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“Memory of water” experiments explained with no role assigned to water: Pattern expectation after classical conditioning of the experimenter
Abstract
The “memory of water” experiments suggested the existence of molecular-like effects without molecules. Although no convincing evidence of modifications of water – specific of biologically-active molecules – has been reported up to now, consistent changes of biological systems were nevertheless recorded. We propose an alternate explanation based on classical conditioning of the experimenter.
Using a probabilistic model, we describe not only the biological system, but also the experimenter engaged in an elementary dose-response experiment. We assume that during conventional experiments involving genuine biologically-active molecules, the experimenter is involuntarily conditioned to expect a pattern, namely a relationship between descriptions (or “labels”) of experimental conditions and corresponding biological system states.
The model predicts that the conditioned experimenter could continue to record the learned pattern even in the absence of the initial cause, namely the biologically-active molecules. The phenomenon is self-sustained because the observation of the expected pattern reinforces the initial conditioning. A necessary requirement is the use of a system submitted to random fluctuations with autocorrelated successive states (no forced return to the initial position). The relationship recorded by the conditioned experimenter is, however, not causal in this model because blind experiments with an “outside” supervisor lead to a loss of correlations (i.e., system states randomly associated to “labels”).
In conclusion, this psychophysical model allows explaining the results of “memory of water” experiments without referring to water or another local cause. It could be extended to other scientific fields in biology, medicine and psychology when suspecting an experimenter effect.
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Background.
Factors that participate in the biological changes associated with a placebo are not completely understood. Natural evolution, mean regression, concomitant procedures and other non specific effects are well-known factors that contribute to the “placebo effect”. In this article, we suggest that quantum-like correlations predicted by a probabilistic modeling could also play a role.
Results.
An elementary experiment in biology or medicine comparing the biological changes associated with two placebos is modeled. The originality of this modeling is that experimenters, biological system and their interactions are described together from the standpoint of a participant who is uninvolved in the measurement process. Moreover, the small random probability fluctuations of a “real” experiment are also taken into account. If both placebos are inert (with only different labels), common sense suggests that the biological changes associated with the two placebos should be comparable. However, the consequence of this modeling is the possibility for two placebos to be associated with different outcomes due to the emergence of quantum-like correlations.
Conclusion.
The association of two placebos with different outcomes is counterintuitive and this modeling could give a framework for some unexplained observations where mere placebos are compared (in some alternative medicines for example). This hypothesis can be tested in blind trials by comparing local vs. remote assessment of correlations.
Benveniste’s experiments were at the origin of a scientific controversy that has never been satisfactorily resolved. Hypotheses based on modifications of water structure that were proposed to explain these experiments (“memory of water”) were generally considered as quite improbable. In the present paper, we show that Benveniste’s experiments violated the law of total probability, one of the pillars of classical probability theory. Although this could suggest that quantum logic was at work, the decoherence process is however at first sight an obstacle to describe this macroscopic experimental situation. Based on the principles of a personalist view of probability (quantum Bayesianism or QBism), a modeling could nevertheless be built that fitted the outcomes reported in Benveniste’s experiments. Indeed, in QBism, there is no split between microscopic and macroscopic, but between the world where an agent lives and his internal experience of that world. The outcome of an experiment is thus displaced from the object to its perception by an agent. By taking into account both the personalist view of probability and measurement fluctuations, all characteristics of Benveniste’s experiments could be described in a simple modeling: change of the biological system from resting state to “activated” state, concordance of “expected” and observed outcomes and apparent “jumping” of “biological activities” from sample to sample. No hypothesis on change of water structure was necessary. In conclusion, a modeling of Benveniste’s experiments based on a personalist view of probability offers for the first time a logical framework for these experiments that have remained controversial and paradoxical till date.
Benveniste's experiments (also known as " memory of water " or " digital biology " experiments) remain unresolved. In some research areas, which have in common the description of cognition mechanisms and information processing, quantum-like statistical models have been proposed to address problems that were " paradoxical " in a classical frame. Therefore, the outcomes of the cognitive state of the experimenter were calculated for a series of Benveniste's experiments using a quantum-like statistical model (i.e. a model inspired by quantum physics and taking into consideration superpo-sition of quantum states, non-commutable observables, and contextuality). Not only were the probabilities of " success " and " failure " of the experiments modeled according to their context, but the emergence of a signal from background was also taken into account. For the fi rst time, a formal framework devoid of any reference to " memory of water " or " digital biology " describes all the characteristics of these disputed results. In particular, the diffi culties encountered by Benveniste (reproducibility of the experiments, disturbances after blinding) are simply explained in this model without additional ad hoc hypotheses. It is thus proposed that we see Benveniste's experiments as the result of quantum-like probability interferences of cognitive states.
Objectives: “Memory of water” experiments (also known as Benveniste’s experiments) were the source of a famous controversy in the contemporary history of sciences. We recently proposed a formal framework devoid of any reference to “memory of water” to describe these disputed experiments. In this framework, the results of Benveniste’s experiments are seen as the consequence of quantum-like interferences of cognitive states. Design:
In the present article, we describe retrospectively a series of experiments in physiology (Langendorff preparation) performed in 1993 by Benveniste’s team for a public demonstration. These experiments aimed at demonstrating “electronic transmission of molecular information” from protein solution (ovalbumin) to naïve water. The experiments were closely controlled and blinded by participants not belonging to Benveniste’s team. Results: The number of samples associated with signal (change of coronary flow of isolated rodent heart) was as expected; this was an essential result since, according to mainstream science, no effect at all was supposed to occur. However, besides coherent correlations, some results were paradoxical and remained incomprehensible in a classical
framework. However, using a quantum-like model, the probabilities of the different outcomes could be calculated according to the different experimental contexts. Conclusion: In this reassessment of an historical series of memory of water” experiments, quantum-like probabilities allowed modeling these controversial experiments that remained unexplained in a classical frame and no logical paradox persisted. All the features of Benveniste’s experiments were taken into account with this model, which did not involve the hypothesis of “memory of water” or any other “local” explanation.
It is shown that it is impossible for an observer to distinguish all present states of a system in which he or she is contained, irrespective of whether this system is a classical or a quantum mechanical one and irrespective of whether the time evolution is deterministic or stochastic. As a corollary, this implies that it is impossible for an observer to measure the EPR-correlations between himself or herself and an outside system. Implications of the main result are discussed for how we have to conceive of universally valid theories.
After more than 20 years, the case of the "memory of water" still has not been resolved satisfactorily. After the affair with the journal Nature, Benveniste extended his results on high dilutions to an "electromagnetic biology" and then to a "digital biology," where electromagnetic signals supposed to be emitted from biologically active solutions were said to be stored on magnetic memories. Although the results obtained by Benveniste and coworkers were obvious, the difficulties in reproducibility by other teams created doubt of the reality of the alleged phenomenon. In a first step, we analyzed a set of experiments obtained by Benveniste's team in the 1990s. We quantified the relationship between "expected" effects (ie, labels of the tested samples) and apparatus outcomes, and we defined the experimental conditions to observe significant correlations. We concluded that the results of these experiments were related to experimenter-dependent correlations, which did not support the initial "memory of water" hypothesis. The fact that a signal emerged from background noise, however, remained puzzling. Therefore, in a second step, we described Benveniste's experiments according to the relational interpretation of quantum physics of C. Rovelli. In this interpretation, the state of a system is observer-dependent and the collapse of the wave function appears only in the states relative to a given observer. This interpretation allowed us to elaborate a model describing Benveniste's experiments in which the emergence of a signal from background noise was described by the entanglement of the experimenter with the observed system. In conclusion, the pursuit of the experimental "proof" to support the "memory of water" hypothesis has prevented other interpretations. Although our hypothesis does not definitely dismiss the possibility of "memory of water," the experimenter-dependent entanglement could be an attractive alternative interpretation of Benveniste's experiments.
When human polymorphonuclear basophils, a type of white blood cell with antibodies of the immunoglobulin E (IgE) type on its surface, are exposed to anti-IgE antibodies, they release histamine from their intracellular granules and change their staining properties. The latter can be demonstrated at dilutions of anti-IgE that range from 1 x 10(2) to 1 x 10(120); over that range, there are successive peaks of degranulation from 40 to 60% of the basophils, despite the calculated absence of any anti-IgE molecules at the highest dilutions. Since dilutions need to be accompanied by vigorous shaking for the effects to be observed, transmission of the biological information could be related to the molecular organization of water.
We show that the usually neglected interaction between the electric dipole of the water molecule and the quantized electromagnetic radiation field can be treated in the context of a recent quantum field theoretical formulation of collective dynamics. We find the emergence of collective modes and the appearance of permanent electric polarization around any electrically polarized impurity.
At the request of the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, we attempted to replicate the data of Professor Jacques Benveniste that digital signals recorded on a computer disc produce specific biological effects. The hypothesis was that a digitized thrombin inhibitor signal would inhibit the fibrinogen-thrombin coagulation pathway. Because of the controversies associated with previous research of Prof. Benveniste, we developed a system for the management of social controversy in science that incorporated an expert in social communication and conflict management. The social management approach was an adaptation of interactional communication theory, for management of areas that interfere with the conduct of good science. This process allowed us to successfully complete a coordinated effort by a multidisciplinary team, including Prof. Benveniste, a hematologist, engineer, skeptic, statistician, neuroscientist and conflict management expert. Our team found no replicable effects from digital signals.
Background
NMR proton relaxation is sensitive to the dynamics of the water molecule H2O, through the interaction of the spin of the proton (¹H) with external magnetic and electromagnetic fields.
Methods
We measured dilution and potentization processes through measurements of ¹H spin-lattice T1 and spin–spin T2 relaxation times. In order to interpret the recorded fluctuations in T1- or T2-values, experimental data were linearized by investigating how the area under a fluctuating time = f(dilution) curve (dilution integral or DI) changes with dilution. Two kinds of fitting procedures were considered: chi-square fitting with a goodness-of-fit probability, and least absolute deviations criterion with Pearson's linear correlation coefficient.
Results
We showed that fluctuations are not attributable to random noise and/or experimental errors, evidencing a memory effect quantifiable by the slope of the DI = f(dilution) straight line. For all experiments, correlation coefficients were found to lie above 0.9999, against 0.999 for random noise. The discrimination between experimental slopes and slopes associated with random noise data was very good at a five-sigma level of confidence (i.e. probability 3 × 10⁻⁷). Discrimination between experimental slopes at a five-sigma level was possible in most cases, with three exceptions: gelsemium aqua pura v gelsemium dilution (four-sigma); copper aqua pura v gelsemium aqua pura (four-sigma) and copper simple dilution v gelsemium simple dilution (three-sigma). All potentized samples show very good discrimination (at least nine-sigma level) against aqua pura, lactose or simple dilution. It was possible to transform the associated relaxation times into a molecular rotational correlation time τc and an average spin–spin distance d. Our experiments thus point to a considerable slowing down of molecular movements (τc > 1300 ps or T = 224–225 K) around water molecules up to a distance of 3.7 Å, values. It was also possible to rule out other possible mechanisms of relaxation (diffusive motion, ¹⁷O-¹H relaxation or coupling with the electronic spin, S = 1, of dissolved dioxygen molecules).
Conclusion
There is clear evidence that homeopathic solutions cannot be considered as pure water as commonly assumed. Instead, we have evidenced a clear memory effect upon dilution/potentization of a substance (water, lactose, copper, gelsemium) reflected by different rotational correlation times and average H⋯H distances. A possible explanation for such a memory effect may lie in the formation of mesoscopic water structures around nanoparticles and/or nanobubbles mediated by zero-point fluctuations of the vacuum electromagnetic field as suggested by quantum field theories. The existence of an Avogadro's ‘wall’ for homeopathically-prepared medicines is not supported by our data. Rather it appears that all dilutions have a specific material configuration determined by the potentized substance, also by the chemical nature of the containers, and dissolved gases and the electromagnetic environment. This sensitivity of homeopathically-prepared medicines to electromagnetic fields may be amplified by the highly non-linear processing routinely applied in the preparation of homeopathic medicines. Future work is needed in such directions. The time is now ripe for a demystification of the preparation of homeopathic remedies.
Gestalt psychology is often criticized as lacking quantitative measurements and precise mathematical models. While this is true of the early Gestalt school, today there are many quantitative approaches in Gestalt perception and the special issue of Vision Research "Quantitative Approaches in Gestalt Perception" showcases the current state-of-the-art. In this article we give an overview of these current approaches. For example, ideal observer models are one of the standard quantitative tools in vision research and there is a clear trend to try and apply this tool to Gestalt perception and thereby integrate Gestalt perception into mainstream vision research. More generally, Bayesian models, long popular in other areas of vision research, are increasingly being employed to model perceptual grouping as well. Thus, although experimental and theoretical approaches to Gestalt perception remain quite diverse, we are hopeful that these quantitative trends will pave the way for a unified theory.
Previous studies suggest that the biological activity of agonists can be transferred to water by electromagnetic means [1-7]. Since July 1995, in keeping with these results, we have digitized, recorded, and 'replayed' to water the activity of acetylcholine (ACh) or water (W) as control. ACh and W were recorded (16 bits, 22 KHz), for 1-5 sec, via an especially designed transducer, on the hard disk of a computer equipped with a Sound Blaster 16 card. Files were digitally amplified and the signal of digitally recorded ACh or W was replayed for 15 min, via the transducer, to 15 ml, W-containing plastic tubes. W thus exposed (dACh, dW) was then perfused to isolated guinea-pig hearts. In 13 open experiments, coronary flow variations were (%, mean + SEM, nb of samples): W+dW(not stat. diff.), 3.3 + 0.2, 20; dACh, 16.2 + 1.0, 33, p = 4.1 e- 10 vs W+dW; ACh (0.1 M), 23.4 + 2.8, 12, p = 5 e-3 vs dACh. In 25 blind experiments: W-fdW, 3.6 + 0-3, 61; dACh, 20.4 + 1.3, 58, p = 1 e-16 vs W+dW; ACh (0.1 M), 28.1 + 2-3, 24, p = 3 e-3 vs dACh. Atropine inhibited the effects of both ACh and dACh. Moreover, we have recently transferred specific digital signals via telephone lines. These results indicate that the molecular signal is composed of waveforms in the 0-22 Khz range. They open the way to purely digital procedures for the analysis, modification and transmission of molecular activity.
Background:
The "Ultra High Dilution 1994" project was an endeavour to take stock of the findings and theories on homeopathic extreme dilutions that were under research at the time in areas of biology, biophysics, physics and medicine. The project finally materialized into an anthology assembling contributions of leading scientists in the field. Over the following two decades, it became widely quoted within the homeopathic community and also known in other research communities. The aim of the present project was to re-visit and review the 1994 studies from the perspective of 2015.
Method:
The original authors from 1994 or close laboratory colleagues were asked to contribute papers covering their research efforts and learnings in the period from 1994 up to 2015. These contributions were edited and cross-referenced, and a selection of further contributions was added.
Results:
About a dozen contributions reported on follow-up experiments and studies, including further developments in theory. Only few of the models that had seemed promising in 1994 had not been followed up later. Most models presented in the original publication had meanwhile been submitted to intra-laboratory, multicentre or independent scrutiny. The results of the follow-up research seemed to have rewarded the efforts. Furthermore, contributions were provided on new models that had been inspired by the original ones or that may be candidates for further in-depth ultra high dilution (UHD) research.
Conclusion:
The project "Ultra High Dilution 1994 revisited 2015" is the latest output of what might be considered the "buena vista social club" of homeopathy research. However, it presents new developments and results of the older, established experimental models as well as a general survey of the state of UHD research.
Nanobubbles (NBs) have been a subject of intensive research over the past decade. Their peculiar characteristics, including extremely low buoyancy, longevity, enhanced solubility of oxygen in water, zeta potentials and burst during collapse, have led to many applications in the industrial, biological and medical fields. NBs may form spontaneously from dissolved gas but the process is greatly enhanced by gas supersaturation and mechanical actions such as dynamization. Therefore, the formation of NBs during the preparation of homeopathic dilutions under atmospheric pressure cannot be ignored. I suggested in 2009 the involvement of NBs in nanometric superstructures revealed in high dilutions using NMR relaxation. These superstructures seemed to increase in size with dilution, well into the ultramolecular range (>12c). I report here new experiments that confirm the involvement of NBs and prove the crucial role of dynamization to create superstructures specific to the solute. A second dynamization was shown to enhance or regenerate these superstructures. I postulate that superstructures result from a nucleation process of NBs around the solute, with shells of highly organized water (with ions and silicates if any) which protect the solute against out-diffusion and behave as nucleation centres for further dilution steps. The sampling tip may play an active role by catching the superstructures and thus carry the encaged solute across the dilution range, possibly up to the ultramolecular range. The superstructures were not observed at low dilution, probably because of a destructuring of the solvent by the solute and/or of an inadequate gas/solute ratio.
Copyright © 2015 The Faculty of Homeopathy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
This paper presents the results of several experimental methods (FT-IR spectroscopy, UV-vis spectroscopy, fluorescence microscopy (FM), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM)) evidencing structural changes induced in extremely diluted solutions (EDS), which are prepared by an iterated process of centesimal (1:100) dilution and succussion (shaking). The iteration is repeated until an extremely high dilution is reached, so that the composition of the solution becomes identical to that of the solvent-in this case water-used to prepare it. The experimental observations reveal the presence of supramolecular aggregates hundreds of nanometres in size in EDS at ambient pressure and temperature, and in the solid state. These findings confirm the hypothesis-developed thanks to previous physico-chemical investigations-that formation of water aggregates occurs in EDS. The experimental data can be analyzed and interpreted with reference to the thermodynamics of far-from-equilibrium systems and irreversible processes.
Homeopathy is controversial because medicines in high potencies such as 30c and 200c involve huge dilution factors (10⁶⁰ and 10⁴⁰⁰ respectively) which are many orders of magnitude greater than Avogadro's number, so that theoretically there should be no measurable remnants of the starting materials. No hypothesis which predicts the retention of properties of starting materials has been proposed nor has any physical entity been shown to exist in these high potency medicines. Using market samples of metal-derived medicines from reputable manufacturers, we have demonstrated for the first time by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), electron diffraction and chemical analysis by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES), the presence of physical entities in these extreme dilutions, in the form of nanoparticles of the starting metals and their aggregates.
The now celebrated report by Dr J. Benveniste and colleagues elsewhere
is found, by a visiting Nature team, to be an insubstantial basis for
the claims made for them.
From this issue of Nature, the past several weeks' correspondence on the Benveniste affair will be closed. The editor o/Nature here discusses some of the issues that have arisen.
'Homeopathic dilutions' and 'Memory of Water' are two expressions capable of turning a peaceful and intelligent person into a violently irrational one,' as Michel Schiff points out in the introduction of his book 'The Memory of Water'. The idea of the memory of water arose in the laboratory of Jacques Benveniste in the late 1980s and 20 years later the debate is still ongoing even though an increasing number of scientists report they have confirmed the basic results. This paper, first provides a brief historical overview of the context of the high dilution experiments then moves on to digital biology. One working hypothesis was that molecules can communicate with each other, exchanging information without being in physical contact and that at least some biological functions can be mimicked by certain energetic modes characteristics of a given molecule. These considerations informed exploratory research which led to the speculation that biological signaling might be transmissible by electromagnetic means. Around 1991, the transfer of specific molecular signals to sensitive biological systems was achieved using an amplifier and electromagnetic coils. In 1995, a more sophisticated procedure was established to record, digitize and replay these signals using a multimedia computer. From a physical and chemical perspective, these experiments pose a riddle, since it is not clear what mechanism can sustain such 'water memory' of the exposure to molecular signals. From a biological perspective, the puzzle is what nature of imprinted effect (water structure) can impact biological function. Also, the far-reaching implications of these observations require numerous and repeated experimental tests to rule out overlooked artifacts. Perhaps more important is to have the experiments repeated by other groups and with other models to explore the generality of the effect. In conclusion, we will present some of this emerging independent experimental work.
Transatlantic transfer of digitized antigen signal by telephone link
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When to believe the unbelievable
- Maddox
Classical conditioning
- I Rehman
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- C Rehman
1,500 scientists lift the lid on reproducibility
- Baker