Helane Wahbeh

Institute of Noetic Sciences · Research

Objective: Two well-being scales were administered to participants attending personal transformational workshops; the International Positive and Negative Affect Schedule Short-form (I-PANAS-SF) and the Affective Well-Being Scale. Data were collected before and after workshops occurring between March 17, 2018, and November 4, 2020, during which 1,17...

Background The Noetic Signature Inventory (NSI) is a 44-item self-report questionnaire that evaluates people’s experiences of intuition or inner knowing. Previous research developing and validating the measure demonstrated its validity and reliability, and a 12-factor model describing the variability of noetic experiences was found. This current st...

The link between the cortical and cardiovascular systems is garnering increased attention due to its potential to offer valuable insights into brain and heart function coupling. Current joint analysis methodologies largely involve invasive or high-cost neuroimaging methods. EEG and ECG/PPG, however, provide non-invasive, cost-effective, and portabl...

Trance is an altered state of consciousness characterized by alterations in cognition. In general, trance states induce mental silence (i.e., cognitive thought reduction), and mental silence can induce trance states. Conversely, mind-wandering is the mind's propensity to stray its attention away from the task at hand and toward content irrelevant t...

Recent investigations of lucid dreams—dreams with a veridical awareness of dreaming—suggest that this unique form of dreaming may be useful for promoting healing due to the lucid dreamer’s capacity for goal-directed action in the dream. Following a prospective, within-participant research design, 49 adults experiencing chronic posttraumatic stress...

Objective. Throughout history and across all cultures, many people have believed in some form of afterlife. Recent surveys show that most people worldwide believe they will survive after bodily death. Those who do not believe would require substantial empirical evidence to influence their skepticism. This study’s objective was to evaluate what type...

Objective Human gene expression studies typically rely on peripheral blood samples as a cellular source, however there are numerous situations in which venipuncture is contraindicated. To this end, an oral rinse-based method for collecting salivary neutrophils as a cellular source for gene expression analyses was previously developed and shown in a...

Objective: Clairvoyance denotes the purported capacity to perceive events or objects beyond the reach of the ordinary senses. We investigated this ability in a laboratory experiment with four self-identified professional clairvoyants and three laboratory staff who did not consider themselves to possess clairvoyant skills (as controls). Participants...

Objective: Clairvoyance denotes the purported capacity to perceive events or objects beyond the reach of the six senses. We investigated this ability in a laboratory experiment with four self-identified professional clairvoyants and three laboratory staff who did not consider themselves to possess clairvoyant skills (as controls). Participants were...

The nature of consciousness is considered one of science’s most perplexing and persistent mysteries. We all know the subjective experience of consciousness, but where does it arise? What is its purpose? What are its full capacities? The assumption within today’s neuroscience is that all aspects of consciousness arise solely from interactions among...

Keith Augustine’s critical evaluation of the essay contest sponsored by the Bigelow Institute of Consciousness Studies (BICS) is an interesting but problematic review. It mixes reasonable and detailed criticisms of the contest and many of the winning essays with a disappointing reliance on some of the most trite and superficial criticisms of paraps...

Objective: Human gene expression studies typically rely on peripheral blood samples as a cellular source, however there are numerous situations in which venipuncture is contraindicated. To this end, an oral rinse-based method for collecting salivary neutrophils as a cellular source for gene expression analyses was previously developed and shown in...

The nature of consciousness is considered one of the most perplexing and persistent mysteries in science. We all know the subjective experience of consciousness, but where does it arise? What is its purpose? What are its full capacities? The assumption within today’s neuroscience is that all aspects of consciousness arise solely from interactions a...

Background and Objectives The type of channeling in which we enter a trance has been called by various names throughout history, such as prophecy, oracle, spiritual communication, and spirit possession. One potential reason channeling has persisted over human history is that channeling is believed to transmit valid and vital information in many cul...

Channeling experiences are often compared with Dissociative Trance/Possession Disorders and Dissociative Identity Disorders and more recent diagnostic criteria presented in the DSM 5 and ICD-11. From this comparison, it emerges quite clearly that, for most cases, channeling can either be considered an exceptional non-ordinary mental experience or a...

Noetic comes from the Greek word noēsis, meaning inner wisdom or direct knowing. Noetic experiences often transcend the perception of our five senses and are ubiquitous worldwide, although no instrument exists to evaluate noetic characteristics both within and between individuals. We developed the Noetic Signature Inventory (NSI) through an iterati...

The term “noetic” comes from the Greek word noēsis/noētikos that means inner wisdom, direct knowing, intuition, or implicit understanding. Strong cultural taboos exist about sharing these experiences. Thus, many may not feel comfortable transparently discussing or researching these topics, despite growing evidence that these experiences may be real...

The global personal development market was valued at $38.28 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow an additional 5% from 2020 to 2027. Many of these workshops promise to be transformational. This secondary analysis study examined transformative, transpersonal, and noetic aspects of personal development workshops. We found that 74% of post-survey r...

Reiki is a type of energy medicine with growing evidence for its benefit for various conditions and populations. The “energy” in energy medicine implies a life force rather than a conventional physics definition, and many people feel they can perceive this energy through extended perception beyond their traditional five senses. This study evaluated...

“Noetic” comes from the Greek word noēsis, meaning inner wisdom or direct knowing. Noetic experiences often transcend the perception of our five senses and are ubiquitous worldwide, although no instrument exists to evaluate their unique trait aspects. We developed the Noetic Signature Inventory (NSI) through an iterative qualitative and statistical...

PTSD and depression represent major individual and societal burdens. Depression is commonly comorbid with PTSD among veterans, although buffers of this relationship are unclear. We evaluated whether facets of mindfulness moderated the relationship between PTSD and depression in veterans with PTSD (N = 70). Three facets – nonjudging, acting with awa...

Introduction: Personal development workshops are increasingly popular. This study evaluated the relationships between the measures of well-being, interconnectedness, and extended perception in various workshops and explored which kinds of workshops and individual characteristics predicted changes in these outcomes. Materials and Methods: In a prosp...

Electroencephalography (EEG) alpha asymmetry is thought to reflect crucial brain processes underlying executive control, motivation, and affect. It has been widely used in psychopathology and, more recently, in novel neuromodulation studies. However, inconsistencies remain in the field due to the lack of consensus in methodological approaches emplo...

EEG power spectral density (PSD), the individual alpha frequency (IAF) and the frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) are all EEG spectral measures that have been widely used to evaluate cognitive and attentional processes in experimental and clinical settings, and that can be used for real-world applications (e.g., remote EEG monitoring, brain-computer int...

Purpose: We qualitatively evaluated breast cancer survivors’ perception of the relation between breast cancer development and both childhood trauma and stressful life events in adulthood. Methods: Women (N = 50) who have or had a positive breast cancer diagnosis completed a close-ended survey, a timeline of significant life events, and an in-depth...

EEG power spectral density (PSD), the individual alpha frequency (IAF) and the frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) are all EEG spectral measures that have been widely used to evaluate cognitive and attentional processes in experimental and clinical settings, and that can be used for real-world applications (e.g., remote EEG monitoring, brain-computer int...

The term “noetic” comes from the Greek word noēsis/noētikos that means inner wisdom, direct knowing, intuition, or implicit understanding. Strong cultural taboos exist about sharing these experiences. Thus, many may not feel comfortable transparently discussing or researching these topics, despite growing evidence that these experiences may be real...

The term “noetic” comes from the Greek word noēsis/noētikos that means inner wisdom, direct knowing, intuition, or implicit understanding. Strong cultural taboos exist about sharing these experiences. Thus, many may not feel comfortable transparently discussing or researching these topics, despite growing evidence that these experiences may be real...

Exceptional human experiences (EHEs) have garnered increasing research attention, particularly with regard to the characteristics and potential functional aspects of these experiences. The current study sought to replicate and expand upon previous research on EHEs by using a mixed-method approach to examine the characteristics of exceptional human...

The growing population of older adults with depression is a significant public health concern, and effective treatments are necessary. Mindfulness meditation intervention offers effective treatment for depression, but little research has been conducted on the older population. This study aimed to evaluate if the combination of the Internet Mindfuln...

An experiment we conducted from 2012 to 2013, which had not been previously reported, was designed to explore possible psychophysical effects resulting from the interaction of a human mind with a quantum system. Participants focused their attention toward or away from the slits in a double-slit optical system to see if the interference pattern woul...

Full-trance channeling is a practice in which an individual (a channeler) willingly enters into a dissociated mental state with the intention of bringing forth an intelligent "entity" that speaks and acts through their mind and body. During such states, the person acting as the channeler may or may not be consciously aware of what they are saying o...

The term “noetic” comes from the Greek word noēsis/noētikos that means inner wisdom, direct knowing, intuition, or implicit understanding. Strong cultural taboo exist about sharing these experiences. Thus, many may not feel comfortable transparently discussing or researching these topics, despite growing evidence that these experiences may be real....

Channeling experiences are often compared with Dissociative Trance/Possession Disorders and Dissociative Identity disorders and more recent diagnostic criteria presented in the DSM 5 and ICD-11.From this comparison, it emerges quite clearly that, for most cases, channeling can either be considered an exceptional non-ordinary mental experience or a...

We explored personal development workshops’ transformative effects by evaluating participants’ transformative, noetic, transpersonal, and relational experiences during workshops and their association with interconnectedness, well-being, and extended perception measure changes in a prospective, uncontrolled, within-participant design study. Particip...

Objectives We qualitatively evaluated breast cancer survivors’ perception of the relation between breastcancer development and both childhood trauma and stressful life events in adulthood.Methods Women (N = 50) who have or had a positive breast cancer diagnosis completed a close-endedsurvey, a timeline of significant life events, and an in-depth in...

Introduction: Personal development workshops are increasingly popular. This study evaluated the relationships between measures of well-being, interconnectedness, and extended perception in a variety of these workshops, and it explored which kinds of workshops and individual characteristics predicted changes in these outcomes. Materials and Methods:...

Introduction: Personal development workshops are increasingly popular. This study evaluated the relationships between measures of well-being, interconnectedness, and extended perception in various workshops and explored which kinds of workshops and individual characteristics predicted changes in these outcomes. Materials and Methods: In a prospecti...

Introduction It is commonly believed that psychic ability, like many mental and physical traits, runs in families. This suggests the presence of a genetic component. If such a component were found, it would constitute a biological marker of psychic ability and inform environmental or pharmacologic means of enhancing or suppressing this ability. Me...

In this study, a classification task asked participants to look at 180 facial photographs of deceased individuals (photographs were taken years prior to their deaths) and guess the cause of death from three equiprobable categories: heart attack; death by firearm; or car accident. Electroencephalogram (EEG) and electrocardiogram (ECG) data were simu...

Introduction The term ”energy medicine” describes healing modalities that manipulate or channel purported subtle energies associated with the body. The objectives of this pilot study were to determine the feasibility of studying energy medicine for people with carpal tunnel pain and gathering relevant preliminary data. Methods Following a prospect...

Previously reported experiments suggest that healing intention focused toward water, or merely taking place in the vicinity of water, affects the hydrogen-oxygen (HO) covalent bonds. This claim was explored in the context of a clinical energy medicine pilot study involving 17 practitioners and 190 participants. In a “direct” test, samples of water...

Introduction Some “energy medicine” modalities, such as Reiki, continue to show evidence for efficacy, but the underlying mechanisms of action are still uncertain. To help illuminate possible mechanisms, this exploratory mixed-method study using qualitative and quantitative analyses investigated: 1) How do energy medicine sessions function from the...

Introduction Outcomes of medical treatments tend to be highly variable. Some of the underlying variance is due to well-known factors such as age, gender, ethnicity, and effects of local weather. There are also less obvious influences including variations in solar wind, the Earth's geomagnetic field, and the interplanetary magnetic field. This study...

Introduction Previously reported experiments suggest that aspects of the physical environment, in particular measures of negentropy (i.e., order) associated with the statistical outputs of truly random number generators, may be affected during periods of focused mental attention. The present study was designed to conceptually replicate those report...

Objective: Many high school students experience a high degree of anxiety and perceived stress. This study examined whether a classroom-based mindfulness program or a wellness program were acceptable and effective as anxiety and stress reduction interventions based on students' self-reports. Design setting and participants: Thirteen health educat...

Background: Belief in the paranormal is widespread worldwide. Recent surveys suggest that subjective experiences of the paranormal are common. A concise instrument that adequately evaluates beliefs as distinct from experiences does not currently exist. To address this gap, we created the Noetic Experiences and Beliefs Scale (NEBS) which evaluates b...

Throughout history, within numerous multicultural contexts across the globe, channeling has been expressed, practiced, revered and shunned. Broadly defined, channeling is “communication of information to or through a physically embodied human being, from a source that is said to exist on some other level or dimension of reality than the physical as...

Background: Belief in the paranormal is widespread worldwide. Recent surveys suggest that subjective experiences of the paranormal are common. A concise instrument that adequately evaluates beliefs as distinct from experiences does not currently exist. To address this gap, we created the Noetic Experiences and Beliefs Scale (NEBS) which evaluates b...

Historical records suggest that channeling has existed globally, in a variety of cultures, for thousands of years, and recent research suggests that channeling is more prevalent than most people realize. The present study used an online survey to explore mental health factors, personality characteristics, subjective experiences and the impact of ch...

Brain-computer interfaces and wearable neurotechnologies are now used to measure real-time neural and physiologic signals from the human body and hold immense potential for advancements in medical diagnostics, prevention, and intervention. Given the future role that wearable neurotechnologies will likely serve in the health sector, a critical state...

Brain computer interfaces (BCI) and wearable neurotechnologies are now used to measure real-time neural and physiological signals from the human body and hold immense potential for advancements in medical diagnostics, prevention, and intervention. Given the future role that wearable neurotechnologies will likely serve in the health sector, a cri...

Walleczek & von Stillfried (2019) comment on an experiment we conducted that explored possible psychophysical influences on interference patterns generated by an optical double-slit system. Their primary claim is that a false-positive result occurred in a control condition, which was one of eight planned tests. After adjusting those tests for multi...

Background: Belief in the paranormal is widespread worldwide. Recent surveys suggest that subjective experiences of the paranormal are common. A concise instrument that adequately evaluates beliefs as distinct from experiences does not currently exist. To address this gap, we created the Noetic Experiences and Beliefs Scale (NEBS) which evaluates b...

Introduction: Inflammation underlies a variety of chronic medical conditions, including diabetes. The anti-inflammatory diet, one that excludes foods that may stimulate inflammation and includes foods that reduce inflammation, may improve inflammatory biomarkers in people with diabetes and pre-diabetes. Study design: Thirty participants with dia...

Background: Numerous world cultures believe channeling provides genuine information, and channeling rituals in various forms are regularly conducted in both religious and non-religious contexts. Little is known about the physiological correlates of the subjective experience of channeling. Methods: We conducted a prospective within-subject design st...

Preliminary positive evidence supports the use of iRest (Integrative Restoration) in older adults with depression symptoms. No long-term follow-up measures have been reported on whether the preliminary effects continue beyond initial iRest trainings. The growing population of older adults with depression symptoms is a serious public health issue, a...

Background: Numerous world cultures believe channeling provides genuine information, and channeling rituals in various forms are regularly conducted in both religious and non-religious contexts. Little is known about the physiological correlates of the subjective experience of channeling. Methods: We conducted a prospective within-subject design st...

Rising from its contemplative and spiritual traditions, the science of meditation has seen huge growth over the last 30 years. This chapter reviews the classifications, phenomenology, neural correlates, and mechanisms of meditation. Meditation classification types are still varied and largely subjective. Broader models to describe meditation practi...

Following the publication of this article the authors noted an error in figure 4. In sub-panels D-F, the y-axis should read “apoE (ng/mg protein)” as opposed to “apoE (ng/ml)”. The authors apologize for any inconvenience caused.

The science of meditation has grown tremendously in the last two decades. Most studies have focused on evaluating the clinical effectiveness of mindfulness-based interventions, neural and other physiological correlates of meditation, and individual cognitive and emotional aspects of meditation. Far less research has been conducted on more challengi...

Meditation experiences survey. (PDF)

Meditation experiences survey codebook. (PDF)

Background: Older adults have fewer physiological reserves and are more likely to be affected by stress. Mindfulness meditation has the potential to be an effective treatment for depression, but little research has been conducted on older adults. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate depression symptom changes in older adults (55–80 y...

Older adults, a rapidly growing population in the United States, have fewer physiological reserves and are more likely to be affected by stress, making them especially susceptible to depression symptoms. Meditation offers promising potential as an effective treatment; however, few studies have evaluated meditation interventions for this demographic...

Background: Research on channeling and mediumship is small but growing. However, the terms used for these activities are varied; there is no accepted, coherent framework of terms or definitions for the process or the people involved in receiving information from nonmaterial sources. Objective: To examine terms and definitions of channeling used ac...

The belief and prevalence of self-report anomalous information reception (AIR) is widespread worldwide. Some argue that these experiences are a dissociative type of pathology. However, researchers have found conflicting dissociative symptoms in people who claim AIR, with some studies demonstrating differences between those that do and do not endors...

Context: Throughout history people have reported exceptional experiences that appear to transcend the everyday boundaries of space and time, such as perceiving someone's thoughts from a distance. Because such experiences are associated with superstition, and some violate currently accepted materialist conventions, one might assume that scientists a...

Background: Pregnancy is a time of high risk for excessive weight gain, leading to health-related consequences for mothers and offspring. Theory-based obesity interventions that target proposed mechanisms of biobehavioral change are needed, in addition to simply providing nutritional and weight gain directives. Mindfulness training is hypothesized...

Background: Dissociative states exist on a continuum from nonpathological forms, such as highway hypnosis and day-dreaming, to pathological states of derealization and depersonalization. Claims of communication with deceased individuals, known as mediumship, were once regarded as a pathological form of dissociation, but current definitions recogniz...

Dissociation symptoms for those with and without self-report anomalous information reception DT# are the Dissociation Experience Scale Taxon items.