, this is
relevant for the expected reproducibility of the findings. The finding of the
resonance strategy turns out to be less robust, than the earier report
suggested. However, major differences, specific to individual experimenters have
been found. These differences are particularly striking for the "confidence"
volitional strategy, where one experimenter obtained highly significant psi-hitting
(p-2t<.002), whereas the other two experimenters both obtained significant psi-missing
(p-2t<.02 and <.003). The interaction effect between experimenters and
volitional strategies on PK-scoring is highly significant (p=.000024).
Comparison of analyses by run and by session provides evidence that PK
performance varies on a time-scale of minutes, dependent on the consciously
chosen volitional strategy, but also dependent on the person of the
experimenter.
REMOTE STARING DETECTED BY CONSCIOUS AND PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL VARIABLES
COMBINING AND IMPROVING TWO SUCCESSFUL PARADIGMS
Susanne Müller1, Stefan Schmidt1 & Harald Walach2
1Department of Evaluation Research in Complementary Medicine
Institute of Environmental Medicine and Hospital Epidemiology
University Hospital Freiburg, Germany
2 University Northampton, School of Social Sciences and Samueli Institute,
European Office
ABSTRACT
Findings in parapsychology suggest an effect of distant intentionality. Two
laboratory set-ups explored this topic by measuring the effect of a distant
intention on psychophysiological variables. The DMILS (direct mental interaction
in living systems) experiments investigate the effect of various intentions on
the electrodermal activity (EDA) of a remote subject. The “Remote Staring”
experiments examine whether gazing by an observer (starer) covaries with the
electrodermal activity of the person being observed (staree).
In two meta-analyses (Schmidt, Schneider, Utts & Walach, 2004) it became obvious
that the remote staring studies had a lower overall quality than the DMILS
studies. While there are some high quality DMILS studies (score over 90%) the
highest quality in Remote Staring studies is 71%. Thus there is a lack in
studies with good methodology to assess the remote staring paradigm.
We conducted a remote staring study that intended to overcome methodological
shortcomings of earlier studies
Fifty participants were invited to take part as starees. After completing
questionnaires on mindfulness, mood, personality and paranormal belief they
rested in a comfortable position in front of a video camera while their EDA was
continuously monitored. The experimenter also acted as the starer and either
observed or did not observe the participant through a closed circuit television
system according to a random schedule. EDA during stare and non-stare epochs was
compared for significant differences.
In addition to this basic (replication) set-up two new hypotheses were tested.
The participant had the possibility to press a button whenever s/he feels stared
at. This added a conscious response variable without engaging into the
disadvantages of the standard conscious guessing paradigm (guessing strategies,
response bias etc). Furthermore the distraction of the starer’s intention during
non-stare epochs was varied. In one condition s/he was mentally occupied by a
cognitive task, in the other s/he was just told not to stare (standard
condition). We hypothesized that the distraction from the target in the standard
condition was too weak to avoid an unwanted intentional effect in the staree.
Overall we did not find any staring effect at all, not in the EDA data and not
in the ‘conscious’ open response situation. Thus the experiment failed in
demonstrating any Psi effect.
THE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TELEPATHIC IMMERSIVE VIRTUAL REALITY
SYSTEM
Craig D. Murray1, Toby Howard2, Jezz Fox1, Fabrice Caillette2, Christine
Simmonds-Moore3 & David J. Wilde1
1School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester, UK
2School of Computer Science, University of Manchester, UK
3Department of Psychology, Liverpool Hope University, UK
ABSTRACT
This paper describes a project which has a focus on immersive virtual reality (IVR)
as an experimental environment and medium for telepathy. IVR denotes the use of
three-dimensional computer graphics technology to generate artificial
environments that afford real-time interaction and exploration. These are
intended to give the user an impression of being present (‘telepresence’) or
immersed in a computer-generated world. A sense of immersion is promoted through
the use of head mounted displays (HMDs). These present stereo images and sound
to create a perceptually encompassing computer environment. An instrumented data
glove allows participants to interact with virtual objects. We argue that IVR
has a number of features which make it well suited for the study of telepathy,
including a higher degree of experimental control, the co-location of senders
and receivers, and the opportunity for more ‘natural’ and meaningful (to
participants) experimental trials. In the early stages of the project we have
focussed on developing an immersive virtual environment (the Telepathic
Immersive Virtual Environment, or TIVE) which acts as the experimental
environment for both ‘Sender’ and ‘Receiver’ in the later telepathy trials. This
environment looks like a room: for example, it has a door, a window, a chair, a
bookshelf and a potted plant. During the experimental trials the bookshelf is
filled with four objects. These objects are interactive; that is, both Sender
and Receiver are able to pick up and manipulate the target object. In addition
the Receiver can also handle three other objects which form part of the target
set (the Sender does not see these additional objects). As the Sender and
Receiver handle an object in the TIVE they hear a sound evocative of that
object. Having constructed the TIVE our work now focuses on two telepathy
studies. In these studies the Sender tries to communicate to the Receiver by
telepathic means the identity of an object randomly chosen from a set of four
(the set is in turn randomly chosen from a group of four sets). Within this
paper we describe the general procedure for our telepathy studies using the TIVE.
This includes the computerised random process of target set selection (and of
selecting which object in the set acts as the target), and the use of gesture
recognition for object selection and de-selection. We conclude the paper with
some indication of our future plans for the TIVE.
ANOMALOUS STRUCTURE IN GCP DATA: A FOCUS ON NEW YEAR’S EVE
Roger D. Nelson
Global Consciousness Project, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
ABSTRACT
Continuous parallel sequences of random data have been accumulated in the Global
Consciousness Project (GCP) for eight years as of August 2006, and we have made
formal hypothesis tests regarding potential structure in the data associated
with each New Year transition during that time. The GCP maintains a network of
about 65 active random event generator (REG) devices around the world, each
recording 200-bit trial sums at one per second over months and years, and
reporting them over the Internet to a central server. We have made two types of
prediction for New Year’s, one that the mean score across REGs in the network
will depart from expectation, and another that the variance across devices will
be reduced near midnight. The GCP data are signal averaged across all time
zones, and the period surrounding midnight is assessed for each year. The
meanshift measure combined across all eight years shows a substantial decline,
but it is not statistically significant. The variance measure has a more
impressive outcome: Analyses for individual years show results conforming to the
hypothesis in about three fourths of the cases, and for the eight years
combined, the shape of the signal averaged cumulative deviation is striking.
Permutation analysis shows that the prediction of reduced variance is supported
with a p-value of 0.026. While it is prudent to keep alternative explanations in
mind, these results are prima facie evidence of a large-scale interaction of
human consciousness that can have effects in the physical world, similar to
those found in intention-based laboratory mind-machine experiments. The project
continues, with a focus on refining hypotheses and assessing a broader range of
potential correlates.
ANOMALOUS ANTICIPATION OF TARGET BIASES IN A COMPUTER GUESSING TASK
John Palmer
University Hospital Zürich
Zürich, Switzerland
ABSTRACT
This paper reports the results of 2 experiments originally intended to study
implicit sequence learning (ISL). Participants (Ps) were asked to identify in
which of 4 directions (up, down, left, right) an arrow would be pointing that
they would see immediately after their response (trial-by-trial feedback). In
Experiment 1, 35 male Ps received 1 100-trial run with random targets followed
by 2 100-trial runs with biased targets. The bias was defined as the target for
trial t+1 being displaced 90 degrees clockwise (CW) or counterclockwise (CCW)
from the target for trial t. The order of the 2 biases was counterbalanced
across Ps. Pro-bias targets appeared in 46.5% of the trials, counter-bias
targets in 10.1%, and each orthogonal alternative in 25.2%. 18 Ps were extreme
believers in the paranormal (sheep) and 17 were extreme skeptics (goats). Half
of each group received a levodopa pill (dopamine) before the test session and
the other half a placebo. The dependent variable, relative pro-bias responding (rPBR),
was the difference between pro-bias and counter-bias responses (e.g., CCW
responses in CW-biased runs). A succession of post-hoc analyses intended to
clarify a marked CW response bias in the 1st half of the 1st biased run among
levodopa Ps responding to CW-biased targets revealed a suggestive tendency for
levodopa Ps to “anticipate” in the random run the target bias (CW or CCW) they
would receive in their 1st biased run. As Ps at this time had been told nothing
about the targets in the biased runs, this suggestive finding was called an
anomalous anticipation effect (AAE). To determine if the AAE might be present
elsewhere in the data, the random run was analyzed using the same ANOVA that had
been used to test for ISL in the biased runs, with the target bias defined as
that which Ps would receive in their 1st biased run. The ANOVA revealed a
significant belief x half-run interaction, in which sheep demonstrated an
increase in rPBR from the 1st to 2nd half-run and goats a corresponding
decrease. This finding was interpreted as correct and incorrect anticipation by
goats and sheep respectively in the 1st half of the random run; the 1st-2nd half
differences were interpreted as changes in strategy due to non-reinforcing
feedback during the run. The sample for Experiment 2 was 40 females. The main
procedural changes were no levodopa condition and a between-P manipulation of
target bias, with each P receiving 2 200-trial biased runs. The ANOVA of the
random run revealed a significant main effect for belief, with goats
anticipating correctly and sheep incorrectly. In both experiments, skeptics
scored significantly higher than believers in the 1st half of the random run.
The reversal of the traditional sheep-goat effect was speculatively attributed
to goats being more comfortable than sheep in the test situation, a circumstance
created by the fact that, in contrast to most sheep-goat experiments, both
experimenters were goats.
EXPLORING PSYCHOMANTEUM AS A PSI-CONDUCIVE STATE OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Alejandro Parra and Jorge Villanueva
Institute of Paranormal Psychology
Salta 2015 (C1137ACQ) Buenos Aires,
Argentina
ABSTRACT
The mirror gazing procedure termed the “psychomanteum” was developed by the
world renowned psychiatrist Dr. Raymond Moody. It was designed to facilitate
reunion experiences with deceased individuals, as a means of addressing the
feelings surrounding bereavement. Although the modern psychomanteum is not
normally employed to seek ESP information about the future, it may be that the
psychomanteum is psi-conductive. For example, there are many similarities and
differences between psychomanteum experiences and accounts of hypnagogic/hypnopompic
imagery, which is conducive to ESP. The aim is of this paper was to explore
whether the psychomanteum technique encourages a psi-conducive state of
consciousness, which would result in scoring that is significantly above MCE.
One hundred and thirty participants (92 females and 38 males; Mean age= 47.44)
were recruited by announcements in newspapers and our web site. Seventy eight
percent claimed to have had a variety of ESP experiences. A number of variables,
such as vividness of imagery and hallucinatory experience, were examined. Two
conditions, psychomanteum and no-psychomanteum condition, were compared. A
CD-pool containing 200 high-quality color pictures, such as animals, icons,
foods, people, landscapes, religion, scenic pictures, structures, and humoristic
cartoons, were designed using a RNG for randomization. Under psychomanteum
condition, psi-hitting was obtained (30.8% above MCE); however, under no-psychomanteum
(“control”) condition, 29.2% was obtained (where 25% was expected). The results
differ slightly from MCE in the psychomanteum condition (p= .02, one-tailed) in
comparison with no-psychomanteum condition, but no significant differences were
found. A number of positive correlations were also found, for instance,
participants who attained higher scores on auditory and visual hallucinations
tended to demonstrate psi-hitting.
ENTRAINED MINDS AND THE BEHAVIOR OF RANDOM PHYSICAL SYSTEMS
Dean Radin1 & F. Holmes Atwater2
1 Institute of Noetic Sciences
Petaluma, CA, USA
2 The Monroe Institute
Faber, VA, USA
ABSTRACT
An experiment was conducted to see whether group mental coherence would produce
statistical order in sequences of truly random binary events. Mental coherence
was entrained in groups who simultaneously listened to the same binaural beat
rhythms for up to six hours a day as part of a six-day workshop. Electronic
circuits continuously generated truly random bits during 12 workshops. An
additional 12 six-day runs were taken in distant locations during the workshops,
and 8 calibration runs were taken when no workshops were taking place. Samples
of 200 bits collected during the workshops were normalized against the
calibration samples. Analyses were based on the first sample of 200 bits
collected per second (12 million samples) and also on all available samples of
200 bits (226 million samples). The first analysis found positive but
non-significant deviations from chance; the second showed a significant positive
deviation for the workshop RNGs, as predicted (z = 3.27, p = 0.0005,
one-tailed), and an unexpectedly strong negative deviation in the distant RNGs
(z = -6.47, p = 9.6 × 10-11, two-tailed). The results support the idea that
coherent minds influence local physical randomness.
PRESENTIMENT IN THE BRAIN
Dean Radin1 & Eva Lobach2
1 Institute of Noetic Sciences
Petaluma, CA, USA
2 University of Amsterdam,
The Netherlands
ABSTRACT
Slow cortical potentials in human subjects were measured to test a possible
transtemporal component of expectation. One channel of EEG was recorded over the
occipital lobe while a participant was exposed to a truly random sequence of
dichotomous stimuli: a flash of light or no flash. Successive stimuli were
determined randomly four seconds after the participant pressed a button. Data
were collected in sessions of 100 trials, contributed by 13 female and 7 male
participants. Females’ slow cortical potentials differentiated significantly one
second before stimulus onset (z= 2.72, p= 0.007, two-tailed). For males, there
was a suggestive effect in the opposite direction (z= -1.64, p= 0.10,
two-tailed). Examination of alternative explanations indicated that these
effects were not due to anticipatory strategies or artifacts associated with
equipment, procedures or analytical methods. The experiment suggests that
comprehensive models of expectation effects, including the placebo response, may
require a transtemporal component.
EFFECTS OF MOTIVATED DISTANT INTENTION ON ELECTRODERMAL ACTIVITY
Dean Radin1, Jerome Stone2, Ellen Levine3, Shahram Eskandarnejad3,
Marilyn Schlitz1,3, Leila Kozak4,5, Dorothy Mandel5 & Gail Hayssen1
1 Institute of Noetic Sciences
Petaluma, CA, USA
2 Touchstone Services
Portland, ME, USA
3 California Pacific Medical Center
San Francisco, CA, USA
4 Bastyr University
Seattle, CA, USA
5 Saybrook Graduate School
San Francisco, CA, USA
ABSTRACT
This study investigated the effects of intention on the autonomic nervous system
of a human “sender” and distant “receiver” of those intentions, and explored the
roles that motivation and training have in modulating these effects. Skin
conductance level was measured in each member of a couple, both of whom were
asked to feel the presence of the other. While the receiving person relaxed in a
shielded room under double-blind conditions, the sending person in another room
directed intention towards the receiver during 10-second epochs. These sending
epochs were alternated with no-sending inter-epoch periods ranging randomly
between 5 and 40 seconds. Thirty-six couples participated in 38 test sessions;
in 22 couples one of the pair was a cancer patient. In 12 of those couples, the
healthy person was trained to direct intention towards the patient and asked to
practice that intention daily for three months prior to the experiment (trained
group). In the other 10 couples, the pair was tested before the partner was
trained (wait group). Fourteen healthy couples received no training (control
group). Ensemble means of the skin conductance measures were determined during
the intention epochs and normalized using nonparametric bootstrap procedures.
Overall, receivers’ skin conductance levels increased during the sending epochs,
achieving a peak deviation at the end of the average epoch (z = 3.9, p =
0.00009, two-tailed). Planned differences in skin conductance among the three
groups were not significant, but peak deviations were largest in the trained
group, followed by the wait and control groups, respectively. This study
confirms previous studies indicating that directing intention towards a distant
person is correlated with a rise in that person’s autonomic nervous system, and
it suggests that motivation to heal and to be healed, and training on how to
direct distant intention, may modulate this relationship.
ASSESSING THE ROLE OF THE SENDER AS A PK AGENT IN ESP
STUDIES: THE EFFECTS OF STRATEGY (‘WILLING’ VERSUS ABSORPTION) AND FEEDBACK
(IMMEDIATE VERSUS DELAYED) ON PSI PERFORMANCE
Chris A. Roe & Nicola J. Holt
Centre for the Study of Anomalous Psychological Processes
University of Northampton, Northampton, UK
ABSTRACT
In recent work we have been concerned to evaluate
whether the sender plays any active role in successful ganzfeld GESP experiments
(e.g., Roe, Holt & Simmonds, 2003; Roe & Holt, in press) by using a random
number generator (RNG) as a ‘virtual receiver’ in a ganzfeld-like experiment.
During the sending period descriptive statements were ‘selected’ from among a
pool of 768 items to give a 20-item ‘RNG mentation’ that could be used by an
independent judge. After early success in demonstrating the basic effect, later
work considered the effects of varying the lability of the target selection
method (Holt & Roe, 2005) using a simplified protocol in which senders were
accurately briefed and attempted to influence the RNG; this allowed us to offer
immediate feedback in the form of an on-screen display of the selected
statements. Target selection method lability was manipulated to give three
within-subject conditions: a random number table; a pseudo random process; and a
live RNG. Participants were classified high, intermediate or low lability based
on a combination of personality and experiential measures. Significant psi
hitting was not obtained in any of the randomness conditions, although there was
a significant interaction effect between target and sender lability, which
emerged for both independent judges (F4,37 = 2.891, p = .028 [JW]; F4,37 =
4.536, p = .002 [LS]). The present study was designed to confirm that finding
and to extend it by considering the possible interaction effects of sending
strategy (active/willing versus passive/absorbed) upon feedback type (delayed
versus immediate). Forty participants were randomly allocated to one of four
conditions differing in sending strategy/feedback type. Each was presented with
24 statements as a virtual reading, consisting of 8 selected using each of the
three randomness sources. The direct hit rates for all target systems are at or
below mean chance expectation (MCE = 25%). A mixed 3x3 ANOVA found no
significant main effects, neither the degree of target lability (F2,74 = .074, p
= .929), nor the lability of the sender (F2,37 = .387, p = .651) significantly
impacted upon psi-success. However, there was a significant interaction between
target lability and sender lability (F4,74 = 2.747, p = .034). This replicates
the interaction effect found by Holt and Roe (2005). An unrelated 2 x 2 ANOVA
was conducted, using just the mentations produced by the Live RNG, to consider
the two factors of sending strategy (absorbed versus willing) and feedback type
(immediate and delayed). There was no main effect of sending strategy (F1,36 =
.029, p = .865 ) nor of feedback type (F1,36 = 2.101, p = .156), and only a
suggestive interaction effect (F1,36 = 2.310, p = .137).
ASSESSING THE ROLES OF THE SENDER AND EXPERIMENTER IN
DREAM ESP RESEARCH
Chris A. Roe*, Simon J. Sherwood*, Louise Farrell*, Louie Savva*, & Ian Baker#
*Centre for the Study of Anomalous Psychological Processes, The University of
Northampton
#Koestler Parapsychology Unit, The University of Edinburgh
ABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to explore the role of
the sender in a dream ESP task; more specifically it was a conceptual
replication of an earlier ganzfeld study (Roe, Sherwood & Holt, 2004) that
manipulated the presence of a sender (sender, no sender) and considered the
receiver’s expectation concerning the sender’s presence. Forty participants each
completed a sender and a no sender trial on consecutive nights by sleeping at
home as normal but keeping a dream diary to record all mentation that they could
remember when they awoke. The order of completing sender and no sender trials
was determined randomly and participant and experimenter were blind as to the
order until after they had completed their judgments. On no-sender nights a
video clip was randomly selected as target and played repeatedly from 2:00 until
6:30 a.m. On sender nights this was repeated except that a sender (SS or CR)
would watch the clip between 6:00 and 6:30 and attempt to communicate its
content to the receiver. The sender had no contact with the receiver at any
stage. The primary outcome measure was specified in advance as the z score based
upon similarity ratings of the target relative to those for three decoy
video-clips. Although both sender and no sender conditions produced above chance
hit rates (30% and 35% respectively), performance in neither condition deviated
significantly from chance by our primary measure (sender night: t(39) = 0.92,
p=0.18; no sender night: t(39) = 1.11, p= 0.14) and there was no difference
between conditions (z=-0.22, p=0.41, one-tailed). Contrary to expectations,
there was a nonsignificant tendency for z-score ratings to be greater for trials
when the participants did not expect a sender than when they did expect a sender
(z =-0.18, p=0.46, one-tailed). These data do not therefore support the proposal
that senders play an active role in dream ESP success. An intriguing interaction
between sender status (present vs absent) and sender identity (CR vs SS) is
discussed, along with possible improvements in the manipulation of participant
expectancy.
A MEDICAL-PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH TO THE POSSESSION
CASE BEHIND WILLIAM BLATTY’S THE EXORCIST
Sergio Antonio Rueda MS D
Instituto de Medicina y Tecnología Avanzada de la Conducta
Cd. Juárez, Chihuahua Mexico
ABSTRACT
The Exorcist, often considered the seminal
horror film in the history of movie making, caused tidal waves of publicity and
public reaction (sometimes reactions so severe by the terror evoked by the film
that in some cases psychiatric treatment, for some who viewed the film in 1973,
was needed ). The original case on which The Exorcist book and movie were
based took place in Mount Rainier near Washington D.C. in 1949 and was examined
closely by J.B. Rhine. The Exorcist is a distorted and exaggerated
version of the original case. A recent investigation of the Mount Rainier Case
by this author reveals some new information suggesting that the authors of
previous works may have be too eager to present the case as one of demonic
possession. I examine four hypotheses: medical, psychological, and associated
natural causes; fraud; poltergeist activity; and demonic possession. I present
new information that has been obtained through personal interviews with
witnesses of the original Mount Rainier case, unpublished material on the case
such as personal correspondence, and information of private documents which has
never been released in the past. The conclusion of my investigation was that the
case can be most parsimoniously addressed from the medical-psychological
perspective, and secondarily from a parapsychological point of view, with the
additional possibility of deception. In my opinion, the case presents evidence
for a conversion disorder combined with actual poltergeist manifestations.
‘PSYCHIC DMILS’: ATTEMPTED REMOTE FACILITATION OF
PERFORMANCE IN AN ESP GAME, AND AN EXPLORATION OF GENDER DIFFERENCES
Caroline Watt, Christine Fraser, & Alexandra Hopkinson
University of Edinburgh
ABSTRACT
Braud, Shafer, McNeill, & Guerra (1995) were the
first to extend the physiological DMILS paradigm to enhancing performance on a
cognitive task: what one might term ‘cognitive DMILS’. Participants were asked
to focus their attention on a lit candle and indicate when they became
distracted by pressing a button. At the same time, a distant person followed a
randomised counterbalanced influence schedule. During Help periods they
attempted to help the remote participant maintain their attention on the candle,
and during Control periods they turned their attention elsewhere. Five out of
seven studies using this remote facilitation of attention focusing paradigm have
found evidence suggesting a remote facilitation effect: that is, fewer
distractions when being remotely helped. When discussing their cognitive DMILS
paradigm, Braud et al. (1995) suggested that remote helping might also extend to
psychic performance. That is, one individual may be able to use their mental
intention to remotely enhance the psychic performance of another individual. The
present study explores this suggestion by asking participants to remotely
facilitate a partner’s performance on an ESP game. One might term this ‘psychic
DMILS’. The study hypothesises a remote helping effect so that there will be
higher ESP game scoring during Help epochs compared to Control epochs. In
addition, we investigated whether there are sex differences in performance on
remote helping tasks because sex role stereotypes tend to represent women as
‘the caring sex’ and thus more inclined to give and be receptive to help than
men. Prior to playing the ESP game, participants completed a questionnaire
designed to assess willingness to give and to receive help. Seventy-two
participants each played the ESP game while a partner in a separate room
followed a randomised influence schedule of eight two-minute Help and Control
Periods. There was no significant difference between the number of ESP hits
during Help periods compared to Control periods (t[71] = 0.81, p(2-t) = 0.42,
effect size r = 0.09), therefore the hypothesis was not supported. Possible
reasons for the null outcome are discussed. Exploratory analyses found that male
and female participants did not greatly differ in overall hitrate, however a
significant interaction was found such that females scored more highly on the
ESP game when they were being helped, whereas male participants scored more
highly when they were not being helped. This trend seems consistent with sex
stereotypes, and participants’ responses on the questionnaire assessing
willingness to give help were also consistent with the stereotypical pattern.
Female participants indicated significantly greater willingness to give help
than male participants. There was little differenc between male and female
participants on willingness to receive help. Finally, in order to stimulate
consideration of the question of gender differences in DMILS research, we
provide additional post hoc analyses by gender in Watt and colleagues’ three
previously-published studies of remote facilitation of attention focusing.
FIELD RNG EXPLORATION DURING A PUBLIC NATIVE AMERICAN POWWOW
Bryan J. Williams
Department of Psychology
University of New Mexico
&
Kindred Hospital Albuquerque
Kindred Hospital Albuquerque – Sandia
Albuquerque, NM 87102
ABSTRACT
The described study was one part of a project attempting to explore the
possibility of mind-matter interaction-related “field consciousness” effects on
random physical systems during religious ceremonial events that seem to involve
a collective, unified attention in their activities. Data were collected from a
portable random number generator (RNG) during the 22nd Annual Gathering of
Nations Powwow, a two-day Native American ceremonial event held annually in New
Mexico that draws the collective attention and participation of large numbers of
Native Americans and the general public. The general prediction was for the RNG
data to show positive statistical deviations away from standard randomness
throughout the event, and a post hoc examination of the data from three
individual sub-events that seem to draw the largest attention and/or
participation from the audience and the media was also carried out. Analysis
indicates that the RNG data were largely random as expected in both cases. An
additional post hoc comparison of data from events rated as “high interest” with
data from events rated as “low interest” also did not reveal any notable
differences. Possible ways to account for these null results are discussed.
PSI, PLACE MEMORY, & LABORATORY SPACE
Bryan J. Williams1 & William G. Roll2
1 Department of Psychology
University of New Mexico
&
Kindred Hospital Albuquerque
Kindred Hospital Albuquerque – Sandia
Albuquerque, NM 87102
2 Department of Psychology
University of West Georgia
Carrollton, GA 30118
ABSTRACT
One of the longstanding issues within parapsychology has been the
nonrepeatability effect in psi testing. Not only are there psychological factors
that seem to contribute to this issue, but there may also be environmental
factors aside from the purely geophysical that have received little attention.
In this paper, we discuss the possibility that “place memories” inherent in
physical objects and places may affect laboratories and the results obtained
there. Various experimental studies, directly related to psi or psi-related,
that seem suggestive of place memories in the laboratory setting are reviewed,
and some implications are discussed.
‘DOUBT MARKED’ EXPANSION SEQUENCES IN GANZFELD MENTATION REVIEWS
Robin Wooffitt
Department of Sociology
University of York
Heslington,
York, YO10 5DD
UK
ABSTRACT
Conversation analysis (CA) is a formal, qualitative method for the analysis of
naturally-occurring interaction. It has been applied to the investigation of the
discourse of anomalous experiences, and in the analysis of experimenter-subject
interaction in parapsychology experiments. This paper contributes to this latter
line of research. A key feature of the CA method is to examine how a turn’s
design exhibits its producer’s tacit understanding of the on-going interaction.
This methodological step is illustrated by analysis of data from ganzfeld
experiments conducted at the Koestler Parapsychology Unit at the University of
Edinburgh. The analysis focuses on two different ways in which experimenters
receipt subject communication in the mentation review phase of the experimental
procedure. In the review, experimenters go over their record of the subject’s
prior mentation imagery. After introducing each instance of mentation imagery,
the experimenters leave a short gaps before proceeding to introduce the next
item in the review. This slot provides an opportunity for the subject to correct
the experimenter’s record of the mentation, if necessary, or to add further
information about their imagery. Routinely, subjects pass on this opportunity to
expand upon their prior mentation imagery. However, when they do provide further
information about their imagery, this expansion turn is usually receipted by
‘okay’ from the experimenter, who then moves on to the next mentation imagery.
In some cases, though, expansion turns are receipted by ‘mm hm’ or its variants.
In such cases, it is observable that the subject provides further talk about the
relevant imagery. However, in various ways, in this further talk the subject
exhibits a much more circumspect or cautious stance toward their imagery; for
example, there are expressions of doubt about the status of the imagery, or
accounts which attribute the imagery to mundane aspects of the environment. It
is argued that these doubt marked or circumspect expansion sequences are
interactionally generated in that they emerge from the subject’s interpretation
of the significance of the experimenter’s ‘mm hm’ receipt of their prior talk.
The paper concludes by offering some speculative observations on the possible
consequences of the different interpretations subjects may draw from these two
forms of experimenter receipt. abstract.
THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF TROUBLE MANAGEMENT IN PSYCHIC PRACTITIONER -
SITTER INTERACTION: THREE DISCURSIVE STRATEGIES
Robin Wooffitt
Department of Sociology
University of York
Heslington
York YO10 5DD
UK
ABSTRACT
This paper presents some findings from a conversation analytic study of
interaction between psychic practitioners and their clients, or sitters. As its
point of departure, it acknowledges Morris’ (2005) argument that it is important
to examine the social context of claims to parapsychological cognition. In this,
it offers a contribution to our understanding of the ways in which participants
in psychic-sitter interaction can establish and sustain the sense that genuine
parapsychological ablities are being demonstrated. This is not, however, an
exercise in cold reading. However much sceptics (or indeed, psychcis) may wish
to appropriate the results of convesation analytic reseach on psychic-sitter
interaction to support their position, the analyses themselves are ultimately
agnostic as to the truth status of the claims of psyhic practitioners. That is,
instead of trying to identify a set of objective criteria by which scientists or
academic researchers can arbitrate on the validity of claims of paranormal
powers, or the objective existence of the spirits, conversation analytic
techniques allow us to investigate the sense-making practices through which
psychic practitioners and their clients themselves negotiate, ratify, clarify,
question or reject the status of paranormal knowledge claims as they manage the
routine discursive activities of the consultation or demonstration. The
empirical sections of the paper examine three kinds of remedial or repair
strategies by which psychic practitioners and their sitters work to sustain the
authority or authenticity of the practitioners in situations where their
genuiness may be questioned or their claimed parapsychological abilities
disconfirmed. The first is available to psychics. If a claim or prediction about
the sitter is not accepted or confirmed, a psychic may simply abandon that
topic, and then move on to another topic. But this can be an inferentially risky
strategy, in that a swift progression on to another topic or claim about the
sitter might be the basis upon which a sitter infers that the psychic is merely
engaged in guessing, rather than using some form of parapsychological cognition.
However, there is a strategy by which psychics can introduce a new topic - known
as ‘and prefacing’ - which minimises the likelihood of a sceptical
interpretation by the sitter. The second and third strategies are available to
sitters. They can either modulate or ‘soften’ their negative or disconfirmatory
responses to the psychic’s prior prediction or claim. Alternatively, they can
engage in a form of embedded or unmarked correction in which the activity of
correcting does not become an explicit focus of the exchange. The paper
concludes with some critical refections on the relatively unsophisticated
account of psychic practitioner- sitter communication advanced in the cold
reading literature.
THE ROOTS OF PARANORMAL BELIEF: DIVERGENT ASSOCIATIONS OR REAL PARANORMAL
EXPERIENCES?
Rémi de Boer & Dick J. Bierman
University of Amsterdam
ABSTRACT
Pizzagalli et al have argued that paranormal
belief is triggered by the experience of accidental associations. Persons who
belief in psi phenomena (sheep) are thought to have a more divergent thinking
style and hence would be vulnerable for ‘seeing’ coincidences as meaningful
where they are just accidental. On the other hand, it could also be that ‘sheep’
have become sheep because they encounter more real psi events in their life.
After Brugger et al we used a lateralized word-priming paradigm in a lexical
decision task to measure participants’ ability to associate words that would
normally be considered to be loosely associated at most. We also presented a
similar image-priming task where the words were replaced by images of faces. The
primes were of smiling or angry faces. The targets consisted of the blurred eyes
of the same faces. In this task, participants had to classify the targets as
female or male. Finally, we implemented an embedded psi condition in the
image-priming task. In this condition rather than presenting the prime before
the target, the (subliminal) prime was presented after the target.
Fifty-four participants participated in the experiment. The results of the
word-priming task did confirm findings in the literature of faster response
times for targets presented in the right visual field compared to targets in the
left visual field. More surprisingly, the response times were fastest for
indirect primes (loosely associated with the target). There was no difference
between sheep and goats (non-believers).
In the image priming task we found a main effect of the presentation condition
with the fastest responses for forward priming, and slower but about the same
responses for control (forward) priming and backward priming. Interestingly, the
(retro causal) backward condition yielded significantly faster response times
than the control condition for the positive primes (t (50)= -2.981, p=0.004 two
–tailed).
COMPARING A FREE-RESPONSE TEST USING AN OBJECT
AND WITHOUT OBJECT CONDITION: FIRST STUDY EXPLORING THE “TOKEN-OBJECT” EFFECT ON
AN UN-GIFTED SAMPLE
Alejandro Parra and Juan Carlos Argibay
Instituto de Psicología Paranormal
Buenos Aires
ARGENTINA
ABSTRACT
Psychometry is an anomalous cognition system for psi-detection. For example,
psychics have often claimed to have the ability to obtain “impressions” about
people from objects that they have owned. Many authors have suggested
explanations for psychometry, which are in line with Roll´s “psi field.”
Research has mostly been limited to qualitative analysis because psychometry is
very difficult to research due to problems in evaluating “free response”
material. To date, there has been little interest in the exploration of
psychometry among “ordinary” people. In this study, psychometry-based
experimental research and ESP hits were compared with visual images to assess
strategies. “Psychometric” and “non-psychometric” procedures were
counterbalanced. Seventy one unselected, ordinary people (age range= 18-77;
Mean= 46.44; SD= 14.03) were recruited as participants by announcements. All
participants underwent the two conditions of the psi experiment: the use of
token-object and visual images. Test instructions were given to both
participants and target persons. Four volunteers carried identical objects with
them for fifteen days. Blind coding and recoding procedures were used by the
experimenters. Participants “touched” four objects for impressions and completed
four trials. Target persons blind scored the participant´s statements. A similar
procedure was employed for the free-response test (visual). Targets for both the
visual test and the token-objects, were randomly assigned. The non-psychometry
condition (p= .005) resulted in higher scores than those obtained in the
psychometry condition. The difference between both target conditions
(no-psychometry vs. psychometry) was also significant (z-score= 2.65, p= .008,
two-tailed). We conclude that this experiment offers some support for the claim
that visual image stimulation is more psi-conducive, presumably at least among
ordinary people. Psi seems to work better using visual imagery than in a “token
object” condition. It may well be that the anomalous cognition with psychometry
is a more complex cognitive process than we have considered it to be.
THE EFFECT OF REMOTE EMOTION ON RECEIVER SKIN
CONDUCTANCE: A REPLICATION
Göran Brusewitz
Department of Psychology, University of Stockholm
Stockholm
ABSTRACT not available
TELEPATHIC GROUP COMMUNICATION OF EMOTIONS: ANOUNCEMENT OF PREDICTIONS FOR AN
ONGOING EXPERIMENT
Jan Dalkvist1, & Joakim Westerlund1
1Department of Psychology
Stockholm University
ABSTRACT not available
DEVELOPING EXPERIENCE-SAMPLING METHODOLOGY TO EXPLORE PSI IN ‘EVERYDAY LIFE’
Nicola J. Holt1
Centre for the Study of Anomalous Psychological Processes
University of Northampton
ABSTRACT not available
ARE PSYCHICS PERCEIVED TO BE MORE ACCURATE AND PERSUASIVE THAN NON-PSYCHICS?
Craig D. Murray1 & Ciarán O’Keeffe2
1 School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester
Manchester, United Kingdom
2Department of Psychology, Liverpool Hope University
Liverpool, United Kingdom
ABSTRACT not available
A GANZFELD STUDY WITH IDENTICAL TWINS
Adrian Parker
Department of Psychology, Göteborg University, Gothenburg, Sweden
ABSTRACT
The aim here was to maximise psi performance in
the ganzfeld in the process of testing the claims for identical twins as a
source of psi-gifted individuals. The report here concerns the results of the
testing of ten of the planned fifteen pairs of identical twins who were selected
on the basis of a form of the Sheep-Goat questionnaire and then their ESP
performance evaluated with two sessions of the Real Time Digital Ganzfeld. They
obtained a 40% hit rate and a medium effect size.
AN INITIAL EXPLORATION OF AMBIENT TEMPERATURE FLUCTUATIONS AND ANOMALOUS
EXPERIENCES
Steven T. Parsons¹ & Ciarán O’Keeffe¹
¹Department of Psychology, Liverpool Hope University
Liverpool, United Kingdom
ABSTRACT not available
ANDROGYNY, FEMININITY AND MASCULINITY IN WOMEN: EXPLORING HOW GENDER ROLE AND
BOUNDARY THINNESS RELATE TO PARANORMAL EXPERIENCES, BELIEFS AND ESP
Christine A. Simmonds-Moore, PhD & Stephen L. Moore
Psychology Department
Liverpool Hope University,
Liverpool,
UK.
ABSTRACT not available
“SO FAR AND YET SO CLOSE” – A GESP-EXPERIMENT INTEGRATING THE MODEL OF PRAGMATIC
INFORMATION (MPI) AND THE WEAK QUANTUM THEORY (WQT)
Ronald Weigl
Cognitive Psychology Unit (CPU), Department of Psychology,
Klagenfurt University
ABSTRACT not available
DO OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENTS HAVE BETTER VISUAL IMAGERY SKILLS THAN NON-EXPERIENTS?
David J. Wilde, Craig D. Murray & Jezz Fox
School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester
Manchester, United Kingdom
ABSTRACT not available
THE COMMUNICATIVE ORDER OF SPONTANEOUS PSI: AN OVERVIEW OF SCHEGLOFF’S ‘ON ESP
PUNS’
Robin Wooffitt
Department of Sociology
University of York
Heslington
York YO10 5DD
UK
ABSTRACT not available
JOHN BELOFF: FORGING THE FUTURE OF PARAPSYCHOLOGY
Deborah L. Delanoy, Ph.D.
University of Northampton
ABSTRACT
John Beloff’s legacy to parapsychology is profound and wide-ranging. Via
personal memories, this presentation will highlight some of his educational,
research and scholastic accomplishments. Also it will consider what is arguably
John’s greatest contribution to the field, namely serving as the architect
behind the establishment of the Koestler Chair of Parapsychology.
John Beloff was the first parapsychologist I ever met, and it is because of him
that I’m still working in the field. Undoubtedly my life, like so many of his
students, would have been very different if not for his considerable influence
and seemingly limitless knowledge of the field.
While John played a significant role in his student’s lives, his contributions
to parapsychology went far beyond those related to education. The breadth of his
philosophical and experimental work is most impressive. While he may be best
remembered for his philosophical writings, his experimental work was also
wide-ranging, with his research including the application of the decay of
radioactive material (uranium) to provide a truly random source in an early
micro-PK study (with Evans, 1961), attempts to replicate Ryzl’s ESP training
method (with Mandleberg, 1966), as well as a variety of other forced-choice and
free-response ESP research examining issues such as the impact of hypnosis, the
sheep/goat effect; psycho physiological responses to remote stimuli, the
experimenter effect and the agent-percipient relationship.
But perhaps his greatest contribution is the pivotal role he played in shaping
the future of British parapsychology. He not only created the environment in
which parapsychology was able to flourish at Edinburgh University, but also
designed it’s future via his role as the executor of the Koestler bequest and
his critical involvement in the selection process that determined the holder of
the Koestler Chair. The success of the Chair’s selection process is well
attested. While the ultimate impact of the Koestler bequest and Chair will be
for historians to determine, there can be no debate that John indelibly changed
the face of British parapsychology. John forged a strong future for
parapsychology, leaving us all in an improved, richer and far more secure
position.
WHAT I LEARNED FROM JOHN BELOFF
Richard Broughton, Ph.D.
University of Northampton
ABSTRACT
This contribution will present some personal
reflections on lessons in parapsychology, in science, and in life learned as a
student and colleague of John Beloff.
JOHN BELOFF: SOME PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF MY
MENTOR
Adrian Parker, Ph.D.
ABSTRACT
I draw on my own experiences and anecdotes of John
to show how his qualities of eloquence, courage, and humility enabled him in the
wake of the loss of parapsychology’s place at Duke University, to re-instate
parapsychology as an accredited university subject. We met by a series of
apparently fortuitous events that first took me to Edinburgh and then led me to
change from medicine to psychology. Without knowing of John’s presence there, I
had begun to be fascinated by hypnosis and psi, topics which I later discovered
were the focus of his first project at Edinburgh.
In some respects, my personal experience of John is that he possessed many
qualities which belonged to a bygone era, but these qualities also meant he was
a man of his times by providing a steadfastness during was then a period of not
only openness but also of social upheaval. It was just such qualities that
enabled him to show that a research program in parapsychology could be conducted
at Edinburgh without any threat to academia. It was this confidence created from
his research and from his scholarly teaching which then provided the necessary
and sufficient conditions for establishing the Koestler Chair at the university.
Although John saw his role as executor of the Koestler Will as ethically
preventing him from becoming its first professor, he possessed a psychological,
philosophical and a parapsychological expertise which has rarely occurred since
the days of William James. His critics were indeed met in a Jamesian manner with
the rare gifts of a perceptiveness and an eloquence which enabled him to
immediately grasp the nub of the argument being put forth and then to turn the
owner around with a command of words which showed the door to common sense.
John’s importance however did not diminish with the arrival of Bob Morris as
professor at Edinburgh and the spread of parapsychology to other UK
universities. John was active in the SPR, continued for some years as the editor
of its journal, published his third and fourth books The Relentless Question
(1990) and Parapsychology - A Concise History (1993) and edited a further one
(with J. R. Smythies) The Case for Dualism (1989). He gave us a legacy not only
in establishing university parapsychology but confronted us with the
implications of a critical yet positive parapsychology, and for John this meant
a parapsychology that gave a central position to the study of spontaneous
phenomena as well as experimental research.
At a personal level, John Beloff, through what in practice meant sacrificing his
own career prospects, gave me and others the opportunity of making a university
career out of parapsychology and gave me a commitment to show that with
sufficient determination and willpower, this opportunity can be realized.
THE RANDI DINNER
Stanley Krippner, Ph.D.
Saybrook Graduate School,
USA
ABSTRACT
In 1982, when I was president of the PA, James Randi appeared on a panel of
magicians that the program chair had arranged for the annual convention. The PA
Council had just passed a resolution that put the Association on record that its
members were advised to consult magicians when dealing with presumptive macro-PK
phenomena. During the convention, held in Montclair, New Jersey, Randi invited
John Beloff and me to dinner at his nearby home. During dinner, we discussed the
PA resolution, and John described a young "metal bender" he and his team were
investigating in Scotland. Randi agreed to develop a device in which a thin
metal rod could be placed. However, if the device were opened or tampered with,
a chemical would change color and reveal the deceit. Later, John gave the device
to the young man, who claimed that he could only bend metal in the privacy of
his home. When the device was returned, the metal was bent, the sealing wax was
intact, but the chemical had changed color. John concluded that the wax had been
melted, the metal had been bent by ordinary means, and the device had been
resealed with the same wax. When Randi heard about this, he proclaimed that his
"Project Beta" had been successful. Unlike "Project Alpha," in which Randi's
confederates infiltrated a parapsychological laboratory as research
participants, "Project Beta" simply required that Randi's advice be requested by
a prominent parapsychologist. John Beloff was as prominent as they come.
REMEMBERING T.X. BARBER
Stanley Krippner, Ph.D
Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center
ABSTRACT
Theodore Xenophon Barber died on September 10th, 2005, in Framingham,
Massachusetts. The cause of death was a ruptured aorta; he was 78 years of age.
Ted Barber had an early interest in parapsychology, dating back to his high
school days, and he served on the editorial board of Advances in
Parapsychological Research, a series of research reviews I have edited since
1977 (e.g., Krippner, 1977). He was the J.B. Rhine banquet speaker at the St.
Louis convention of the Parapsychological Association, where he discussed the
possible connections between parapsychology and hypnosis, a field in which he
pioneered what has become known as the social psychological paradigm of hypnotic
response (Barber, 1995). With his partner, Sheryl C. Wilson, Barber co-authored
the Creative Imagination Scale (1978, 1981), and published the results under the
title, "The Fantasy-Prone Personality: Implications for Understanding Imagery,
Hypnosis, and Parapsychological Phenomena" (Wilson & Barber, 1983). He also
authored the Barber Suggestibility Scale, an instrument he used in a series of
studies demonstrating that formal hypnotic induction procedures were not
necessary to produce the effects typically associated with hypnosis (Barber &
Wilson, 1978/1979). Instead, he conceived of hypnosis as heightened
suggestibility, not an altered state of consciousness. Indeed, in some of his
early papers, Barber placed the term "hypnosis" in quotation marks (e.g., Barber
& Calverley, 1964), denoting that the word was a social construct, what I would
consider a product of historically situated interchanges among people specific
to times and places. In the late 1990s, Barber wrote a series of articles
describing three distinct types of outstanding hypnotic subjects, the
"fantasy-prone," the "amnesia-prone," and the "positively set" (e.g., 1999).
Hence, there are three major dimensions involved in hypnosis: imagination,
dissociation, and motivation. He saw hypnosis not as a single trait but as an
interplay of various human potentials (Krippner, 1999). His book, Hypnosis: A
Scientific Approach (Barber, 1995), attempted to place hypnosis in the
mainstream of social psychology, and his book, Pitfalls of Human Research
(Barber, 1976), described ten common errors made by students and scholars alike
when studying their fellow humans. In LSD, Marihuana, Yoga, and Hypnosis, Barber
(1970) explored human potentials from a scientific point of view and in The
Human Nature of Birds (1993),he described how the cognitive capabilities of
animals are more like those of humans than scientists thought possible (also see
Barber, 1994). This was to have been followed up by a book tentatively titled
The Wisdom of the Cell, in which Barber would extend complex behavior to
apparently simple forms of life. This book also was to have extended his
article, "Changing ‘Unchangeable’ Bodily Processes by Hypnotic Suggestions: A
New Look at Hypnosis" (Barber, 1983), proposing a mechanism for
parapsychological processes ranging from telepathy to so-called
"materializations" based on recent data from the field of psychoneuroimmunology.
I had a preview of these ideas when he sent me a lengthy critique of my 2002
article, "Stigmatic Phenomena: An Alleged Case in Brazil." Not only did Barber
accept the probability that my research participant manifested stigmata, albeit
from internal processes rather than from external "divine" intervention, but he
proposed that the participant's alleged materialization of "apports" was not due
to sleight-of-hand but reflected untapped potentials of the human organism.
Wilson, his partner of many years, plans to show me his unfinished manuscript in
the hopes that we can salvage some of the material for publication. If so, this
will be a belated but potentially valuable gift to parapsychology. In a
commentary published in American Psychologist, Barber (1996) criticized an
article (Blumberg & Wasserman, 1995) that called for the abandoning of
anthropomorphic reports. He stated, “When I trained as a psychologist more than
40 years ago, I learned that these and related percepts (which were then
associated with Thorndike, Pavlov, Kantor, and Skinner) were useful in
understanding behavior. During the past four decades, however, while
continuously conducting intensive research in human psychology…and, more
recently, in comparative psychology… I gradually realized with increasing
certainly that [these] precepts are misguided and hinder the progress of more
than one area of psychology. In comparative psychology, these precepts block
serious discussion and incorporation of the anomalous results yielded by a
series of hard-headed projects conducted by behaviorally oriented investigators”
(p. 58; also see Chaves & Barber, 1975). Because of Barber’s openness to
anomalous phenomena, he was one of the people to whom our book Varieties of
Anomalous Experience (Cardeña, Lynn, & Krippner, 2000) was dedicated, a gesture
that he enjoyed and appreciated.
T. X. BARBER'S TYPOLOGY’S IMPLICATIONS FOR PARAPSYCHOLOGY
Etzel Cardeña, PhD
Poul Thorsen Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Lund, Sweden
ABSTRACT
Theodore Xenophon Barber's initial contributions to hypnosis greatly increased
the methodological and conceptual sophistication of the field (Barber,
1969/1995) and questioned a facile acceptance of unquestioned concepts such as
“trance” and even “hypnosis” itself. Many people in the field still think,
incorrectly, that he was foremost a critic of the reality of alterations of
consciousness and extraordinary human potentials, whereas he was a careful and
probing researcher and theoretician (see, for instance, Barber, 1976). In this
presentation I want to emphasize his recent typology of highly hypnotizable
individuals (fantasy prone, dissociative, highly motivated), with an emphasis on
his construct of fantasy proneness and ways to measure it. Barber’s typology
(1999) extends the previous work of Deirdre Barrett (1990) and Etzel Cardeña
(1996) and helps integrate separate strands in hypnosis research and theory. I
will also discuss the implications that the consideration of different types of
highly hypnotizables has for the empirical and conceptual study of
parapsychological and other anomalous phenomena. For instance, the psychological
dynamics of why a traumatized dissociator may be more psi-conducive (Ferenczi,
1993) may be different from those of someone who developed his/her inner life in
a more benign way.
IMPORTANCE OF SURVIVAL RESEARCH
Peter Mulacz1, Erlendur Haraldsson2, Etzel Cardeña3, Stanley Krippner4,
Christine Simmonds5, Suitbert Ertel6
1Austrian Society for Parapsychology
Vienna, Austria
2Department of Psychology, University of Iceland
Reykjavik, Iceland
3Department of Psychology, University of Lund
Lund, Sweden
4Saybrook Graduate School
San Francisco, CA, USA
5Department of Psychology, Liverpool Hope University
Liverpool, UK
6Psychology Department, Georg-August-University of Göttingen
Göttingen, Germany
ABSTRACT
Where do we come from – where do we go to? Questions like this one, or on the
origin of the universe, or the evolution issue, or the meaning of all, have
traditionally been addressed by religion and philosophy. Nowadays it is science
that is asked such questions by society (of which the scientific community is a
sub-set). Science owes society an answer and should meet such challenges and not
leave the field either to the traditional religious or philosophical belief
systems nor to pseudoscience; at least science should make clear whether or not
a scientific answer on any such question is possible at all. In particular the
issue of what happens to man after death – a question linked historically to
psychical research and parapsychology from their very beginnings – is such
question we should neither ridicule nor try to escape from, even if there are no
definite answers. Thus, besides describing the problems in detail, the
methodologies applied, and the achieved results of ‘survival’ research, the
difficulties in tackling this issue should be explained, and un- or
pseudoscientific approaches (many of the purporting to be scientific
breakthroughs) should be exposed and refuted.
BASIC ISSUES OF THE ‘SURVIVAL’ QUESTION
Peter Mulacz1
1Austrian Society for Parapsychology,
Vienna, Austria
ABSTRACT
There are many different concepts of ‘survival after death’. Thus the first
question in this panoramic overview is: what are we really talking about when
discussing ‘survival after death’? It is suggested to narrow this discussion on
the (traditional) model of personal survival as opposed to other models such as
merging in into a super-individual entity like a drop of water in the ocean, and
many other variations of what might happen to us after death.
The ‘top-down’ approach to the survival problem – mediumistic enunciations,
spontaneous cases, apparitions, hauntings, CORT, the Thouless cipher code, ITC/EVP,
or other – has resulted in a centennial discussion between the positions of
survival and ‘super-psi’ with no real progress. It has been shown (Mulacz 1976)
that on pure logical grounds no compelling evidence for survival is possible by
this kind of approach. Even more, as long as the underlying problem remains
unsolved, all the ostensible evidence collected since more than hundred years
remains but a colossus with feet of clay.
Thus, the question about the premise for ‘survival’ arises: who or what is
supposed to survive? Traditionally, there is the notion of a kind of ‘something’
that is in existence already during physical life but is different from the
physical body which disintegrates after death. Does such thing – regardless, how
we name it (soul, mind, spirit, ‘shin’) – exist at all or is it just either a
traditional belief or a posit based on wishful thinking? What properties do we
ascribe to it? If the answer is: personal recollections that over one’s lifetime
have shaped the personality, the question arises which recollections – ‘true’
ones or such that are distorted by Alzheimer’s disease or atherosclerotic
dementia? Where else may memories be stored if not in the brain for which there
exists overwhelming evidence?
All these open questions show that the very basis for approaching the survival
problem is a likely solution to the mind-body-problem, in other words
philosophical anthropology. It comes quite naturally that the solution is sought
on the basis of a dualistic model: mind vs. matter whereby mind is thought to be
non-physical. Thouless and Wiesner in their ‘psi’-theory attempted a grand
unification encompassing the mind-body-relation as well as the various
paranormal phenomena which I consider to be still a very intriguing model,
however, the underlying general problem how elements belonging to different
categories (e. g. non-physical mind as opposed to the physical body) can act
upon one another remains unsolved. Is there perhaps a third ‘something’,
mediating between the physical and the non-physical (like the ‘subtle body’ of
the occult tradition which is supposed to have mass that can be weighted) – a
concept prone to further complicate things? One possible solution to this
problem, which I suggest, is to abandon the category of ‘influence’ (i.e.
causality, which in itself has its weakness as it is based on induction) and
confine ourselves to establishing correlations – a shift in our frame of
thinking.
Turning now to empirical research into the addressed issues, OBEE investigations
are at the core of the problem. Recent research in NDEs has provided us with a
wealth of case studies the interpretation of which remains disputed. It needs to
be borne in mind that all narrations by OOBE experiencers originate from memory,
not from actual experience, and are therefore prone to all kinds of distortions,
even more, they may be mere (re)constructions based on memories, as pointed out
by Blackmore (Blackmore 1993) and others. Recently it has been shown (Woerle
2005) that even the much-praised Pam Reynolds case, hailed by some as a
breakthrough, is not decisive and proves no conclusive evidence for the
independence of ‘mind’ from the physical body.
Thus the conclusion is that the foundation on which the various phenomena of
ostensible ‘survival’ – most ambiguous themselves – may be discussed is very
weak indeed and that all reasoning on the significance of these phenomena must
necessarily remain purely hypothetical.
ANOMALOUS IDENTITY EXPERIENCES: MEDIUMSHIP, SPIRIT POSSESSION, AND
DISSOCIATIVE IDENTITY DISORDER
Etzel Cardeña1
1Department of Psychology, University of Lund,
Lund, Sweden
ABSTRACT
The notion that each one of us represents a discrete, single, separate, and
unified identity is, historically and culturally speaking, the exception rather
than the norm. Alternatives to this view include the Buddhist perspective of a
unified self as an illusion; the belief that human personality is porous to
influences from spiritual forces (or, in more secular terms, to nonconscious
forces); and Gurdjieff's notion that we have many selves that may only achieve
integration through continuous self-observation and mindfulness. As we move from
explanations to subjective experience, we also encounter myriad variations. Even
the Western commonsensical view of a discrete, single identity allows for
‘clinical’ cases in which a single identity may nonetheless have an
unaccountable lack of control over speech or the body. More theoretically
challenging experiences include the ‘regular’ identity sharing consciousness
with another identity or entity, or the alternation of distinct identities
within a single body (which, if causing dysfunction, would qualify as
dissociative identity disorder, erstwhile known as “multiple personality”). This
paper categorizes and discusses various anomalous experiences of self, identity,
and personality, emphasizing the similarities and differences among dissociative
identity disorder, spirit possession, and mediumship. This presentation will
focus on the phenomenology (i.e., “lived” experience) of these phenomena,
including purported experiences of psi, as compared with the potential
paranormal veridicality of the information obtained during these anomalous
experiences.
APPARITIONS AND CASES OF THE REINCARNATION TYPE
Erlendur Haraldsson1
1Department of Psychology, University of Iceland,
Reykjavik, Iceland
ABSTRACT
Two new findings relevant for the survival question
For more than a century certain phenomena have been considered relevant for the
question if some part of our being survives bodily death (Myers, 1903).
Prominent among them are some features of apparitions of the dead, mediumistic
communications, and – more recently – alleged memories of a previous life.
Well-known is Stevenson’s paper “The contribution of apparitions for the
question of survival” in which he lists and discusses various features of
apparitions that are particularly relevant for the survival question (Stevenson,
1982). Similar lists of could be made for mediumistic communications and “Cases
of the Reincarnation Type” (CORT).
Do we have from recent years any new findings that can be interpreted as further
arguments for survival? There is the counter-argument that any phenomena that we
come across can be interpreted as not being evidence for survival, particularly
by the super-psi hypothesis but let us put it aside for a moment.
I have come across two new findings that – in my opinion – extend the list of
pro-survival arguments. One is from the realm of apparitions of the dead, the
other from studies of children who claim memories of a past life. For neither
finding do I find an easy natural explanation, and hence argue for their
paranormality and relevance for the survival question.
Disproportionate frequency of appearances to strangers and relatives of persons
who died violently
In Iceland, we have collected 450 detailed personal accounts of alleged contacts
with the dead. Most of them are apparitional, and two-thirds with a visual
component (Haraldsson, 1991, 2006). Among them 70,4% are of persons who had died
naturally, and 29,6% violently (accident, murder or suicide). Only 7,86% of the
population died violently in the relevant period compared to the 29,6% of the
apparitional figures, which is almost fourfold. Similar findings have been
observed before, but new is (as far as I know) that apparitions of a violent
death were much more likely to appear to strangers than apparitions of persons
who suffered a natural death, just as persons suffering violent death are more
likely to appear in mediumistic communications, and are often found in as
previous personalities in CORT.
Persons who suffer a violent death are two times more likely to appear to their
relatives than persons who suffer a natural death. More interestingly,
two-thirds of all apparitions of persons who suffer a violent death, appear to
strangers, namely persons who did not know them when they were living. Thus,
persons suffering violent death appear proportionally more often to their
relatives than person who died naturally, but particularly often to strangers,
who know nothing or near nothing about them and have no motivation to
hallucinate them. These apparitional experiences have an invasional character.
Post-traumatic stress disorder in children who claim memories of a previous life
Children who claim memories of a past life do sometimes reveal knowledge of
events that took place before they were born. There can be little doubt of the
paranormality revealed in such cases, but they may be open to the super-psi
interpretation. However, the super-psi interpretation runs into difficulties
concerning birthmarks that are found in some cases and correspond to wounds that
were inflicted on a person who died before the child was born and has become
identified as a previous personality because the child’s statements fit the
facts of the life events of that person.
In my psychological studies of children claiming past-life memories, a new
finding has emerged. Psychological tests of Sri Lankan and Lebanese children
reveal that as a group these children suffer from a post-traumatic stress
disorder without ever having been in a life-threatening situation. Why? This can
probably be best explained by the fact that 75-80% of the children describe how
they died in the previous life through accidents, murder or other violent means.
They repeatedly relive these images/memories. This is not an information
transfer. It is a psychological, behavioural feature and thus of relevance for
the survival question.
A TENTATIVE REINTERPRETATION OF MEMORIES OF A PREVIOUS LIFE.
Suitbert Ertel
Georg-Elias-Müller-Institut für Psychologie
Department of Biology
University of Goettingen
ABSTRACT
When a young child claims to have lived a previous life, I. Stevenson considers
the case as a “solved” rebirth case, if there is enough evidence that the
previous person (PP) had existed. His interpretation of the child’s account by
rebirth implies that some mental entity, often called “soul”, exists. After
completing life in body PP the soul would resume, after some time of discarnate
existence, a new life in body (S). Stevenson does not exclude other possible
explanations. I suggest to also consider an explanation in terms of
“imprinting”. PP mother’s memory-stored mental information about PP’s life
experience (mainly the mother’s) might be transferred by her to some other
woman’s embryo or fetus (S). The paranormal mechanisms might be telepathy
(information transmission) and DMILS (direct mental influence on the child’s
developing physical organism). My hypothesis took shape with an interview in Sri
Lanka of two families of one rebirth case that Stevenson had already examined in
1982.
THE IMPORTANCE OF SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCES IN EXPLORING THE SURVIVAL QUESTION
Christine A. Simmonds-Moore
Psychology Department
Liverpool Hope University,
UK.
ABSTRACT
This presentation explores survival related experiences from a qualitative
perspective, with a particular focus on spontaneous and unexpected survival
experiences, which may occur outside of their usual contexts. It is noted that
transpersonal research methods (see Braud & Anderson 1998 ) may be adopted to
employ open interviews and flexibility for inclusion of experiential elements
within them (e.g., mediums and healers ‘reading’ or ‘working on’ ther
interviewer) and allow for greater insight into the experience being
investigated. Subjective paranormal phenomena may be explored through such
interviews, which address survival-relevant experiences alongside other
paranormal phenomena. This allows for understanding as to how various types of
paranormal experience cluster together, as well as the characteristics of those
who report such phenomena. It also allows for an expansion of our understanding
of personality concepts such as boundary thinness (see Hartmann, 1991), for
example, the way in which personality and survival relevant experiences have
evolved across a life-time.
Interviews may be added into traditional laboratory research, e.g., as
undertaken recently on a research project exploring healing (Palmer, Bauman,
Simmonds & Drucker, 2005). It is noted that such mixed design approaches,
incorporating proof, process and phenomenological elements to laboratory
experiments have and will continue to develop a greater understanding of a wide
variety of paranormal phenomena, including those relevant to the survival
question. The author draws upon work undertaken with people reporting a range of
psychic experiences; those working as psychic healers and those working as
mediums. Traditional ‘categories’ of subjective paranormal experiences are often
blurred and experiences suggestive of survival do seem to manifest outside of
their “usual” context. For example, in the Palmer et al. (2005) healing study,
it was found that healers working in a variety of traditions frequently
described employing methods of channeling light alongside experiencing
apparitions of deceased spiritual entities whilst executing their healing
methodology. Likewise, one participant reported that she often experienced
spontaneous mediumship phenomena whilst working on her clients. Often, the
healer did not initially understand who the apparition was, and later realized
the apparition was associated with a deceased person. In recent interviews with
mediums, it was also found that healing experiences or training were not
uncommon in their life histories. The author also describes future work, whereby
varieties of psychokinetic experiences, in particular those apparently related
to survival (e.g., see Alvarado, 2006) will be explored qualitatively.
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