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Experimental Tests for Telephone Telepathy

Authors:
  • Institute of Noetic Sciences

Abstract

Many people claim to have known who was calling before they picked up the telephone, or to have thought about someone for no apparent reason, who then called. We carried out a series of experiments to test whether or not people really could tell who was telephoning. Each participant had four potential callers, and when the telephone rang had to guess who was calling before the other person spoke. By chance the success rate would have been 25%. In a total of 571 trials, involving 63 participants, the overall success rate was 40%, with 95% confidence limits from 36 to 45%. This effect was hugely significant statistically (p = 4 x 10-16). We obtained similar positive effects when the calls were made at randomly chosen times, and when the calls were made at fixed times known to the subject in advance. With 37 participants, we compared the success rates with familiar and unfamiliar callers and found a striking difference. With familiar callers, 53% of the guesses were correct (n = 190; p = 1 x 10-16). With unfamiliar callers, only 25% of the guesses were correct, exactly at the chance level. This difference between the responses with familiar and unfamiliar callers was highly significant (p = 3 x 10-7). We also investigated the effects of distance between the callers and participants. With overseas callers at least 1,000 miles away, the success rate was 65% (n = 43; p = 3 x 10-8). With callers in Britain, the success rate was lower (35%). In most cases, the overseas callers were people to whom the participants were closely bonded. For the successful identification of callers, emotional closeness seemed to be more important than physical proximity.
... Over the last few years we have investigated telephone telepathy experimentally (Sheldrake & Smart 2003a, 2003c. In our tests, a participant received a call during a prearranged period from one of four potential callers. ...
... For a total of 571 such trials on telephone telepathy, involving 63 participants, the average hit rate was 40%, significantly above the 25% expected by chance. The effect size was 0.35 (Sheldrake & Smart, 2003a). ...
... Surveys have shown that telepathy mainly occurs between family rnembers and close friends. In our experiments on telephone telepathy, hit rates were significantly higher with familiar than with unfamiliar callers (Sheldrake & Smart, 2003a, 2003c. ...
Article
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... These results "appear to reflect a generalized" subject-agent "relationship." In a series of telephone telepathy experiments by Sheldrake & Smart (2003), (i.e. determining who was calling another after the call was made, but before the caller spoke), resulted in a highly significant effect. ...
Book
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The Classification and Statistical Manual of Extrasensory Experiences (CSM-EE) is a classification of extrasensory experiences (i.e. telepathy, clairvoyance, mediumship, precognition, synchronistic events, etc.) with associated criteria designed to facilitate more reliable classification. CSM-EE assists in identifying like experiences that are similar in phenomenology, but otherwise widely differ in narrative due to culture, language, and religious/spiritual belief. Whereby, the CSM-EE can assist in accurate classification and is therefore a valuable resource for clinicians and students, and a valuable reference for researchers, dealing with extrasensory experiences in a wide diversity of context. The criteria and associated phenomenological features and specifiers serve in part as a textbook for students who require a well-structured method to understand and classify extrasensory experiences as well as for experienced professionals encountering these experiences for the first time.
... These results "appear to reflect a generalized" subject-agent "relationship." In a series of telephone telepathy experiments by Sheldrake & Smart (2003), (i.e. determining who was calling another after the call was made, but before the caller spoke), resulted in a highly significant effect. ...
Book
Clinical Parapsychology: Extrasensory Exceptional Experiences, 1st Edition is a graduate-level textbook designed to facilitate more reliable diagnosis, classification, treatment, and research. It is designed for clinicians, educators, and researchers challenged with investigating into the nature of distressing extrasensory (psychic) exceptional experiences. This textbook assists in interpreting extrasensory experiences reported in a wide diversity of context that are often viewed as religious, spiritual, anomalous, or transpersonal, and that vary greatly in subjective experience. This textbook is a valuable resource for both students and experienced professionals and is designed to be utilized by both individuals and educational institutions.
... Articles of stories that include synchronicity number in the thousands (Begg, 2003;Cousineau, 1997;Gaulden, 2003;Hay, 2006;Watkins, 2005), and many other unreported conversations about meaningful coincidences take place every day (Beitman, Celebi, and Coleman, 2009). Current research that could lend credibility to the notion that synchronicity exists has generally fallen within two categories of methodology: Experiments that aim to replicate synchronistic experiences within controlled environments (Braud, 1983;Landon, 2001;Radin, 2006;Sheldrake, 2003;Sheldrake and Smart, 2003;2005), and surveys that aim to build data on beliefs in synchronicity and the amount these events occur (Beitman and Viamontes, 2007;Meyer, 1989). However, due to its problematic and acausal nature many scientists still reject the notion to be superstitious. ...
Thesis
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When concepts are too complex to grasp using a reductionist approach, they can be labelled as superstitious ideas or not worthy of scientific consideration. This article is an exploration of the transformative implications of noticing and deriving meaning from these so called ‘superstitious’ experiences that often test our notion of common sense. Aiming to address some of the difficulties around the perceived mystical nature of synchronicity, it is hoped that this paper may contribute to a more objective and scientific grounding on the subject. It is asserted that the experience of synchronicity can transform our accepted and limiting boundaries between what is and what can be, guiding us towards a more meaningful lived experience, that lays the foundation for the emergence of the Self. The theory of Meaningful Mutations of the Psyche is a theoretical framework that describes a five-stage process initiating from the inexplicable experience of our inner and outer worlds merging together in a meaningful way, and the linear trajectory towards psychological evolution and objective, positive outcomes. Just as conversations on the matter of synchronicity were brought to life through a syncretic approach, this paper aims to draw upon a synthesis of perspectives to make the argument for why the phenomenology of meaningful coincidences should be accepted as a relevant and significant component of positive psychology, especially within what could be an emerging third wave. Key words: Synchronicity; Meaningful Coincidence; Carl Jung; Acausal; Emergence of the Self; Peak Experience; Numinous Experience; Awe; Serendipity; Positive Emotions; Non Locality; Patterns; Circles; Destiny
... Researchers should be especially mindful of this point, since replication is a particularly salient issue in regard to forced-choice studies, the effects of which have been shown to be amongst the weakest, in the order of 1/10 compared to other paranormal domains (see Storm, 2006b;Storm & Thalbourne, 2000;Storm et al., 2010). Among the possible reasons for such low effects are (a) the use of uninteresting and/or meaningless targets (i.e., Zener cards, numbers, letters, etc.) instead of emotionally stimulating and/or meaningful targets (i.e., divinatory readings, real pictures, video clips, etc.), (b) the recruitment of convenience samples instead of selected participants, (c) the use of normal instead of reduced cognitive noise conditions (i.e., ganzfeld, relaxation, meditation), and (d) artificial instead of ecologically valid tasks (such as e-mail or phone call predictions as featured in the Sheldrake & Smart, 2003a, 2003b. We draw the reader's attention to the fact that we did find that target type may make a difference to effect size, but this finding refers only to an interaction effect (see again, Figure 3) whereby the strength of effect was not the same across psi modalities, with telepathy eliciting the greatest differences between target types. ...
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We report the results of a meta-analysis on forced-choice ESP studies which used targets such as card symbols, numbers, letters, and so forth. For the period 1987 to 2010, a homogeneous dataset of 72 forced-choice studies yielded a weak but significant mean effect size (ES) of 0.01 (Stouffer Z = 4.86, p = 5.90 x 10-7). There was no evidence that these results were due to low-quality design or selective reporting. The clairvoyance studies did not produce a significantly higher mean ES than the precognition studies, and target type did not make a difference to effect size. We note that effects do not vary between investigators, but we did find suggestive evidence that the number of choices per trial is inversely related to die p value. We also found evidence of a linear incline in ES values indicating that effect sizes have increased over the period 1987 to 2010. Suggestions are made that might help facilitate further increases in effect sizes.
... Hundreds of telephone tests of this kind have shown positive, statistically significant hit rates (Sheldrake & Smart, 2003a, b;Lobach & Bierman, 2004;Sheldrake, Godwin, & Rockell, 2004). In filmed experiments, where participants were videotaped continuously, the average hit was 45%, compared with 25% expected by chance (p < 1 x 10 -11 ) (Sheldrake & Smart, 2003b). In similar tests with emails, the hit rates were also highly significant. ...
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Context: Joint attention is the shared focus of two or more individuals on the same object. Sensory cues, such as detecting the direction of another person׳s gaze, play a major role in establishing joint attention. It may also involve a kind of mental resonance that might be felt by the people involved. Objective: The aim of this study was to find out whether people could feel when another person was looking at the same picture at the same time, even when the participants were many miles apart. Method: Participants registered online with their names and e-mail addresses, and worked in pairs. After they both logged on for the test they were simultaneously shown one of two photographs, with a 0.5 probability of seeing the same picture. After 20s they were asked if their partner was looking at the same picture or not. After both had registered their guess, the next trial began, with a different pair of pictures. The main outcome measure was the proportion of correct guesses, compared with the 50% mean chance expectation. This test was symmetrical in that all participants were both "senders" and "receivers." Results: In the first experiment, with 11,160 trials, the hit rate was 52.8% (P < 1 × 10(-6)); in the second experiment with 2720 trials, 51.3% (P = .09). The third experiment involved music as well as pictures, and with 8860 trials, the hit rate was 51.9% (P = .0003). Some partners were more than 1000 miles apart, but there were no significant effect of distance. Participants who received immediate feedback about whether their guess was right or wrong did not score significantly better than those without feedback.
... A leading yet controversial telepathy researcher is Rupert Sheldrake (1981Sheldrake ( , 2009Sheldrake ( , 2012Sheldrake & Smart, 2003), whose theories of "morphic fields," "morphic resonance," and the "extended mind" were deemed so provocative by the mainstream scientific community (criticized as pseudoscience and misleading) that his TED talk "The Science Delusion" (Sheldrake, 2013) was removed from distribution on TEDx YouTube's global Internet conferences. Sheldrake advocates that all human experiences and memories are stored in a nonlocal morphic field (like a universal database) outside the brain. ...
Conference Paper
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This paper examines the phenomenon of “uncanny” or “telepathic” communication between patient and analyst as seen through the lens of contemporary psychoanalytic theory and practice. How far have contemporary Freudian-based theories expanded their view toward accepting the possibility of “Psi?” Drawing on a sequence of “uncanny” clinical events between patient and therapist, the author will examine the interface between contemporary psychoanalytic theories of unconscious communication (informed by neuroscientific advances) and theories of “telepathic” dyadic unconscious communication within the field of parapsychology. Beginning with scrutiny of the therapist’s unbidden “slip of the tongue” that seemingly ushered-in otherwise unknowable information about her patient, de Peyer will explore the potential opportunity that such moments of “uncanny” communication offer toward a deepening of the clinical exchange. The impact of a sequence of moments of “uncanny” dyadic exchange will be described, elaborating on how patient and therapist internalized the intimacy of these exchanges with both positive and negative outcomes. While inspiring feelings of closeness, these moments also inspired fear of a lack of boundaries between patient and therapist, in which their respective private thoughts and experiences could be potentially invaded. The author will describe how these “uncanny” exchanges, and the discussion that ensued between patient and therapist, affected the patient’s on-going treatment. While the patient longed throughout her life to be implicitly “read” by someone, de Peyer explores the paradox between their clumsy day-to-day verbal exchanges replete with misunderstandings and misattunements, and their seamlessly intimate moments of apparent “uncanny” nonverbal interconnectivity. The importance of the impact of the therapist’s personal belief system about “Psi” will be examined, focusing on the influence of whether therapist and patient “match” or “differ” in their belief systems, and how transparency or seeming neutrality on the part of the therapist will affect the patient’s experience of safety in the treatment relationship. The author advocates for the clinical importance of nurturing receptivity to the possible existence of “Psi” within the field of psychoanalysis, both in order to expand psychoanalytic theorizing about forms of unconscious attunement, and to lessen the sometimes a priori inference of psychopathology often assumed when patients present with “exceptional experiences.” While skepticism about “telepathy” endures, notions of unformulated, dissociated, sub-symbolic, implicit, right-brain, mirror neuron, and sensorial forms of attunement are furthering psychoanalysis’ mission to understand unconscious communication beyond words. In view of this interest in non-verbal attunement, de Peyer invites a re-consideration of the divide between psychoanalytic theories and investigations into the paranormal and “telepathy.” Reasons for longstanding psychoanalytic resistance to the “uncanny” stem from the prevailing underlying material-based worldview purporting that “mind equals brain.” These concerns are reviewed along with common fears of the paranormal. The author suggests that clinicians’ ongoing effort to consciously engage with these fears will reduce the likelihood of such fears emerging in the consulting room in the form of unconsciously driven destructive “enactments.” A review of psychoanalytic literature on the “uncanny” notes the prevalence of research into nocturnal “uncanny” transmissions (telepathic dreams), and highlights the comparative paucity of literature on “uncanny” transmission during wakefulness. Citations of various contemporary psychoanalysts’ work on wakeful anomalous transmission are offered, focusing predominantly on Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer’s (2007) book, Extraordinary Knowing: Science, skepticism, and the inexplicable powers of the human mind” in which Mayer offers an exhaustive investigation into the relevance of the “uncanny” in psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. Highlights from Mayer’s book advancing the link between psychoanalysis and physics offer examples of other respected analysts’ clinical experiences of moments of “extraordinary knowing.” In addition to introducing mind-matter studies conducted by the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Laboratory, Mayer focuses on a poignant example of “uncanny” interconnectedness offered by Robert Stoller in his posthumously published paper on “telepathy,” in which he describes remarkable incidences of telepathic dreams between himself and his patients, including (similar to de Peyer’s example), patients’ dreams that accurately depict incidents occurring concurrently in his own personal life. Since the apparent “telepathic” communication illustrated in this paper takes place both during and in between sessions, de Peyer highlights the problem that “telepathy” presents to neurobiologists, since “telepathy” challenges traditionally upheld scientific boundaries of space and time by transcending recognized material physiology and the existence of sensory cues. The author engages these issues, questioning the boundaries of “consciousness,” the limits of “subjective experience,” and the neural basis for “meaning-making” and “self-awareness.” Neuroscientific constructs underpinning contemporary psychoanalytic theories of unconscious communication are discussed, drawing attention to limitations in the understanding of how two minds interconnect across time and geographical space. In further explorations of the intersection between neurobiology and “telepathy,” de Peyer proposes a speculative model of the mind in which “censorship” of certain stimuli prevent mental destabilization through what might otherwise be experienced as overwhelming exposure to incoming data of other peoples’ thoughts, feelings, sensations, images and experiences. If the human mind is indeed considered “porous,” the material instrument of the brain would likely develop a mechanism to “filter out” these data in order to survive. The author explores the possibility that this “porousness” might be stimulated for some through heightened affective experiences such as dreams, songs, visual cues, prayer, smells, other sensory cues, including relationships involving intense emotional exchange. The view that some might be more susceptible to “leakage” through conditioning of early childhood trauma is explored, along with the potential that such “porousness” might become activated within the clinical situation itself. De Peyer balances inconclusive hypotheses of the functioning of “telepathy” while maintaining her primary focus on the impact of anomalous experiences on the clinical exchange. By acknowledging the possibility that human minds might be more “entangled” than previously recognized, she endorses a cross-fertilization between psychoanalysis, neuroscience, quantum physics and parapsychology. The contemporary psychoanalytic view of the analytic dyad as a variable multi-person field of inquiry is seen as a model quite compatible with Schrödinger (1935) and Radin’s (2006) theories of “entanglement.” De Peyer concludes that perhaps the metaphor of “borrowing a thought” from a unified field of shared knowledge (reminiscent of Carl Jung’s “Collective Unconscious”) is a system of thought that psychoanalysts in the coming future will more readily embrace.
... A leading yet controversial telepathy researcher is Rupert Sheldrake (1981Sheldrake ( , 2009Sheldrake ( , 2012Sheldrake & Smart, 2003), whose theories of "morphic fields," "morphic resonance," and the "extended mind" were deemed so provocative by the mainstream scientific community (criticized as pseudoscience and misleading) that his TED talk "The Science Delusion" (Sheldrake, 2013) was removed from distribution on TEDx YouTube's global Internet conferences. Sheldrake advocates that all human experiences and memories are stored in a nonlocal morphic field (like a universal database) outside the brain. ...
Conference Paper
Many of us sooner or later have an experience of the uncanny or the unexplainable. How do we respond to these extraordinary moments? Such experiences can defy our sense of logic and shake up our rational belief systems. Do we find ourselves reacting with curiosity and wonder? Or is our first response one of skepticism and dismissal? This paper centers around an emotionally charged moment in which a piece of concrete information was uncannily transmitted between patient and analyst without the use of words. This heightened moment of uncanny “knowing” is used as a springboard for discussion about the ideological, socio-cultural, clinical and theoretical implications of accepting or rejecting the existence of telepathic communication. Over 100 years have passed since Freud’s original interest in telepathy. Relational psychoanalysis is extending its reach to integrate new findings from neuroscience, developmental research, and quantum physics. These findings are changing the way we formulate intersubjective concepts such as the co-construction of experience, unconscious communication of affect, intergenerational transmission of trauma, and the role that mirror neurons play in empathy and communication. As we recognize that there is no such thing as an isolated mind, can we use scientific discoveries like Unified Field Theory to expand our understanding of how all minds are interconnected? If we accept the notion of unconscious communication of affect, is it so far fetched to imagine the unconscious transmission of thoughts or discreet pieces of information? I will take up the clinical implications of these questions, while unfolding the story of this particular treatment dyad.
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Many dog owners claim that their animals know when a member of the household is coming home, typically showing their anticipation by waiting at a door or window. In previous trials with a dog called Jaytee, recorded on videotape, it was found that he anticipated his owner's arrival more than ten minutes in advance, even when she was returning in unfamiliar vehicles such as taxis, when the people at home did not know when to expect her, and when she set off at randomly-selected times. This paper describes the results of a pre-planned series of ten videotaped trials with a dog called Kane, a Rhodesian ridgeback, who was said to wait by a window while his owner was on the way home. The window-area was filmed continuously while the dog's owner went to places more than 8 km away and came home at a variety of non-routine times, some of which were selected at random and communicated to her by a telephone pager. The time-coded videotapes were scored blind by a third party. In nine out of ten trials Kane spent most time at the window when his owner was on the way home. On average he was at the window 26 percent of the time while she was returning, and only one percent of the time throughout the rest of her absence. This difference was highly significant statistically. Possible explanations for this behavior are discussed.
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Statistical Inference Different Types of Statistical Intervals: An Overview The Assumption of Sample Data The Central Role of Practical Assumptions Concerning “Representative Data” Enumerative versus Analytic Studies Basic Assumptions for Enumerative Studies Additional Aspects of Analytic Studies Convenience and Judgment Samples Sampling People Infinite Population Assumptions Practical Assumptions: Overview Practical Assumptions: Further Example Planning the Study The Role of Statistical Distributions The Interpretation of a Statistical Interval Comments Concerning Subsequent Discussion