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The Experimental Evidence for Parapsychological Phenomena: A Review
Abstract
This article presents a comprehensive integration of current experimental evidence and theories about so-called parapsychological (psi) phenomena. Throughout history, people have reported events that seem to violate the common sense view of space and time. Some psychologists have been at the forefront of investigating these phenomena with sophisticated research protocols and theory, while others have devoted much of their careers to criticizing the field. Both stances can be explained by psychologists’ expertise on relevant processes such as perception, memory, belief, and conscious and nonconscious processes. This article clarifies the domain of psi, summarizes recent theories from physics and psychology that present psi phenomena as at least plausible, and then provides an overview of recent/updated meta-analyses. The evidence provides cumulative support for the reality of psi, which cannot be readily explained away by the quality of the studies, fraud, selective reporting, experimental or analytical incompetence, or other frequent criticisms. The evidence for psi is comparable to that for established phenomena in psychology and other disciplines, although there is no consensual understanding of them. The article concludes with recommendations for further progress in the field including the use of project and data repositories, conducting multidisciplinary studies with enough power, developing further nonconscious measures of psi and falsifiable theories, analyzing the characteristics of successful sessions and participants, improving the ecological validity of studies, testing how to increase effect sizes, recruiting more researchers at least open to the possibility of psi, and situating psi phenomena within larger domains such as the study of consciousness.
... Researchers addressing these issues are positioned in two groups with conflicting stances: (a) one group includes scientists advocating RV and anomalous cognitions (due to the cumulative empirical evidence, e.g., Cardeña, 2018); and (b) the other group of researchers who are currently not persuaded by the significant evidence for anomalous cognitions and, due to other replications without statistical successes, reject the validity of putative psi (e.g., Reber & Alcock, 2020). Although both positions have empirical support (Escolà-Gascón, 2020a,b;Escolà-Gascón et al., 2021), the current issue for these groups is the ideological radicalization they have undergone in the last few decades (Carter, 2011;Leiter, 2002). ...
... When an object of study is extraordinary (or implies anomalous phenomena), its scientific validation cannot be based on ordinary evidence (Tressoldi, 2011). However, the lack of epistemic foundations does not preclude or nullify the investigation of anomalous cognitions (see Cardeña, 2018;Hyman & Honorton, 2018). In fact, neither all scientific knowledge is rational, nor do all hypotheses under investigation have epistemic validity as noted by Henry (2005) and Leifer (2014). ...
... Indeed, we should not exclude RV phenomena from the study of sensory and cognitive processes because there is evidence that indicates that anomalous cognitions ontologically represent more than methodological or statistical artifacts, perceptual disturbances, or clinical symptoms (Cardeña, 2018). ...
Objectives
Since 1972, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) commissioned several research programs on remote viewing (RV) that were progressively declassified from 1995 to 2003. The main objectives of this research were to statistically replicate the original findings and address the question: What are the underlying cognitive mechanisms involved in RV? The research focused on emotional intelligence (EI) theory and intuitive information processing as possible hypothetical mechanisms.
Methods
We used a quasi‐experimental design with new statistical control techniques based on structural equation modeling, analysis of invariance, and forced‐choice experiments to accurately objectify results. We measured emotional intelligence with the Mayer—Salovey–Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test. A total of 347 participants who were nonbelievers in psychic experiences completed an RV experiment using targets based on location coordinates. A total of 287 participants reported beliefs in psychic experiences and completed another RV experiment using targets based on images of places. Moreover, we divided the total sample into further subsamples for the purpose of replicating the findings and also used different thresholds on standard deviations to test for variation in effect sizes. The hit rates on the psi‐RV task were contrasted with the estimated chance.
Results
The results of our first group analysis were nonsignificant, but the analysis applied to the second group produced significant RV‐related effects corresponding to the positive influence of EI (i.e., hits in the RV experiments were 19.5% predicted from EI) with small to moderate effect sizes (between 0. 457 and 0.853).
Conclusions
These findings have profound implications for a new hypothesis of anomalous cognitions relative to RV protocols. Emotions perceived during RV sessions may play an important role in the production of anomalous cognitions. We propose the Production‐Identification‐Comprehension (PIC) emotional model as a function of behavior that could enhance VR test success.
... Modern controlled procedures have been designed to rule out the unreliable, subjective factors that concerned Hume. Carroll makes no mention of the meta-analysis recently summarized by Cardeña (2018) on various categories of psi, but his argument seems to imply that the laws of physics revealed by experiments in physics laboratories are sufficiently strong to overwhelm the meta-analyses of decades of such psi research. In a recent interview, he stated that his confidence in this understanding justifies simply ignoring reports of the evidence (Broderick & Goertzel, 2015). ...
... now turn to this data. With his survey of meta-analyses on psi experiments,Cardeña (2018) presents a bird's eye view of the evidence on anomalous phenomena that includes telepathy, remote viewing, precognition, presentiment, and anomalous mind-matter interaction. While my paper focusses on the latter, I note that my proposed framework is consistent with all of these. ...
... lly to a given event. Of course, unlike the version of micropsychokinesis experiments briefly described above, the populations presumably affecting these RNG devices have no knowledge of their existence. Nelson's GCP arguably deserves to be distinguished from the other modes of mind-matter interaction, possibly representing its own unique category.Cardeña's (2018) summary findings (presented in ...
This paper proposes a framework that supports both free will and anomalous mind-matter interaction (psychokinesis). I begin by considering the argument by the physicist Sean Carroll that the laws of physics as we understand them rule out psychokinesis (and other modes of psi), and find his claims problematic, in part due to misunderstandings of arguments borrowed from David Hume. I proceed to consider a more dispositional notion of causality (in contrast to one characterized by universal and necessary laws) which is more hospitable to both psychokinesis and free will. I then incorporate recent work from the philosophy of mind and science to arrive at a framework that supports real volition and psychokinesis, which are intimately linked. This approach is fundamentally dispositional but grounded in an ontologically prior field of awareness and potentiality. I also consider that the regularities (or causal natures) we observe in our physical world are ultimately supported by teleological “intentions” within a nonlocal, mind-like quantum ground.
... Taking psi in particular, there is considerable evidence that this data represents something real that we don't yet understand. Recently, Cardeña (2018) has summarized the meta-analyses of experimental analysis across an assortment of experimental designs, based on data that have been accumulated and pooled over decades. Pinker fails to mention this, although I believe it is quite likely that he is aware of Cardeña's (2018) summary findings. ...
... Recently, Cardeña (2018) has summarized the meta-analyses of experimental analysis across an assortment of experimental designs, based on data that have been accumulated and pooled over decades. Pinker fails to mention this, although I believe it is quite likely that he is aware of Cardeña's (2018) summary findings. 2 This raises the question of whether Pinker's own cognitive biases are filtering out data that arguably merit a closer look. ...
... 5 In other words, the efforts to duplicate Bem's experiments ended up vindicating Bem's findings. 6 Like Cardeña's (2018) summary of the evidence on laboratory psi, Pinker does not inform his readers of this information. How do we account for this poor characterization of the data in a book whose ostensible aim is to keep our cognitive biases in check? ...
In his latest book, Rationality: What It Is, Why It Matters, Why It Seems Scarce, Steven Pinker brings attention to how we might strengthen our reasoning powers, as well as be more cognizant of the ways we might fall short. This mostly takes the form of a wide-ranging tour, acquainting us with various forms of fallacious reasoning as well as tools to improve our reasoning faculties. As a famous professor of psychology at Harvard, Pinker is arguably well-equipped to provide a comprehensive survey on various sorts of cognitive biases and ways of thinking about rationality. The book provides a useful introduction on various tools and models that arguably characterize rational thinking. But as I’ll discuss, despite his considerable knowledge and expository skills, he stumbles in areas where his own motivated reasoning clouds subject matter he is either attempting to explain or dismiss. In the first chapter, he notes that while rationality often appears to be in short supply, he provides evidence for its universality even among hunter–gatherer tribes, with the San of southern Africa being his example. Here, Pinker demonstrates that many of the sophisticated hunting and decision techniques employed by the San suit their goals admirably. But then Pinker pivots toward areas where our reasoning could be flawed in the areas of math, logic, and probability, according to psychologists. And he highlights that even experts in math or probability can succumb like the rest of us. How do we reconcile this with Pinker’s observation of the sophisticated reasoning of hunter–gatherers? Pinker eventually gives us something of an answer toward the end of the book, where he explains that we do much better with the problems we face in our immediate surroundings (and where there are real stakes) than relatively more abstract and remote problems.Pinker explains that rationality, essentially, is “a kit of cognitive tools that attain goals in particular worlds” (p. 5). Later, he puts it slightly differently as an “ability to use knowledge to attain goals” (p. 36). And for Pinker, knowledge is “justified true belief,” or the things we know confidently that are grounded in facts. Of course, Pinker acknowledges that our quest for truth requires epistemic humility, as perfect rationality and purely objective truth must elude all humans. But we can nevertheless aim to be aware of various rules and models of reasoning that can aid us in avoiding biases that obstruct rationality, and “allow us to approach the truth collectively in ways that are impossible for any of us individually” (p. 41). Much of the book provides a tour of cognitive biases and tools for avoiding them.
... Perhaps a non-physicalist framework where consciousness is considered fundamental and has non-local properties (such as at the quantum scale) would better explain the full range of reported human phenomenology. For example, there are well-documented experiences of people perceiving information from distant locations, the future, and mental impressions from other people without the use of rationale or traditional means (Cardeña, 2018). In addition, there are verified cases of cognitive function when the neural substrate is severely degenerated, precluding normal brain function. ...
... Both viewer and interviewer were blind to the target. Multiple meta-analyses of public domain and declassified experiments of this type have been conducted, and the results showed highly positive evidence in favor of a genuine phenomenon (Milton, 1997;Dunne and Jahn, 2003;Baptista et al., 2015;Cardeña, 2018). This apparent ability is now used for other practical applications, such as predicting stock market movements (Harary and Targ, 1985;Kolodziejzyk, 2013;Smith et al., 2014), locating missing persons (Mcmoneagle and May, 2004), and finding previously unknown archaeological sites (Schwartz, 2005(Schwartz, , 2019. ...
... Over 120 published experiments have used this protocol, comprising about 4,000 individual trials, and the overall hit rate was just over 30%. Multiple reviews and meta-analyses on this protocol have also been conducted (Storm et al., 2010;Baptista et al., 2015;Cardeña, 2018;Storm and Tressoldi, 2020). These results have been discussed and debated in one of the principal journals in academic psychology, Psychological Bulletin (Bem and Honorton, 1994;Hyman, 2010;Storm et al., 2010). ...
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 neurons in the brain. However, the origin and mechanisms of qualia (i.e., subjective or phenomenological experience) are not understood. David Chalmers coined the term “the hard problem” to describe the difficulties in elucidating the origins of subjectivity from the point of view of reductive materialism. We propose that the hard problem arises because one or more assumptions within a materialistic worldview are either wrong or incomplete. If consciousness entails more than the activity of neurons, then we can contemplate new ways of thinking about the hard problem. This review examines phenomena that apparently contradict the notion that consciousness is exclusively dependent on brain activity, including phenomena where consciousness appears to extend beyond the physical brain and body in both space and time. The mechanisms underlying these “non-local” properties are vaguely suggestive of quantum entanglement in physics, but how such effects might manifest remains highly speculative. The existence of these non-local effects appears to support the proposal that post-materialistic models of consciousness may be required to break the conceptual impasse presented by the hard problem of consciousness.
... Both viewer and interviewer were blind to the target. Multiple meta-analyses of public domain and declassified experiments of this type have been conducted, and the results showed highly positive evidence in favor of a genuine phenomenon (Baptista et al., 2015;Cardeña, 2018;Dunne & Jahn, 2003;Milton, 1997). This apparent ability is now used for other practical applications, such as predicting stock market movements (Harary & Targ, 1985;Kolodziejzyk, 2013;Smith et al., 2014), locating missing persons (Mcmoneagle & May, 2004), and finding previously unknown archaeological sites (Schwartz, 2005(Schwartz, , 2019. ...
... Over 120 published experiments have used this protocol, comprising about 4,000 individual trials, and the overall hit rate was just over 30%. Multiple reviews and meta-analyses on this protocol have also been conducted (Baptista et al., 2015;Cardeña, 2018;Storm et al., 2010;Storm & Tressoldi, 2020). Articles discussing these results have been discussed and debated in one of the principal journals in academic psychology, Psychological Bulletin (Bem & Honorton, 1994;Hyman, 2010;Storm et al., 2010). ...
... Critical reactions to anecdotal reports have also tended to focus on their subjective nature and the many ways that such experiences can be misinterpreted as illusions, misperceptions, or distorted memories. Such critiques can be answered by pointing out that some of the anecdotal reports involved hundreds to thousands of documented case studies, and all the experiments mentioned involved controlled experimental paradigms that were repeated in multiple laboratories and dozens to over a hundred independent replications, with overall highly significant meta-analytic outcomes (Cardeña, 2018). In some of the earliest experiments, methodological flaws were discovered but later corrected with similar results, so insisting that flaws or fraud can be the only possible explanations is not supported by analysis of the data. ...
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 among neurons in the brain. However, the origin and mechanisms of qualia (i.e., subjective or phenomenological experience) are not understood. David Chalmers coined the term “the hard problem” to describe the difficulties in elucidating the origins of subjectivity from the point of view of reductive materialism. We propose that the hard problem arises because one or more assumptions within a materialistic worldview are either wrong or incomplete. If consciousness entails more than the activity of neurons, then we can contemplate new ways of thinking about the hard problem. This review examines phenomena that apparently contradict the notion that consciousness is exclusively dependent on brain activity, including phenomena where consciousness appears to extend beyond the physical brain and body in both space and time. The mechanisms underlying these “nonlocal” properties are vaguely suggestive of quantum entanglement in physics, but how such effects might manifest remains highly speculative. The existence of these nonlocal effects appears to support the proposal that post-materialistic models of consciousness may be required to break the conceptual impasse presented by the hard problem of consciousness.
... Despite this, growing objective evidence from laboratory studies demonstrates their observable and replicable nature (see Cardeña, 2018 for a review). For example, one noetic experience, remote viewing, is the ability to access mental impressions about distant people and places that one would not usually access. ...
... The Star Gate data indicates that information psi is a scientifically valid phenomenon" (May and Marwaha, 2018a,b). This and other formal remote viewing studies result in significant metaanalytic effect sizes ranging from 0.17 to 0.39 (Cardeña, 2018). Remote viewing is just one noetic experience. ...
... Other's Minds represents mind-to-mind communication, which has objective and replicable evidence from multiple laboratory studies (Storm et al., 2010;Baptista et al., 2015;Cardeña, 2018;Storm and Tressoldi, 2020). ...
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 iterative qualitative and statistical process as a tool to subjectively assess noetic characteristics. Study 1 developed and evaluated a 175-item NSI using 521 self-selected research participants, resulting in a 46-item NSI with an 11-factor model solution. Study 2 examined the 11-factor solution, construct validity, and test–retest reliability, resulting in a 44-item NSI with a 12-factor model solution. Study 3 confirmed the final 44-item NSI in a diverse population. The 12-factors were: (1) Inner Knowing, (2) Embodied Sensations, (3) Visualizing to Access or Affect, (4) Inner Knowing Through Touch, (5) Healing, (6) Knowing the Future, (7) Physical Sensations from Other People, (8) Knowing Yourself, (9) Knowing Other’s Minds, (10) Apparent Communication with Non-physical Beings, (11) Knowing Through Dreams, and (12) Inner Voice. The NSI demonstrated internal consistency, convergent and divergent content validity, and test–retest reliability. The NSI can be used for the future studies to evaluate intra- and inter-individual variation of noetic experiences.
... For most of physicists, the gravitational and electromagnetic forces are the only known long-range interactions in nature (e.g., Miransky & Shovkovy, 2015). However, many experimental evidences showed psychic force due to mind-body interaction (or Psychokinesis, PK) exists (Cardeña, 2018). So in our model, the gravitational, electromagnetic, and psychic forces are regarded as the long-range interactions while the weak and strong forces are regarded as the short-range interactions in nature. ...
... Its formation was the first systematic effort to organize scientists and scholars to investigate paranormal phenomena. Through more than 136 years research, some experimental evidences have accumulated (Cardeña, 2018), but this force was still not widely accepted by physicists. ...
... The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that it is not the scale that matters but the living nature whether the object is lifeless or living. By choosing a dualist solution to the mind-body problem (Ma & Cui, 2021), a psychic force is introduced to explain the various newly observed phenomena including various parapsychological phenomena (Cardeña, 2018;Moreira-Almeida & Santana Santos, 2012). The objects studied in this paper include a stone (classical mechanics), a coin (statistical mechanics), a cat (NGST), a person (NGST), and an electron (quantum mechanics). ...
... Fourth, the key issue for the validity of NGST is to prove the existence of psychic force and to provide the measurement method how to measure the psychic force. For the first problem, many evidences have showed the existence of psychic force for human beings (e.g., Cardeña, 2018;Moreira-Almeida & Santana Santos, 2012) but how to extend to animals such as the cat should be the next step. For the second problem, we may backstep to calculate the psychic force based on the measurement of stellar movement or micro particle movement using NGST, the generalized version of classical mechanics. ...
... Recently, researchers have reported positive results in support of 'psi' phenomena in several publications [3,[15][16][17][18][19], interpreting their results as evidence for human extrasensory perception (ESP). This interpretation has been criticized on several accounts by sceptical researchers, who proposed instead that the dominance of positive findings in parapsychology is due to questionable research practices, publication bias and lack of methodological rigour [10,[20][21][22][23]. ...
... In this section we discuss the findings of the replication study; we discuss our experiences related to the methodological tools in the final section of the paper. Multiple individual studies and meta-analyses report positive findings in parapsychology [16,26]. Most parapsychology researchers interpret these findings as evidence for the existence of ESP (also known as psi, or anomalous cognition). ...
The low reproducibility rate in social sciences has produced hesitation among researchers in accepting published findings at their face value. Despite the advent of initiatives to increase transparency in research reporting, the field is still lacking tools to verify the credibility of research reports. In the present paper, we describe methodologies that let researchers craft highly credible research and allow their peers to verify this credibility. We demonstrate the application of these methods in a multi-laboratory replication of Bem's Experiment 1 (Bem 2011 J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 100, 407–425. (doi:10.1037/a0021524)) on extrasensory perception (ESP), which was co-designed by a consensus panel including both proponents and opponents of Bem's original hypothesis. In the study we applied direct data deposition in combination with born-open data and real-time research reports to extend transparency to protocol delivery and data collection. We also used piloting, checklists, laboratory logs and video-documented trial sessions to ascertain as-intended protocol delivery, and external research auditors to monitor research integrity. We found 49.89% successful guesses, while Bem reported 53.07% success rate, with the chance level being 50%. Thus, Bem's findings were not replicated in our study. In the paper, we discuss the implementation, feasibility and perceived usefulness of the credibility-enhancing methodologies used throughout the project.
... Nonetheless, it should be mentioned that the ordinary notion of unidirectional causality has been questioned by some eminent quantum mechanics theoreticians (e.g. Delbrück, 1986), backward causation experiments (for a review see Faye, 2021), and results from precognition/presentiment experiments (for a review see Cardeña, 2018). ...
... As for the limitations of our perception, besides the work on non-conscious processes, research on psi phenomena strongly suggests that we do not typically perceive stimuli that may impinge on us (cf. Cardeña, 2018), but this just means that the experiences we have provided only a sliver of the multifarious stimuli impinging on us. Underpinning reality as perceived, there may be far broader and expansive processes, which two distinguished theoretical physicists called 'veiled reality' (d 'Espagnat, 2006) and 'implicate order' (Bohm, 1980), and Velmans (see below) refers to as the ultimate ground of being. ...
A summary of Max Velmans's life and major contributions to the study of consciousness.
... Such designs typically attempt controls for fraud (e.g., potentially perpetrated by fake mediums or deceptive experimenters), conscious or unconscious experimenter effects (e.g., sensory cueing of the mediums), and rater bias (i.e., since any biases of a sitter would be equally applied to the masked transcripts of the readings), as plausible explanations of the findings. However, these designs do not completely rule out more speculative explanations (see Baruss, 2003;Cardeña, 2018, Cardena et al., 2000. ...
... In addition, trials were included to assess whether experimenter awareness and intention could achieve results comparable to POS via a potential paranormal mechanism (see Baruss, 2003;Cardeña, 2018, Cardena et al., 2000. The average number of photon sums was found to be significantly higher in POS trials compared to non invited (i.e., non-POS) control trials. ...
Humans have likely been attempting to communicate with entities believed to exist, such as the divine, sacred beings, and deceased people, since the dawn of time. Across cultures and countries, many believe that interaction with the immaterial world is not only possible but a frequent experience. Most religious traditions across the globe focus many rituals and activities around prayer to an entity deemed divine or sacred. Additionally, many people–religious, agnostic, and atheists alike–report communication with their departed loved ones. During highly stressful times associated with natural disasters, war, pandemics, and other threats to human life, the frequency and intensity of these activities and associated experiences substantially increase. Although this very human phenomenon seems to be universal, the empirical literature on the topic within psychology is thin. This paper discussed the topic and reviews what we know from the professional literature about how people perceive communication with these unseen entities. It highlights the perceptual and social cognition evidence and discussed the role of attribution theory, which might help us understand the beliefs, motivations, and practices of those engaged with communication with the unseen. Empirical laboratory research with mediums is discussed as well, examining the evidence for communication with the deceased. Final reflections and suggestions for future research are also offered.
... Anomalous cognition involves telepathy, the transfer between people of information, thoughts, or emotions; clairvoyance, the transfer of information about or the perception of distant objects, events, or situations; precognition (conscious cognitive awareness of), presentiment (physiological reaction to), or premonition (affective apprehension of) future events that could not be inferred or anticipated; and retrocognition, the transfer of information about a noninferable past event. However, the distinction between these types of anomalous cognition does not reflect actual separate mechanisms but is related, instead, to how they are practically tested or conceptualized (Cardeña, 2018). PK is the apparent influence of thoughts or intentions on physical or biological processes or objects unmediated by physical forces; it includes macropsychokinesis (macro-PK), effects without any apparent mechanical explanation on observable objects, and micropsychokinesis (micro-PK), effects on events too small to be observed, such as the output of a random number generator. ...
... In addition, the possibility of consciousness surviving physical death is also considered to be a psi phenomenon (e.g., Braud, 2005). Although a discussion of the empirically demonstrated nature of these phenomena is outside the scope of this article, in a recent review of the literature, Cardeña (2018) found that "the evidence provides cumulative support for the reality of psi, which cannot be readily explained away by the quality of the studies, fraud, selective reporting, experimental or analytical incompetence, or other frequent criticisms" (p. 663). ...
... This small sampling of a repeated theme in my writing, also evidenced in works by other of the named scholars (e.g., Daniels, 2021;Friedman, 2021), shows a deep sympathy for what both Cunningham (2019a) and Taylor (e.g., 2022) have identified as a philosophically-rooted narrowness in much of psychology. Despite dire forecasts by Cunningham and Taylor, decades of productive empirical work in both parapsychology (e.g., Cardeña, 2018) and transpersonal psychology (Hartelius, 2021) have only sharpened awareness of philosophical issues in psychology (Friedman, 2021;Hartelius, 2019) and stimulated development of additional methodological tools (e.g., Hlava et al., 2014;King & DeCicco, 2009;López et al., 2017). My response has been to work with others toward development of approaches and methods designed to incrementally mitigate these problems (e.g., Hartelius, 2007Hartelius, , 2015Hartelius, , 2019Hartelius, , 2020Hartelius & Ferrer, 2013;Hartelius et al., 2022), as a pragmatic alternative to the uncritical embrace of metaphysical explanations for psychological phenomena. ...
... Rogers, 1955), and if the fruits of a human endeavor appear to invalidate the reality of those who undertake it, then it seems fitting to recognize the process as self-negating rather than submit to its conclusions. Cardeña (2014Cardeña ( , 2018 has moreover offered an empirical case against Transpersonal Psychology and Open Scientific Naturalism reductive elimination of consciousness-related phenomena. Whether or not mind and consciousness exist distinguishably from the biochemical processes with which they are associated is a question about background reality that cannot be bracketed in the same way as metaphysical beliefs associated with religion: either mind and consciousness have some actual existence per se, or they do not-and both conclusions are metaphysical because thethere is no current prospect that the nature of these foundational aspects of human experience can be investigated empirically. ...
A number of scholars well known within transpersonal psychology appear to be converging on open scientific naturalism as a philosophically and methodologically fruitful framework for transpersonal and related fields. This builds on the nascent open naturalism evidenced in the early years of transpersonal psychology, before it entered its metaphysical phase (ca. 1975 to 2000). Since it is necessary for science to assume some kind of world within which it is possible to do science, and not every aspect of that assumed world can be subjected to processes of empirical investigation, some of these necessary background assumptions are unavoidably metaphysical. However, the fact that these are unavoidable does not justify the insertion of foreground metaphysical explanations for psychological or spiritual phenomena. Rather than attempting to broaden psychology by adding metaphysics, an open scientific naturalism can make it more inclusive and more scientific by disputing metaphysically based disbeliefs based on specifically Western background reality assumptions.
... The defining property in all cases is that information appears to flow between an organism and its environment despite the presence of barriers (such as physical shielding, or distance in space and/or time) that would be expected on conventional physical principles to prevent such flows from occurring. See also Cardeña, 2014Cardeña, , 2018Cardeña, , 2020Cardeña & Winkelman, 2011;Cardeña et al., 2015, chapter 12;Kelly et al., 2007, pp. 522-523;Kelly & Locke, 2009;Marshall, 2011). ...
... For additional pointers into the very large body of evidence for psi phenomena in general see for example Cardeña (2018), Radin (2006) and the annotated bibliography of Kelly et al. (2007). For extensive further discussion of the "real-time" vs. "reconstruction" models of NDEs see in particular Nahm & Weibel (2020), who emphasize that out-of-body experiences (OBEs), including perceptions of the percipient's own body from a different spatial location (autoscopy), occur commonly not only in NDEs but under other condi-tions as well, and typically occur unambiguously in real time. ...
The Integrated Information Theory of consciousness (IIT) has generated much excitement inside and outside the scientific community, and seems to many the leading contender for a satisfactory theory grounded in systems neuroscience. It is a bold theory, one that provides plausible explanations for various recognized neuroscientific facts, makes surprising predictions that go beyond current scientific orthodoxy but are potentially testable, and has inspired development of what appears to be an effective technique for detecting the presence of consciousness in organisms incapable of verbal report, such as non-human animals, neonates, and severely brain-damaged adults. Despite these virtues, IIT appears fundamentally flawed: This paper first revisits some key conceptual and technical issues that have been raised previously but remain unresolved—in particular, issues concerning IIT’s concept of “information” and its approach to the “hard problem”—and then focuses on several empirical phenomena that IIT seems unable to handle satisfactorily. These include: 1. cases of multiple personality or dissociative identity disorder in which complex and overlapping centers of consciousness co-occur in single human organisms; 2. the failure of the intense phenomenology of psychedelic states to be straightforwardly reflected in accompanying neuroelectric activity; and, most critically; 3. the occurrence of profound and personally transformative near-death experiences (NDEs) under extreme physiological conditions such as cardiac arrest, in which IIT predicts that no conscious experience whatsoever should be possible. These empirical arguments show that IIT itself is untenable, and they apply also to its physicalist competitors. Scientifically and philosophically respectable alternatives, however, are available.
... Anomalous cognition involves telepathy, the transfer between people of information, thoughts, or emotions; clairvoyance, the transfer of information about or the perception of distant objects, events, or situations; precognition (conscious cognitive awareness of), presentiment (physiological reaction to), or premonition (affective apprehension of) future events that could not be inferred or anticipated; and retrocognition, the transfer of information about a noninferable past event. However, the distinction between these types of anomalous cognition does not reflect actual separate mechanisms but is related, instead, to how they are practically tested or conceptualized (Cardeña, 2018). PK is the apparent influence of thoughts or intentions on physical or biological processes or objects unmediated by physical forces; it includes macropsychokinesis (macro-PK), effects without any apparent mechanical explanation on observable objects, and micropsychokinesis (micro-PK), effects on events too small to be observed, such as the output of a random number generator. ...
... In addition, the possibility of consciousness surviving physical death is also considered to be a psi phenomenon (e.g., Braud, 2005). Although a discussion of the empirically demonstrated nature of these phenomena is outside the scope of this article, in a recent review of the literature, Cardeña (2018) found that "the evidence provides cumulative support for the reality of psi, which cannot be readily explained away by the quality of the studies, fraud, selective reporting, experimental or analytical incompetence, or other frequent criticisms" (p. 663). ...
In this study, we quantitatively assessed mediums' phenomenology during readings in which survival psi is ostensibly used to telepathically communicate with physically deceased targets (discarnates) and during psychic readings for living targets to represent somatic psi which cannot be experimentally demonstrated. We also correlated dimensions of phenomenology with reading accuracy. Ten Windbridge Certified Research Mediums (WCRMs) participated in a baseline assessment and then in three counterbalanced conditions-a blinded reading for a living target, a blinded reading for a deceased target, and a control condition-and completed the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inven-Julie Beischel, PhD, is
... Remote Viewing or "Anomalous Cognition" is the term for faculties which make use of an anomalous information transfer generally referred to as Psi (Cardeña, 2018;May & Marwaha, 2014;Marwaha & May, 2019). Using Psi for real life applications, e. g. predicting the future of a financial market, is not a new research approach in the field of remote viewing. ...
... testing the hypothesis whether the future is probabilistic in nature) to provide more insights into the ARV process and to expand our understanding about time, Anomalous Cognition and the fundamental principles of nature. Empirical evidence actually has accumulated concerning the veridicality of different types of precognition (Cardeña, 2018;Mossbridge & Radin, 2018;Marwaha & May, 2019;Tressoldi, 2011). Showing success rates of precognitive abilities in practical applications such as winning on the stock market would be a strong argument in favor of the veridicality of the psi hypothesis. ...
Over the course of n = 48 valid trials we attempted to predict the binary (up vs. down) course of the German stock index DAX with the Associative Remote Viewing (ARV) method. 38 out of 48 predictions were correct which amounts to a highly significant hit rate of 79.16% (p = 2.3 x 10-5 , binomial distribution, B 48 (1/2); z = 3.897; ES = 0.56). A post-hoc analysis indicated that the session quality depended on the volatility of the stock index: The viewer's perceptions were clearer and less ambivalent when the stock index also had a larger point difference at the end of the prediction period. Additionally, we tested the hypothesis whether feedback is a necessary requirement for predictions with ARV. Both conditions (feedback vs. no feedback) were independently significant and did not differ significantly from each other (χ 2 = 0.505, p = 0.477). Therefore, we discuss potential features which might be necessary or limiting for successful predictions with ARV.
... It goes without saying that the assignment of anomalies to categories 2 or 3 depends on the beliefs and world models held in each case. The concept of "scientability" introduced by Weymayr, which was addressed in my last editorial, as well as the skeptical comment by Reber and Alcock (2020) on Cardeña's review article on parapsychological research (Cardeña, 2018), also mentioned there, show with their implicit "prohibition of research" a great similarity to the anti-scientific theology of Augustine and the dogmatics of scholastic natural philosophers who wanted to exclude the extraordinary and miraculous from the research program or at least disdained it. For "ideological skeptics, " "not-OK anomalies" and "sleeping anomalies" have no ontological reality and have congealed into "evidence" of credulity and false beliefs. ...
... Es ist selbstredend, dass die Zuordnung von Anomalien zu den Kategorien 2 oder 3 von den jeweils vertretenen Überzeugungen und Weltmodellen abhängig ist. Das in meinem letzten Editorial angesprochene von Weymayr eingeführte Konzept der "Scientabilität" wie auch der ebenfalls dort genannte skeptische Kommentar von Reber und Alcock (2020) zu Cardeñas Übersichtsartikel zur parapsychologischen Forschung (Cardeña, 2018) zeigen mit ihrem impliziten "Forschungsverbot" eine große Ähnlichkeit mit der wissenschaftsfeindlichen Theologie von Augustinus und der Dogmatik scholastischer Naturphilosophen, die das Außergewöhnliche und Wunderbare aus dem Forschungsprogramm ausschließen wollten oder es zumindest geringschätzten. Für "ideologische Skeptiker" haben Anomalien der Kategorien 2 und 3 keine ontologische Realität und sind zum "Beweis" für Leichtgläubigkeit und falsche Glaubensvorstellungen geronnen. ...
Curiosity is a vice that has been stigmatized in turn by Christianity, by philosophy, and even by a certain conception of science. Curiosity, futility. The word, however, pleases me. To me it suggests something altogether different: it evokes "concern"; it evokes the care one takes for what exists and could exist; a readiness to find strange and singular what surrounds us; a certain relentlessness to break up our familiarities and to regard otherwise the same things; a fervor to grasp what is happening and what passes; a casualness in regard to the traditional hierarchies of the important and the essential.
... MET would lead to a dogmatic and authoritarian a priori denial of even taking a look at any possible supporting empirical evidence of the transcendent/paraphysical aspect of nature. Such posture was exemplarily expressed by Reber and Alcock (2020) with their a priori denial of experimental evidence regarding paranormal phenomena presented in a review paper at American Psychologist (Cardeña, 2018). They did not even discuss the presented evidence because these alleged facts "cannot be true," since "pigs cannot fly" all presented evidence "are necessarily flawed" (Reber & Alcock, 2020, p. 391). ...
Early in the founding of psychology of religion, a debated issue was the methodological exclusion of the transcendent (MET). While cautiously endorsed by Theodore Flournoy, others, notable William James and Frederic Myers, refused to be limited by this principle. This paper discusses (a) what is MET as proposed by Flournoy and the reasons he provided to adopt it, (b) problems with MET, implications for research and theory in religion/spirituality and health, and why the transcendent should be included in psychological, medical and other academic research and theory on spiritual experiences (SE), and (c) some methodological guidelines perform it fruitfully.
... Significantly larger effect sizes were found with certain participants. For example, pairs of people who were emotionally close to each other, or those engaged in creative professions (e.g., music, writing), or meditators did better on the task [13][14][15][16] . ...
... 1952(JUNG, /1975 31 .Consideramos que a primeira categoria seria a classificação mais comumente utilizada para a sincronicidade. Neste item, incluem-se as percepçõesde Colman (2012), Giegerich (2012) e Mansfield,Rhine-Feather e Hall (1998).Dentro do contexto da fenomenologia parapsíquica a segunda descrição de Jung seria clarividência, aquisição de informações por meios em que os sentidos físicos habituais não estariam envolvidos, ou telepatia, comunicação mente a mente, se for acesso a informações contidas na mente de alguém que presenciou o incidente(CARDEÑA, 2018). Em relação à terceira categoria Jung não oferece exemplos diretamente relacionados em sua obra de 1952, mas explica que nela se incluem "acontecimentos coincidentes ainda não presentes no campo de percepção do observador, antecipados no tempo"(JUNG, 1952(JUNG, /1975. ...
O pesquisador americano Joseph Banks Rhine (1895 – 1980) e o psiquiatra suíço Carl Gustav Jung (1875 – 1961) foram contemporâneos, o interesse mútuo de pesquisa levou os dois autores a estabeleceram uma troca de correspondências a partir de 1934, que duraria as duas décadas seguintes. A partir desse diálogo importantes repercussões teóricas ocorreram no trabalho dos dois autores, especialmente, em relação a Jung. Em nossa metodologia analisamos as obras de Rhine e de Jung, com destaque para o impacto dos experimentos sobre percepção extrassensorial (PES) sobre o trabalho de Jung de 1952, Sincronicidade: um princípio de conexões acausais. Apesar das controvérsias existentes sobre o conceito de sincronicidade, com alguns autores estabelecendo que PES e sincronicidade são eventos distintos, o autor suíço estabelece de forma clara três categorias ou facetas de seu conceito, duas delas incluindo a PES.
... Continued research in this domain could thus uncover or verify aberrant influences or mechanisms that lead to paradigm shifts in science. Much empirical data suggests the possibility of psi (Cardeña, 2018;Parker & Brusewitz, 2003;Vernon, 2021), but parapsychological aspects to some or all purported survival evidence have yet to be unequivocally established or demonstrated. Therefore, this tantalizing prospect continues to brew heated controversy and debate. ...
We used a multiteam system approach (MTS) to map the critical and constructive feedback from four invited Commentaries on Rock et al.’s (2023) probabilistic analysis of purported evidence for postmortem survival. The goal was to mine actionable insights to guide future research with the potential for important learnings or breakthroughs about the nature or limits of human consciousness and their relation to transpersonal psychology. The commentators’ input identified only a few measurable variables or empirical tactics that conceivably challenge or refine our latest Drake-S Equation for survival. However, a review of these suggestions using logical and statistical criteria revealed that none immediately upend our previous conclusion that the published effect sizes for various Known Confounds (including hypothetical "living agent psi") do not fully account for the published prevalence rates of Anomalous Experiences traditionally interpretated as survival. However, the commentators proposed several good recommendations for new studies that could eventually alter this calculus. Accordingly, we outline the architecture of a proposed cross-disciplinary research program that extends the present MTS approach and its collected insights and focuses strictly on empiricism over rhetoric in this domain. The results of this coordinated effort should likewise help to clarify a range of psychological and biomedical phenomena that speak to the nature and limits of human consciousness.
... The early work of the SPR may be defined as a phenomenology, that is, the researchers attempted to observe the phenomena, trying to avoid too much emphasis on previous assumptions (Beischel and Zingrone, 2015). The Society exhaustively investigated events such as: the altered states of consciousness of mediums and the manifestation of personalities allegedly deceased; materializations; the phenomena related to alleged hauntings; certain unusual capacities named as telepathy (communication from mind to mind), clairvoyance (anomalous acquisition of knowledge), and psychokinesis (alleged direct action of mind over matter) (Cardeña, 2018). ...
The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) of London was founded in 1882 with the purpose of investigating psychical phenomena, especially the theme of survival, with scientific rigour. Despite the recognized importance of the SPR for dynamic psychiatry in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, there are few studies of its epistemological contributions to the theme of survival and its implications to science. In order to fill this gap, we have consulted the main journals of the SPR in its golden period, and highlight the epistemologies of Sidgwick, Myers, James, Podmore, Schiller, Lodge and Richet. We conclude that the authors, whether for or against survival, argued in defence of an expanded science, and looked forward to understanding the complexity of human experience.
... Amazingly, the debate around the existence or non-existence of parapsychological phenomena got some new traction from the experiments from Daryl J. Bem (Cornell University) (Anon, 2011) and has recently been summarized (Cardeña, 2018). ...
The recent devastating pandemic has drastically reminded humanity of the importance of constant scientific and technological progress. A strong interdisciplinary dialogue between academic and industrial scientists of various specialties, entrepreneurs, managers and the public is paramount in triggering new breakthrough ideas which often emerge at the interface of disciplines. The following sections, compiled by a highly diverse group of authors, are summarizing recently achieved game-changing leaps in science and technology. The game-changers range from paradigm shifts in scientific theories to make impact over several decades to game-changers that have the potential to change our everyday lives tomorrow. The paper is an interdisciplinary dialogue of relevance for academic interdisciplinary thinkers, large corporations' strategic planners, and top executives alike; it provides a glimpse into what further breakthroughs the future may hold and thereby intends to spark new ideas with its readers.
... An example of this claim of 'veridical idiophany' during cardiac arrest was reported by van Lommel et al. (16) Holden published a review of reported veridical perceptions in near-death experience (17). For a recent review of experimental evidence for parapsychological phenomena in general, see Cardena, 2018 (18). ...
... Do any unexpected quantitative correlations remain? Although such experiments may not be trivially easy to replicate, using the same gold standard meta-analytical techniques employed throughout many mainstream sciences it has been amply demonstrated that mind-matter correlations, which arguably include the entire range of psychic phenomena, are indeed repeatable in the lab (Cardeña, 2018). ...
Dual-aspect monism proposes that reality consists of a single, undifferentiated, holistic “substance” (monism) that splits into mind and matter (dual aspects). In this view, mind and matter are linked, or intimately correlated, by meaning. These tight correlations do not imply that mind causally affects matter, or vice versa, but rather they point to an acausal relation. Atmanspacher and Rickles propose that this metaphysical theory, based on deep philosophical roots and refined based on ideas from quantum mechanics, provides a satisfying model of reality that does justice to both the mental and physical domains. They describe a line of qualitative research that appears to support their theory, but they inexplicably dismiss a much larger body of quantitative studies that provide far greater support.
... As such, transpersonal psychology's assumption of a more intimate connection between humans and the world is a crucial part of its definition. Moreover, if humans do have capacities to feel the future (Bem, 2011); be influenced by the thoughts or emotions of others at a distance, obtain information about events at a distant location by means other than conventional senses or logical inference, or influence physical events at a distance (Cardeña, 2018); or even experience spiritually-toned encounters while clinically dead (van Lommel et al., 2001), conventional assumptions about the nature of personhood and of particle-based models of reality would appear to be in urgent need of revision-or at minimum accompanied by a robust agnosticism. ...
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 records endorsed that participants experienced a moment of clarity or profound insight during their workshop. In addition, 66% endorsed that participants had experienced at least one noetic experience, and 84% endorsed at least one transpersonal experience. These analyses provide preliminary evidence for the transformational potential of personal development workshops and the common occurrence of transpersonal and noetic experiences across various workshop types.
... In summary, the current two experiments did not find evidence of retrocausation. However, to reiterate the sentiment of Cardeña (2018), there is a need for more researchers who are willing to investigate such "extrasensory" phenomena. It is likely that psi phenomena are not genuine; for such a claim to be made, an underlying causative mechanism needs to be established. ...
Retrocausation describes how an event that happens in the future may affect the present. For example, determining the state of an entangled particle in the future can determine the state of an entangled particle in the present. Recently, this phenomenon has been reported in the psychological literature, with several studies reporting that events which have yet to happen affect performance in various tasks. In this article, two classical manipulations of expectation from the psychological literature, endogenous and exogenous cueing, have been used to explore retrocausal effects on reaction speeds. The findings demonstrate no effect of retrocausation, supported by both frequentist and Bayesian statistical analysis. This is an important finding from two perspectives. First, it may indicate a limiting condition of retrocausal effects. Alternatively, it may contribute to research demonstrating a lack of retrocausation.
... The authors of the largest meta-analysis on the psi-effect to date (Bem et al., 2016), comprising 90 experimental studies of which 51 are peer-reviewed (see Bem et al., 2016; Supplementary Table S1), claim to have obtained decisive evidence for a psi-effect. Whereas some concluded from this that the psi-effect is real (e.g., Cardena, 2018), others argued that Bem et al. 's (2016) meta-analytical data leave it too unlikely that the psi-effect is real (e.g., Witte and Zenker, 2017). Across the 51 peer-reviewed object-level psi-studies, the observed effect ranges from d = 0.02 to d = 0.21 (Bem et al., 2016). ...
The identification of an empirically adequate theoretical construct requires determining whether a theoretically predicted effect is sufficiently similar to an observed effect. To this end, we propose a simple similarity measure, describe its application in different research designs, and use computer simulations to estimate the necessary sample size for a given observed effect. As our main example, we apply this measure to recent meta-analytical research on precognition. Results suggest that the evidential basis is too weak for a predicted precognition effect of d = 0.20 to be considered empirically adequate. As additional examples, we apply this measure to object-level experimental data from dissonance theory and a recent crowdsourcing hypothesis test, as well as to meta-analytical data on the correlation of personality traits and life outcomes.
... The evidence provides cumulative support for the reality of [nonlocal consciousness effects], which cannot be readily explained away by the quality of the studies, fraud, selective reporting, experimental or analytical incompetence, or other frequent criticisms. The evidence … is comparable to that for established phenomena in psychology and other disciplines (Cardeña, 2018) , p1 . ...
If all aspects of the mind-brain relationship were adequately explained by classical physics, then there would be no need to propose alternatives. But faced with possibly unresolvable puzzles like qualia and free will, other approaches are required. In alignment with a suggestion by Heisenberg in 1958, we propose a model whereby the world consists of two elements: Ontologically real Possibles that do not obey Aristotle's law of the excluded middle, and ontologically real Actuals that do. Based on this view, which bears resemblance to von Neumann's 1955 proposal (von Neumann, 1955), and more recently by Stapp and others (Stapp, 2007; Rosenblum and Kuttner, 2006), measurement that is registered by an observer's mind converts Possibles into Actuals. This quantum-oriented approach raises the intriguing prospect that some aspects of mind may be quantum, and that mind may play an active role in the physical world. A body of empirical evidence supports these possibilities, strengthening our proposal that the mind-brain relationship may be partially quantum.
... 6 Kelly and his contributors give their own detailed reasons for taking psi phenomena, NDEs, and other non-ordinary states of consciousness seriously (for example, see "Empirical Challenges to Tbeory Construction", in Kelly et al. 2015, pp. 3-38), but the reader might also note additional support in Cardena (2018) and Cardena et al. (2015), as well as support for the transpersonal possibilities of NDEs in the work of Charlotte Martial's research team at the University of Liege, Belgium (e.g., Martial 2021). 7 In terms of Huxley's theory of ontology at a cosmic scale and consciousness' relationship to it, the reader may note that several quantum physicists have drafted models that could accommodate it (e.g., Schrodinger 1946;Bohm 1980;Herbert 1993) as have several philosophers of mind and consciousness (e.g., Kastrup 2014;Goff 2019). ...
A large body of research in the field of psychology currently points to a variety of therapeutic outcomes derived from psychedelically occasioned mystical experience. Moreover, additional research suggests that such benefits to mental and emotional well-being may depend directly upon the subjective mystical experience itself, rather than upon the substances that triggered it; for instance, research at Johns Hopkins indicates that higher scores on the MEQ30 or MEQ43 might be key predictors of larger therapeutic outcomes. However, the ‘elephant in the room’ often overlooked in psychological studies is this: What exactly is it about the content of the subjective experience that triggers such significant outcomes or, of deep interest philosophically speaking, what might the mystical experience be an experience of? Could it be that such experiences have a viable ontological referent instead of their being wholly subjective and if so, how might Aldous Huxley’s theory in this regard be weighed in light of current data? The essay includes close discussion of the debate regarding the nature of mystical experiences between Robin Carhart-Harris’ REBUS model (the experiences are wholly subjective, with no ontological referent) vs. Edward Kelly’s ROSTA model (contending an ontological referent need not contradict the science). The essay’s thesis is that Huxley’s viewpoint includes plausible and perhaps valuable insights that may help explain why and how that encounter has such profound therapeutic value.
... But actually, AUSs can be viewed as delusional ideations that are consistent with the continuum model of psychosis (Grillon et al., 2008). However, some scientific literature suggests that AUSs or premonitions might have an ontological reality (see Bem, 2011;Radin et al., 2011;Storm et al., 2013;Mossbridge et al., 2012;Bem et al., 2016;Cardeña, 2018;Utts, 2018). These studies involved experimentally-blinded participants who guessed the random sequence of a set of images depicting pleasant or unpleasant scenes. ...
In the study and treatment of psychosis, emotional intelligence (EI) and thinking styles are important patient characteristics for successful outcomes in clinical intervention. Anticipation of unpredictable stimuli (AUS) may be understood as an anomalous perception and anomalous cognition in which an individual supposedly senses and recognizes future stimuli in an unexpected way, also referred to as “hunches or premonitions.” This examined the roles of EI and thinking styles in AUSs in convenience samples of healthy participants (n = 237) versus patients diagnosed with psychosis (n = 118). We adjusted several quadratic and exponential regression models according to the obtained functions. Group means were also compared to examine differences in EI scores for participants with psychosis compared to healthy participants. In the healthy group, EI predicted AUSs with a weight between 42% and 58%. Thinking styles were not correlated with AUSs. However, EI was not correlated with AUSs in the clinical group. Patients with psychosis tended to score higher on AUSs and lower on EI and thinking styles compared to participants in the healthy group. We discuss EI as a variable that can contextualize some anomalous perceptions which are otherwise difficult to classify or measure within the classic psychosis continuum model.
... These related phenomena include near-death experiences and psi perceptions. Unlike mystical experience, the veridicality of psi (such as telepathy and clairvoyance) is open to experimental testing, and the results have been encouraging but disputed (e.g., Cardeña 2018). If mystical experiences are indeed closely related to psi (Marshall 2011), then the veridicality of the latter may be suggestive of the veridicality of the former. ...
Mystical experiences can bring an overwhelming sense that deeper realities have been contacted or that the everyday world has been apprehended as it truly is. Philosophical study of the experiences has not given much attention to their metaphysical significance, especially to the insights they may offer on fundamental issues such as the nature of reality, self, consciousness, and time. There are reasons for the neglect, and in the present article I consider two major theoretical obstacles to finding metaphysical significance in the experiences: a radical form of contextualism and a reductionist approach to neuroscience. With these obstacles addressed, there is room to consider how mystical experience and metaphysics can be brought into dialogue, a task facilitated by the contemporary resurgence of interest in alternatives to materialist metaphysics and a renewed interest in mystical experience encouraged by psychedelic research.
... However, as this phenomenon cannot be explained in terms of any known physical, psychological, or biological mechanism, it counts as one of several psi phenomena. Psi phenomena are defined as anomalous processes of energy or information transfer which conflict with fundamental principles of physics (Bem & Honorton, 1994;Cardeña, 2018). Although psi experiences have always been a part of human history, they have been exposed to skepticism since the advent of science (Franklin et al., 2014). ...
Precognition describes the ability to anticipate information about a future event before this event occurs. The goal of our study was to test the occurrence of precognition by trying to replicate three experiments of the most central study in the field (Bem, 2011, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology). In this study, Bem time-reversed well-established psychological effects so that a “causal” stimulus appeared after the participants gave their response. We conducted two priming experiments and a free recall experiment in the backward “precognition” version and, as a control manipulation, in the classic forward version. More than 2000 participants participated via the Internet; thus, our study had high statistical power. The results showed no precognition effects at all. We further conducted exploratory post hoc analyses on different variables and questionnaire items and found some significant effects. Further studies should validate these potentially interesting findings by using theory-driven hypotheses, preregistrations, and confirmatory data analyses.
... Parapsychology has followed the methods of the natural sciences for a century, and, in terms of scientific legitimacy, public acceptance, and institutional support, this has been a failure by all accounts (Reber & Alcock, 2019). This says nothing, of course, regarding the scientificity of the discipline, how scientific it has been regarding following these very methods, as we know that the experimentalists in parapsychology have been overly cautious and rigorous with designs and conclusions (Cardeña, 2018). ...
... An example of this claim of 'veridical idiophany' during cardiac arrest was reported by van Lommel et al. (16) Holden published a review of reported veridical perceptions in near-death experience (17). For a recent review of experimental evidence for parapsychological phenomena in general, see Cardena, 2018 (18). ...
It is not uncommon for patients with mental disorders to have symptoms with religious or spiritual (R/S) contents, and, on the other hand, spiritual experiences often involve psychotic-like phenomena. This frequently creates difficulties in differentiating between a non-pathological R/S experience and a mental disorder. Clinical differentiation between a non-pathological R/S experience and a mental disorder with R/S content brings risks in both extremes: to pathologize normal R/S experience (promoting iatrogenic suffering) or neglecting pathological symptoms (delaying proper treatment). In order to mitigate these risks, this chapter will gather the best current scientific evidence and propose clinical guidelines to help the distinction between R/S experiences and mental disorders with R/S content. Scientific studies in people who have spiritual experiences should be encouraged, especially investigations of the phenomenology, neurobiology, precipitants, and outcomes in order to enlarge the empirical base needed to advance the criteria for this differential diagnosis.
... Reber and Alcock (2019a, b) provide examples of this attitude. Initially presented to the journal editors as a rebuttal to one of my papers (Cardeña, 2018) reviewing the meta-analytical evidence for psi phenomena and discussing potential physics theories and authors that might accommodate it, Reber and Alcock (2019a) declared the existential invalidity of psi phenomena because "the laws" of physics (which is not their discipline) make psi impossible and concluded that the data "are necessarily flawed and result from weak methodology or improper data analysis, or are Type 1 errors" (p. 391). ...
Playing with the Occam’s razor trope, Nobel laureate Sidney Brenner coined the term Occam’s broom to describe the practice of sweeping under the rug facts that do not support the scientist’s hypothesis. This practice is taken to extremes by some critics of anomalous cognition research (psi), who engage in dismissing inconvenient research data (including sometimes their own), naturalistic observations, and eminent scientists supporting this research. They also engage in rhetoric in which they claim that psi ought not be considered unless published in mainstream journals while simultaneously blocking such publication, and fail to acknowledge methodological and statistical advances spurred by psi research.
... Third, preregistration would identify both the primary outcome and the sample size required to achieve an acceptable level of statistical power. Ironically, the lack of attention to pre-registration and justifying sample sizes contrasts with research on paranormal phenomena, where study registration and a priori power calculations have been employed for many years [76]. ...
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Abstract
Background
Research into paranormal beliefs and cognitive functioning has expanded considerably since the last review almost 30 years ago, prompting the need for a comprehensive review. The current systematic review aims to identify the reported associations between paranormal beliefs and cognitive functioning, and to assess study quality.
Method
We searched four databases (Scopus, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, and OpenGrey) from inception until May 2021. Inclusion criteria comprised papers published in English that contained original data assessing paranormal beliefs and cognitive function in healthy adult samples. Study quality and risk of bias was assessed using the Appraisal tool for Cross-Sectional Studies (AXIS) and results were synthesised through narrative review. The review adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and was preregistered as part of a larger registration on the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/uzm5v).
Results
From 475 identified studies, 71 (n = 20,993) met our inclusion criteria. Studies were subsequently divided into the following six categories: perceptual and cognitive biases (k = 19, n = 3,397), reasoning (k = 17, n = 9,661), intelligence, critical thinking, and academic ability (k = 12, n = 2,657), thinking style (k = 13, n = 4,100), executive function and memory (k = 6, n = 810), and other cognitive functions (k = 4, n = 368). Study quality was rated as good-to-strong for 75% of studies and appears to be improving across time. Nonetheless, we identified areas of methodological weakness including: the lack of preregistration, discussion of limitations, a-priori justification of sample size, assessment of nonrespondents, and the failure to adjust for multiple testing. Over 60% of studies have recruited undergraduates and 30% exclusively psychology undergraduates, which raises doubt about external validity. Our narrative synthesis indicates high heterogeneity of study findings. The most consistent associations emerge for paranormal beliefs with increased intuitive thinking and confirmatory bias, and reduced conditional reasoning ability and perception of randomness.
Conclusions
Although study quality is good, areas of methodological weakness exist. In addressing these methodological issues, we propose that authors engage with preregistration of data collection and analysis procedures. At a conceptual level, we argue poorer cognitive performance across seemingly disparate cognitive domains might reflect the influence of an over-arching executive dysfunction.
This meta-analysis is an investigation into anomalous perception (i.e., conscious identification of information without any conventional sensorial means). The technique used for eliciting an effect is the ganzfeld condition (a form of sensory homogenization that eliminates distracting peripheral noise). The database consists of studies published between January 1974 and December 2020 inclusive.
The overall effect size estimated both with a frequentist and a Bayesian random-effect model, were in close agreement yielding an effect size of .099 (.05-.14). This result passed four publication bias tests and seems not contaminated by questionable research practices.
Trend analysis carried out with a cumulative meta-analysis and a meta-regression model with Year of publication as covariate did not indicate a sign of the decline of this effect size.
The moderators' analyses show that selected participants' outcomes were almost three times those obtained by non-selected participants and that tasks that simulate telepathic communication show a two-fold effect size with respect to tasks requiring the participants to guess a target.
The Stage 1 Registered Report can be accessed here: https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.24868.3
Inspired by the 'reflexive monism' of Max Velmans, this paper considers four problems of mind and body. (1) The traditional mind–body problem, including the 'easy' problem of identifying the neural correlates of consciousness, and the 'hard' problem of determining just how neural processes generate conscious states. (2) The distinction between automatic (unconscious) and controlled (conscious) processes, raising the question about the relative roles they play in experience, thought, and action, as well as the question of free will. (3) Psychosomatic effects, including the stress–disease connection, placebo effects, and hypnotic suggestion, in which beliefs appear to have consequences for bodily processes outside the nervous system. (4) Whether mind can exist in the absence of a bodily host, as exemplified by spiritualism and parapsychology. As challenging as the easy and hard problems are, psychology can advance as a science of mental life without ever solving them.
Because of their historical reliance upon null hypothesis statistical tests (NHST), the human sciences have developed a number of potentially problematic research literatures. While aware of the file drawer effect since the 1970s, scientists have been largely unsuccessful at addressing its pernicious effects. Because significant results have a greater likelihood of being published than do nonsignificant effects, many of our research literatures might currently be constructed upon a series of Type I errors and inflated effect sizes. A method (called Original Replication of Meta-Analyses or ORMA) has recently been developed for identifying problematic research literatures and offering a method to address the problems due to publication bias. Philosophers of science have long argued that a chief reason for science's preeminence as a source of knowledge rests in its ability to self-correct. Researchers in the human sciences are now able to empirically test their research literatures to ascertain which are in need of repair. The use of ORMA serves to lessen the problems that led to the recent calls for bans on significant/nonsignificant statistics in human science research. ORMA will also improve psychology's ability to successfully replicate its research findings.
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The Global Consciousness Project (GCP) operates under the hypothesis that events that elicit widespread emotion or draw the simultaneous attention of a large number of people could affect the output of hardware-generated random numbers. The hypothesis thus suggests that the mind, in some sense, can interact with matter at a distance, a controversial suggestion because such a mechanism could challenge some current understandings. Testing the validity of the hypothesis thus carries substantial merit as negative results would reinforce already established scientific perceptions, whereas positive results would point in the direction of a needed update. In this paper, it is hypothesized that events inflicting a strong emotional response should also trigger the need for information. As such, global internet search trends should correlate with the GCP data, allowing for the hypothesis to be objectively tested. In practice, Google Trends search data is used to construct several search indexes that are correlated with GCP data aggregates using time series statistics. It is found that the GCP data significantly correlates with the indexes and can be used to improve the statistical model's in-sample fit. Furthermore, it is found that out-of-sample forecasts can be made more accurate if the GCP data is used. The results thus point toward the validity of the GCP data hypothesis and that the data produced by the GCP can be put to practical use by, for example, forecasters.
Parapsychology and transpersonal psychology were founded independently and have evolved separately as two distinct movements, although there is considerable overlap in both their content and in the interests of a number of scholars who are active in both areas. Harris Friedman, Co-President of the Association of Transpersonal Psychology, and Dean Radin, President of the Parapsychological Association, engaged in an informal discussion on the salient commonalities and differences between the two movements, focusing on exploring ways that the two could be brought into better alignment, such as including more transpersonal approaches within parapsychological studies and vice versa. Stanley Krippner, whose seminal work straddles both areas, chaired the panel, introducing and serving as a discussant for Friedman’s and Radin’s views, as well as in presenting his own views on the relationship between parapsychology and transpersonal psychology.
This chapter analyzes the implications of the evidence presented in this book for the belief in survival of consciousness. First, it shows that the “usual suspects” ((1) deliberate fraud and (2) misinterpretation of chance or unconscious mind activity) might explain part but not all the evidence, because it has been replicated by different competent investigators using strictly controlled investigations. Then, living agent psi (LAP) (also called ESP—extrasensory perception) is presented as the most challenging hypothesis alternative to survival to explain the best available evidence. A careful analysis shows that survival is a more rational and parsimonious hypothesis because LAP would require us to assume simultaneously many unlikely conjectures: (1) existence of a still unproven very high level of LAP; (2) a person to be in telepathic and clairvoyant contact with several different (often unknown) living persons and distant places to be able to collect the specific pieces of information related to the deceased personality; (3) being able to integrate all these isolated pieces of information into a coherent whole; and (4) having the desire and skill to impersonate the specific deceased so skillfully to convince close acquaintances. In conclusion, converging evidence (from a broad variety of research groups, countries, and methods for a wide range of phenomena investigated) that mutually reinforce each other point to the same conclusion: survival of consciousness, a conclusion reached by many (probably most) highly qualified scientific and philosophical minds (from diverse intellectual and geographical backgrounds) who performed comprehensive analyses of the survival evidence.KeywordsSurvival after deathSurvivalEvidenceProofSoulMindConsciousnessLife after deathFraudExtrasensorial perception
We propose registration-based prospective meta-analysis, in which the decision to include or exclude a particular study is made prospectively based on the preregistration for the study. A study that will be included in the meta-analysis must be registered before data collection begins for the study. The studies will typically be independently initiated and funded, and not part of a large preplanned research effort associated with the meta-analysis. The decision to include or exclude a study in the meta-analysis will be made shortly after the study is registered and typically before data collection starts for the study. In effect, the registration for an individual study is used to prevent bias in a subsequent meta-analysis as well as to prevent bias in the individual study.