Using Neuroimaging to Resolve the Psi Debate

Abstract

Parapsychology is the scientific investigation of apparently paranormal mental phenomena (such as telepathy, i.e., “mind reading”), also known as psi. Despite widespread public belief in such phenomena and over 75 years of experimentation, there is no compelling evidence that psi exists. In the present study, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used in an effort to document the existence of psi. If psi exists, it occurs in the brain, and hence, assessing the brain directly should be more sensitive than using indirect behavioral methods (as have been used previously). To increase sensitivity, this experiment was designed to produce positive results if telepathy, clairvoyance (i.e., direct sensing of remote events), or precognition (i.e., knowing future events) exist. Moreover, the study included biologically or emotionally related participants (e.g., twins) and emotional stimuli in an effort to maximize experimental conditions that are purportedly conducive to psi. In spite of these characteristics of the study, psi stimuli and non-psi stimuli evoked indistinguishable neuronal responses—although differences in stimulus arousal values of the same stimuli had the expected effects on patterns of brain activation. These findings are the strongest evidence yet obtained against the existence of paranormal mental phenomena.

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Using Neuroimaging to Resolve the Psi Debate
Samuel T. Moulton and Stephen M. Kosslyn
Abstract
&Parapsychology is the scientific investigation of apparently
paranormal mental phenomena (such as telepathy, i.e., ‘‘mind
reading’’), also known as psi. Despite widespread public belief
in such phenomena and over 75 years of experimentation, there
is no compelling evidence that psi exists. In the present study,
functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI ) was used in an
effort to document the existence of psi. If psi exists, it occurs in
the brain, and hence, assessing the brain directly should be
more sensitive than using indirect behavioral methods (as have
been used previously). To increase sensitivity, this experiment
was designed to produce positive results if telepathy, clairvoy-
ance (i.e., direct sensing of remote events), or precognition (i.e.,
knowing future events) exist. Moreover, the study included
biologically or emotionally related participants (e.g., twins) and
emotional stimuli in an effort to maximize experimental con-
ditions that are purportedly conducive to psi. In spite of these
characteristics of the study, psi stimuli and non-psi stimuli
evoked indistinguishable neuronal responses—although differ-
ences in stimulus arousal values of the same stimuli had the
expected effects on patterns of brain activation. These findings
are the strongest evidence yet obtained against the existence of
paranormal mental phenomena. &
INTRODUCTION
‘‘But it is a miserable thing for a question of
truth to be confined to mere presumption and
counter-presumption, with no decisive thunderbolt
of fact to clear the baff ling darkness.’’—
William James (1896, p. 884)
If psi exists, sciences from physics to psychology may
require fundamental revision. If psi does not exist,
roughly half of the general population (Moore, 2005)
should be disabused of their fallacious beliefs. In theory,
science has the capacity to settle this debate, yet in
practice empirical investigations into psi have produced
much heat and scarce light. With the advent of sophis-
ticated neuroimaging techniques, however, psycholo-
gists are in a position to advance the debate over psi
beyond presumption and counterpresumption. In this
article, we describe a method that has the potential
ultimately to resolve the psi debate, and present results
from implementing this method.
Many people give credence to the existence of psi
because they have had compelling personal experiences
or heard descriptions of such experiences. For example,
people sometimes claim to know who is about to call
them on the phone, and then moments later have this
hunch confirmed after answering a ringing phone. And
people sometimes seem to ‘‘know’’ about a loved one’s
injury or death, without any good reason to have this
knowledge. For instance, consider the following report
from Rhine (1981):
One Thursday morning about 4 a.m., I jumped
out of bed, feeling as if I was dying. I felt as if blood
or something was pouring down from my head
choking me and I was trying desperately to get my
breath. My husband got up to help me. He tried to get
me to the bathroom for some water to drink to stop
the terrible choking spasms I seemed to be having.
They soon diminished and I grew very weak. I
thought I must be really dying. My husband put me
down on the bed where I rested but felt so ‘‘ all gone.’’
Then I thought my son had called, saying ‘‘ Oh,
Mama help me,’’ in such anguish.
Later in the day I went to the doctor for an X-ray
of my chest. I thought with such acute pain that
something must be wrong. But the doctor could
find nothing. That was February 10th and on the
12th we received a telegram saying our son was
killed by gunshot in the head at one o’clock on
February 10th. There is a nine-hour difference in
time. I feel he called me as it happened, and I
heard his groan and felt his dying. (p. 138)
Although such experiences compel many—most com-
monly those who experience them—to accept the exis-
tence of psi, psychologists remain skeptical of such
anecdotal evidence, and for good reason: Cognitive bi-
ases such as the clustering illusion (Gilovich, Vallone, &
Tversky, 1985), availability error (Tversky & Kahneman,
1973), confirmation bias (Wason, 1960), illusion of
Harvard University
D2008 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 20:1, pp. 182–192
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